“Dogs ride inside”, says Ford

It is a personal pet peeve — pardon my pun. I hate to see dogs chained or loose in the beds of pickup trucks. Yes, yes, I know you profess to love them more than your wife, girlfriend, or anyone else, but sticking them in the truck bed just doesn’t show it. (I expect to take some heat because I have clearly addressed this to guys, but I honestly have never seen a woman pickup driver with a dog or dogs chained in the bed.)

About 100,000 dogs die every year from injuries sustained while riding in a pickup truck. Ford, which sells more pickup trucks than anyone, sees that as an appalling statistic and reminds drivers and truck owners that all animals should ride inside a pickup truck cab — never in the bed.

At the very least, they say, your pet should always ride in the back seat if your truck has one. An animal in the front seat can quickly become a driver distraction or a projectile and cause an accident that jeopardizes pets and people.

Unfortunately this driver didn’t follow the wisdom of keeping Jinx, the dog, in the second row, but he did use a pet-specific attachment to the seat belt assembly.

Doug Scott, Ford Truck group marketing manager, encourages drivers to restrain, contain or crate your pet with a carrier or specially-designed pet seat belt. He also reminded that the highest volume Ford F-Series pickups — F-150 SuperCrew and SuperDuty Crew Cab — have spacious second-row seats ideal for ‘man’s best friend’.

Some other tips:
* Dogs love sticking their heads outside of a moving car but that’s one of the most frequent scenarios for injury.

• It’s OK to briefly briefly roll the window down to satisfy a curious nose, but not more than that. Wind can seriously irritate mucous membranes and blow pieces of grit into your dog’s eyes.

• Be sure that all ID tags are affixed well and have all current info including cell numbers. Think about implanting an ID microchip and make sure that information is current, as well.

• Never leave pets attended inside of vehicles for any length of time or whenever temperatures are high. Remember than cars heat up fast even when you leave the windows cracked.
• I also recommend keeping a sign that indicates a pet is inside the vehicle.  In case of an accident, put the sign on the windshield or side window to alert first responders if you are unable to communicate.