Herd in the Jeep

I have shown you pictures like the above many, many times – the Herd all in the back of the Jeep going off for some adventure.  Cheoah rides in her crate (she gets bouncy and the last thing I need is Natasha correcting her while we are going down some road) and the rest ride in their seatbelts.  Nothing unusual, right?

For those of you who are a member of the Thundering Herd Fan Page on Facebook, you already know the story as posted there.  For the rest of you, here is what happened.

We had been hiking and just climbed into the Jeep.  We even posted this picture on the Fan Page:

Brothers Rusty and Kodiak hanging out after today's hike.

We were then driving to do some errands in Asheville and were passing in front the Asheville Mall.  A group of protesters were out in front of the mall making a spectacle of themselves.  Traffic came to a stop right in front of them.  Unfortunately, the gentleman behind me was watching them and ran his full size pick-up truck into the back of our stopped Jeep.

To relieve everyone – no person and no pup was hurt.  Fortunately, the only damage was to the vehicles and none of that matters in the grand scheme of things.  The gentleman driving the other vehicle was very apologetic and told us that when he looked up his only thought was stopping before he hurt any of the dogs.  Under any other circumstances, I would have enjoyed meeting him because he was clearly a good person.  All of us have been distracted for a second, so no hard feelings there.  I respect anyone who stands up, admits to making a mistake, apologizes for it and accepts the consequences.

Now go back and look at that first picture.  Let me repeat.  Cheoah rides in her crate and the rest ride in their seatbelts.

Natasha and Qannik walking in their seat belt harnesses

We use seat belts called Champion Canine Seat Belt System (we do not receive any compensation from them and paid full retail for the product – just our opinion).  They are sturdy, strong, and none of The Herd has ever chewed through them.  Plus, as you can see above, they are easy for the dogs to walk in for shorter hikes.  In case you are not a believer in the value of dog seat belts, please watch this short YouTube video.

For those of you who use crates – and we do for Cheoah – the question is the same – how is it secured?  Cheoah’s crate is secured to the Jeep frame as well.

We will return tomorrow with our usual irreverent sense of humor, but we wanted to take a moment today and beg you to secure your furry friend in the vehicle.  We had no clue Saturday that we would be needing the seat belts, but today we are only thinking of the “could have beens” and, thankfully, not regretting anything.  Instead, we will deal today with body shops and repair estimates, but we will go home to six healthy, happy, furry members of The Herd and hug them dearly.

Stay Safe!

D.K. Wall - Hu-Dad and Safety Director – The Thundering Herd

UPDATE – 7 a.m. – A reader over on the fan page pointed out a second canine seat belt product to consider – the Ruff Rider .  I checked out the website and like what I saw, though I can not speak to the product itself (it looks much like an x-back, so I do wonder how easy it is for a dog to step back out of it, but would need one to test before I knew).