*TRANSPORTING GDB PUPPIES IN VEHICLES*

To have a puppy enter a vehicle, begin by having the puppy be patient for a moment while the door is held open.  As long as the pup is being patient, allow them to get in the car with the release-word "okay."

If sitting in a front seat with very little floor space, you can leave your right leg out and then encourage the puppy to enter. You may use the word "kennel" which a puppy should interpret as entering any confined space (a crate, a car, under a desk, etc.).  Always make sure the tail and feet are inside before closing the door.

The Puppy Manual offers additional advice on acclimating puppies to the vehicles sounds and motion.  

We do not recommend allowing pups on seats, but there are some cars that give no option due to floor space or other factors, including front seat airbags.  If you have no choice but to allow the puppy on a seat, keep the pup in one spot, preferably on the rear seat; and don't allow him to move around. If riding in someone else's car, it would be courteous if you
provide a large towel or sheet to cover the spot to help keep the seat clean.  

You may have heard controversy over the danger to children and animals with some passenger side airbags.  In some incidences, accidents triggering these airbags have injured and even killed small children and animals. Although we do not have knowledge of any GDB puppies or guides ever being injured, we advise having puppies that ride in cars that have front seat passenger airbags to lay on the back seat floorboards, the back seat if there is not adequate room on the backseat floorboards, or on tie-down on the passenger floor at a level which will be below an activated airbag.

There are a variety of car seat restraints for dogs on the market. We have found limited evidence of the complete testing of any of these devices. Devices are most often tested for fabric strength not animal injury prevention.  Improperly designed models may have the potential to cause injury to a dog or puppy.  

The pup can ride in the back of a station wagon or hatchback, but they should remain in one spot and be well behaved.  If the surface is slick, you need to provide a non-slick surface such as a rubber-backed carpet or rubber mat for the pup to ride on.  Puppies can become worried if they slide around and cannot get any traction to brace themselves.  Puppies can develop major car-riding problems from sliding around, resulting in them becoming fearful.

The safest place for puppies to ride in cars is in a secured crate if one will fit in the back seat or a cargo area.

We do not recommend having puppies travel in the back of open pick-up trucks; but if you must transport the pup in the back of an open pick-up truck, use a safely secured kennel crate.  Try to avoid this method of transportation if at all possible; being so closely exposed to traffic can frighten puppies.

Puppies shall not ride unconfined in the back of trucks.  Cross-tying them is not an acceptable option.  Many states now have laws restricting dogs loose in pickup trucks for good reasons, as accidents have resulted and dogs' lives have been lost because of it.

The primary rule in dog transportation is to use common sense.  Evaluate the situation utilizing the guidelines above and select a safe, manageable option.  The primary goals are safety and teaching the puppy to calmly remain where you have placed him.  A puppy or dog that is not trusted to remain calm in all circumstances should be on tie-down or crated while in a vehicle.  If you are transporting a potentially unruly or otherwise distracting puppy, always have a passenger aboard to control him/her. 

Also remember that a common cause of death to dogs is being left unattended in cars on hot or even just warm days.  Guide Dog puppies may not be left alone in vehicles regardless of the weather.