Put your brakes on, Buddy!
The Center for Pet Safety tested 12 of the top selling dog safety harnessess: image via dogshopper.usThink your dog's safety harness is really safe? You may have to think again...
In a pilot test conducted by the MGA Research Corporation for The Center for Pet Safety (CPS), 12 major brands of pet harnesses were tested using the average weights of the 10 most popular dogs according to the American Kennel Club. Six of the top 10 most popular dogs are large dog breeds.
More and more safety advocates, insurance companies, travel associations, and law enforcement agencies are calling for a standard for dog safety equipment, similar to the standards required for child safety seats, which must pass a government sponsored crash test to be considered safe for travel.
The Center for Pet Safety, a private, non-profit organization with no ties to pet product manufacturers, has undertaken these initial safety tests to develop criteria and test protocols to support fair testing of manufactured devices, and to insure that when a manufacturer states its product is safe, it really is.
Recently, Sleepypod, a manufacturer of dog restraint systems for pets up to 12 - 15 pounds, put its own products through the child safety seat tests and all four models of the Sleepypod passed those standards. (You can read about those tests here.)
Unfortunately, none of the 12 pet travel safety devices tested in the pilot study passed the safety tests employed by the MGA Research Corporation. The harnesses tested may be helpful to reduce accidents due to distracted driving, said the founder and chairman of CPS, but , "Saying that these products prevent your pet from becoming a projectile in an accident is a potentially misleading statement. In our pilot study, the harnesses tested failed to keep the dog from becoming a projectile in a standardized crash simulation."
sources: PRWeb, Center for Pet Safety, MGA Research Corporation
