We are new to motorhoming, having had caravans for over 30 years. We have an elderly whippet and a lurcher, neither of whom like travelling in the car, but we need to be able to take them in the motorhome and are wondering how people make sure they are safe while travelling.
The dogs have never been in a crate and we don't want to go down that route now. The motorhome has 4 seat belts, so we can clip their harnesses into the seat belts at the rear. However, they get up, stretch,turn round and so on while there and we want to make sure that they don't come off the seat while we are moving as we won't be able to reach them without stopping (which might not be easy).
What do other people do about securing their dogs?
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.
First dog travelled on the side facing couch (bed, no seatbelt) with a lead attaching her harness to the leg so she couldn’t come forward into the cab. After she toppled off in an emergency stop, she stayed on the floor. (Second & third dogs travel in a crate attached to the bed leg, not relevant for you.)
I take your point about the dogs turning round & falling off, I don’t know how they cope in the back seat of your car. But maybe have something soft in the MH footwell to bring up the level? Your bedding maybe, or soft bags of clothes. Just an idea: many more will follow.
(I have seen MH front seat passengers holding a wee dog on their lap as they travel along. Absolutely not a good idea: they wouldn’t hold their grandchild the same way.)
Nowadays, the front passenger seat is taken up by a thermo-electric coolbox which means the dog has been displaced to the living area of the van, tethered so that he can jump up and down.
He appears to prefer to sit near me in the cab rather than in the living area of the van, between the two seats on the floor.
DK
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Not a motorhome owner, so limited insight into your problem, but a lot of experience of car transport with my own dogs and rescue dogs from a charity I volunteer for, some sixty different dogs over past decade.
First point perhaps is the law is VERY vague and only requires that dogs do not/can not 'distract' the driver, now that is a totally subjective interpretation of what distracts the driver! There is no specific law regarding dogs in vehicles, it falls under driver due care and attention!
My greater concern is the safety of the dog(s). In my car, my dog (and the occasional crate adverse rescue) is on the back seat with their harness anchored to the seat belt buckle to restrain them, but also with a 'hammock' seat cover so they cannot fall down into the footwell. The rescues, whether they like it or not, generally go in a crate in the rear of my car, both for their own and my safety (they often are an unknown with regard to car travel or sometimes demeanour/temperament!). My own current dog, a Border Collie, is a bit of a fidget, so the hammock is almost essential to stop her toppling off the seat in normal travel, let alone hard braking/accident. It unfortunately has been put to the test once or twice, when I've been forced to brake hard, and it has proved itself with nothing worse than the dog ending up in an undignified 'heap' against the rear of the front seats, but no real harm done. My hammock seat cover was a cheap and cheerful one from Lidl/Aldi middle aisle offers, which anchors to the rear seat and front seat head rests.
Your options are largely an unknown to us as we don't know the layout of your specific MH as you've not identified it, so no idea if scope for a hammock style seat cover. A crate doesn't have to be a metal cage style, plenty of soft dog transport bags/carriers available, which are more like an enclosed dog bed. If introduced to it at home, they may well take to it as their 'den', and that may actually ease their discomfort of car travelling. They could be place on the floor and potentially anchored to a number of suitable rigid points.
Good luck, let us know what solution you come up with, may well be of use to others.
I get the hammock idea and at one time we had one for the car. The passenger seats that they will be tethered to are front facing and are part of the bed on that side, so we might make that up to give them more space. However, they could still come off into the aisle - for example when cornering - and we are unsure how to manage that. The bedding suggestion could be a possibility though. although once off the seat I doubt they could get back again!
We are having a trial couple of nights away this week - not going far - and can try out some of these ideas.
Thank you
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.
Our last dog always travelled in his crate and he loved it. It was just an ordinary metal cage with a cushion and he really regarded it as HIS. he would get all excited when I got it out and put it in the back of the car, as he seemed to regard it as going on an adventure, especially when I hitched the caravan on the back. I never had to put him in it, he was eager to get in on his own, although in his last couple of years I did have to lift him into the back of the car. That was only because the car was higher than the previous ones and he was getting old. Once in the back of the car he made a bee-line for his cage.
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 30/11/2025
Our last dog always travelled in his crate and he loved it. It was just an ordinary metal cage with a cushion and he really regarded it as HIS. he would get all excited when I got it out and put it in the back of the car, as he seemed to regard it as going on an adventure, especially when I hitched the caravan on the back. I never had to put him in it, he was eager to get in on his own, although in his last couple of years I did have to lift him into the back of the car. That was only because the car was higher than the previous ones and he was getting old. Once in the back of the car he made a bee-line for his cage.
If a crate has never been used as a 'prison cell' for 'naughty' dogs, or only some other negative connotation such as long periods of abandonment, many dogs love them as their 'den' and are all too happy to take themselves off there as their chosen spot. I've got one in the caravan for my dog, not for travelling (she's on back seat of car when travelling), but when I need her to be secure whilst the door is open and maybe I'm in and out repeatedly. She's very happy in it, it's not a negative place, it's her place.
