Whenever you make a big purchase how often do you consider your dog’s needs? When deciding on your house did you make it had a sealed garden with grass? What about your car? Did you make sure it had a good safety record, a spacious boot and soft seats? Well, according to a 2019 study by Cheshire based, UK contract hire company All Car Leasing called “Homeward Hound” most of do think about our canine companions before putting pen to paper on a new car deal.
Indeed, All Car Leasing surveyed over 1,200 UK dog owners who drive and found that 62% of those who travel with their dogs consider the comfort and needs of their dogs before buying. Specifically, those who travelled with their dogs in the car looked for features such as a larger boot, easy access to the boot for dogs and quality seats. All Car Leasing also asked their audience which dog related aftermarket accessory they couldn’t do without and the results had mesh guard, clip in harness and seat/boot liners complete the top 3.
Some people, however, don’t want their dogs anywhere near their shiny and clean motor. All Car Leasing found that 21% of people they asked did not let their dogs into their cars whatsoever. When asked why not, dog smell and pet hair all over the upholstery completed the two most popular answers with a lack of space in the car, seats being destroyed and safety issues being other reasons.
Safety issues concerning a dog in a moving vehicle was perhaps the most surprising find in the Homeward Hound campaign with 1 in 3 dog owners admitting they travel with their dog in the car unrestrained. Why is this such a shocking statistic? Well, for one if the driver was to (god forbid) get into an accident then the dog would likely come off worse as it could be thrown around violently by the force of the impact and second of all because if the driver was in an accident as a result of being distracted by said dog then they could face criminal charges, points on their license and all liability for the accident. So, next time you take a dog in your car be sure to buckle both yourself and your dog up!
Finally, there are some extra titbits from the study which showed that the dog’s size determines where the owner would place them in the car – toy/small dogs tend to be placed in the front seat or passenger footwell, medium dogs in the rear seats and larger dogs of course would be placed in the boot. The kind of car dog owners drove did not seem to be that different from non-dog owners with hatchbacks, crossovers and SUVs being the most popular in that order.
What do you make of these findings? Do you travel with your dog in the car often and do your habits correlate with the findings of All Car Leasing’s study? Do let us know in the comments section.
Here is the infographic All Car Leasing designed which makes it a lot easier to digest the statistics
