dog in pick up truck

alex_mac30

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 May 2008
Messages
358
Location
Kent
Visit site
Hi
My partner and I are looking at getting a new car, to make it practical for the dogs we are looking at a pick up truck with the box on the back. Does anyone have any experience with how hot it gets in there while travelling and is it suitable for dogs? I have seen some have little sliding windows but some don't seem to have anything and experience with models that are good for dogs would be great
Thanks
M
 
We are just waiting for our new pick up in March, had one prev but no back this one is having hardtop as will have 2 dogs now so need to go in the back!!
We are getting a Pegasus back for ours- they sound very dog friendly with lining to keep cool in summer and warm in winter- I am getting one with opening windows tho at the sides and most have a sliding window at the front so you can open that and get through wind.
I think they are more likely to get cold in winter than over heat so I am going to get a heater for in te back (only as we go shooting so don't want them sitting in there getting cold all day!)
 
Thanks for the reply, what make of car are you getting?
I have 2 huskies so not to worried about the cold :) its really the warmth that worries me.
 
We're getting the new Nissan navara- had the prev one and the new one drives so much better! Mainly as we use it as a car and for towing not as a off road work horse and the suspension change has given it a much smoother ride so after trying them all we chose that one!
 
With my sheepdogs, they've always travelled in the back of an open pickup and without one 'incident', in 30 years, and regardless of the distance. Gundogs travel in a box and the best that I've seen are made by K9.

Whilst vehicles are moving, so the flow of air tends to keep them cool enough. The only problem that I could foresee with a fixed back (Ifor Williams for instance) is that the inside could act as a smoke-box and that exhaust fumes could be dragged in and remain. I've never heard of it being a particular problem regarding a loss of life, but the risk is there, and at least, they couldn't be that comfortable.

I now have an enclosed Landrover, and have a redundant K9 Dog-box, should it be of any interest to you OP!

Alec.
 
Thanks Alec. We are looking at enclosed hard back, I wanted to see if they have ventilation etc, looks like they do. To be honest our dogs general only do short journeys and aren't left in the car.
M
 
We're getting the new Nissan navara- had the prev one and the new one drives so much better! Mainly as we use it as a car and for towing not as a off road work horse and the suspension change has given it a much smoother ride so after trying them all we chose that one!

Snap!

We test drove one last week and its so much nicer to drive, even against the Amarok which is more expensive, (which I thought I would end up with) we were won over with the NP300, can't wait to take delivery!
 
We have got a Mitsubishi with a hard top, it does get hot in summer if you park with the dogs in, but I suppose that goes for any car, it is OK while going along, when warm weather we open the front sliding door as well as the sides.
 
We have one pick up with an ifor canopy and mesh back, that is ideal for dogs (and is also great for hay etc when going out with the horses). It has good airflow for them. The other pick up has no canopy at all so they do get wet in it if it rains. There also isn't any shade in the summer. We travel our dogs quite a bit as we have cattle spread about and they go with us to work them.
 
A white or silver car (or canopy) will reflect heat better and be cooler than a black or dark coloured one. you can get air vents fitted to the roof like on police dog vans, rspca vans etc , and also electric ones to keep a flow of air through the canopy.
 
We,ve got an Isuzu Rodeo double cab. The truck part at the back has 2 small windows, like the old quarter light windows. With these open and the general air flow because although its a good fit there are a few places where air gets through we have found they travel fine. Ours are never left in it, Im sure like any vehicle, if its warm it would be dangerous to do so but whilst travelling they are fine. We only do short trips so we've never had any problems, I would think if you were going to be travelling longer distances a bigger estate type with air con would be better. Because its lined with some sort of tough plastic it absolutely doesnt matter how filthy it gets so I suppose you could throw some nice wet towels on the floor for them if you needed to do a longer trip and it got a bit hot
 
Top