Preview: Canine Seat Belts & Safety Restraint Systems

We are excited about our next product review, comparing some of the canine seat belts and safety restraint systems. As with the cat litter comparison, we plan to look at several systems and go over how one may be better than another for certain pets. A system that is ideal for a toy Chihuahua may not be appropriate for a 95-pounds Chocolate Lab.

Meet Elaine, my Pit Mix. She will model most of the harnesses and test them out as we cruise around town the next couple of months.

Elaine is sweet (to people she knows) but she is not exactly well-trained. That should make things interesting as we score the ease of which we can put each harness on her --- and keep her restrained in my Ford Focus hatchback.

Kobi, my mother's Poodle Mix, will help out with one of the harness system. As noted in our disclaimers and disclosures, we purchased these harnesses ourselves so we might as well get Kobi a new one. After all, how many harnesses does Elaine really need??

Elaine in her Four Paws Safety Seat Harness

Four Paws Safety Seat Harness is Elaine's current car harness. Elaine is a bit of a wiggle worm in the car and constantly gets the harness twisted as she tangles with the seat belts. Thus we started this search for another safety system --- almost a year ago. Yes, almost a year ago. We got held up waiting for the Champion Canine Seat Belt. You will have to read about it in the Champion Canine review but please note the warning about the websites below.

We plan to review the following harnesses:

Click on image to enlarge

• RuffRider Roadie Elite (reviewed here)
  
• Champion Canine Seat Belt System (*** The sites look similar, but Do NOT order from champk-9.com; use usak9outfitters.com. See the review later for details) (reviewed here)
  
• BeBop Secure Fit Harness
• Easy Rider Harness
• Four Paws Harness

On first impression, the Roadie Elite and the Champion Canine Seat Belt System are the main contenders but each have its own drawbacks. We will review those two and the BeBop Secure Fit Harness in separate blog posts, followed by the Easy Rider and Four Paws Harness in one brief write-up. The conclusion will compare the different products to help readers decide which system may be a good match for their pets.