An awful lot of the rescue dogs I transport settle happily in the crate, in that situation just about everything is strange to them, new people, new car, separation from familiar people etc. but they find the crate a protective space that reduces some of their anxieties.
Quote: Originally posted by Colin21 on 30/11/2025
Our last dog always travelled in his crate and he loved it. It was just an ordinary metal cage with a cushion and he really regarded it as HIS. he would get all excited when I got it out and put it in the back of the car, as he seemed to regard it as going on an adventure, especially when I hitched the caravan on the back. I never had to put him in it, he was eager to get in on his own, although in his last couple of years I did have to lift him into the back of the car. That was only because the car was higher than the previous ones and he was getting old. Once in the back of the car he made a bee-line for his cage.
If a crate has never been used as a 'prison cell' for 'naughty' dogs, or only some other negative connotation such as long periods of abandonment, many dogs love them as their 'den' and are all too happy to take themselves off there as their chosen spot. I've got one in the caravan for my dog, not for travelling (she's on back seat of car when travelling), but when I need her to be secure whilst the door is open and maybe I'm in and out repeatedly. She's very happy in it, it's not a negative place, it's her place.
An awful lot of the rescue dogs I transport settle happily in the crate, in that situation just about everything is strange to them, new people, new car, separation from familiar people etc. but they find the crate a protective space that reduces some of their anxieties.
All my dogs have been rescues and I am now a home-checker for the one we got our last dog from. He was 5 years old when we got him and I don't know whether he had ever been in a cage before. To start with I just left it on the floor with the door open in our living room and he sniffed round the outside of it at first. After a couple of days he decided to sniff the inside. A few days later he laid down and went to sleep in it. A couple more days and I tried pushing the door closed but unlatched and he didn't mind at all. By now he regarded it as his. We never used it in the house as it took up too much space, but every time I took it out of the cupboard , set it up, and took it out to the car he got excited. We were going somewhere and he was coming too!
Ours loved going away in the caravan. Charlie who we got from someone who rescued her from Taiwan but then could no longer look after her used to get very excited when we turned into site roads. "What kind of dog is that?" Everyone said. Not many Taiwan dogs in the UK.
Quote: Originally posted by Mrs. Bonce on 01/12/2025
Ours loved going away in the caravan. Charlie who we got from someone who rescued her from Taiwan but then could no longer look after her used to get very excited when we turned into site roads. "What kind of dog is that?" Everyone said. Not many Taiwan dogs in the UK.
Our last dog was an Australian Terrier. I'd never even heard of them until we got him.
Quote: Originally posted by JoannaLesley on 30/11/2025
However, they could still come off into the aisle - for example when cornering - and we are unsure how to manage that. The bedding suggestion could be a possibility though. although once off the seat I doubt they could get back again!
Can’t speak for all MHs, but the toppling off tends to happen at sudden breaking rather than cornering. We just wallow somewhat, easy to brace against. And the dogs might prefer to stay in the bedding if it’s more comfy than the bench?
(One reason we didn’t opt for a fixed rear bed, the dog we had then was prone to “resource guarding” & we anticipated a “discussion” about our right to be there.)
Quote: Originally posted by JoannaLesley on 30/11/2025
However, they could still come off into the aisle - for example when cornering - and we are unsure how to manage that. The bedding suggestion could be a possibility though. although once off the seat I doubt they could get back again!
Can’t speak for all MHs, but the toppling off tends to happen at sudden breaking rather than cornering. We just wallow somewhat, easy to brace against. And the dogs might prefer to stay in the bedding if it’s more comfy than the bench?
(One reason we didn’t opt for a fixed rear bed, the dog we had then was prone to “resource guarding” & we anticipated a “discussion” about our right to be there.)
My last dog was terribly car sick, and a number of my rescue transports have not been good travellers either, so I've developed a very smooth driving style to minimise aggravating their condition, but you really can't avoid the occasional hard braking as that is usually enforced on you by some other road user! It's imperative that the dogs are protected from being dislodged from their travelling position by sharp manoeuvres no matter how caused, otherwise they risk injury.
Quote: Originally posted by Monty15 on 03/12/2025
It's imperative that the dogs are protected from being dislodged from their travelling position by sharp manoeuvres no matter how caused, otherwise they risk injury.
Absolutely. And the driver or passenger being hit from behind by a loose dog / dogs could have serious consequences too.
Hopefully the OP has a successful trial run.
We found it helped to praise quiet & ignore complaints - but looking out for the clear signs that we really did need to stop & let her out: that was after a particularly bendy road. A good walk before setting off helped too.
I forgot to post about our trial run. Since it was mainly to try out the van, we left the elderly whippet with our daughter and only took the lurcher. We went to Henley Four Oaks, which is only about an hour from home. We attached Milo's harness to the seat belt nearest the window and pulled out the bed on that side. On the way out he shook all the way. Once parked up he was fine and obviously got used to the motorhome, since he didn't shake at all on the way back. Reasonable success I think.
It looks as though we will be taking him to France in the summer, so it is reassuring to know that he will travel alright on the seat/bed. The other one stays at home.
------------- Freedom is a light caravan and an open road.
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Topic: securing dogs for travel
via mobile 29/11/2025 at 11:31am
