Dogs in Cars, what the law says

There’s a lot to be said about dogs in cars and the law says to protect them from harm. There are quite a few states that have laws in place to protect not just dogs but all animals in general from being hurt while in cars, whether those cars are stationary or moving.

If you get caught breaking one of those laws, you can be fined and even have animal cruelty charges pressed against you.

Many states have laws in place about dogs and other animals being left unattended in parked cars.

How often do you go to the grocery store and see a dog in the car parked next to yours with the owner nowhere in sight?

How often do you see dogs left in cars unattended on extremely hot or cold days?

There are about 14 states that have laws…

… that specifically prohibit dogs and other animals from being left unattended in a parked car. Even though not all states have a law regarding this, that doesn’t mean that charges can’t or won’t be filed on you if someone sees your dog left alone in your car and calls the police or animal control.

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Some states allow a dog or other animal to be left unattended in a car as long as the dog has proper ventilation, food and water, and there is not extreme hot or cold weather.

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The laws regarding dogs being left alone in cars are being passed because of unfortunate circumstances where dogs have suffered from the heat or the cold while locked in cars and have died as a result.

There are also other laws in some states that require that all pets must be restrained when in a moving vehicle. Some of these laws pertain to the inside of cars, while other laws have to do with dogs being unrestrained in an open area of a vehicle such as the bed of a truck.

The laws prohibiting dogs from being unrestrained in the bed of a truck only apply to dogs, and the law in cars applies to all pets. If a pet is within a car while it is being driven, the pet cannot sit on the drivers lap and must be restrained with a seat belt made especially for animals.

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If a dog is in the open back part of a truck, it must be securely tethered to the truck or it must be in an animal cage or carrier that is secured to the back of the truck.

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These laws were put in place as a safety measure to protect dogs, and the law in cars is being enacted in several different states with more states to soon follow suit.

Dogs and other animals are just as likely to get hurt in a car accident as a human is, maybe even more likely if the dog is not restrained properly. Think about what would happen if your dog is on your lap or freely sitting in the seat of your car and you have to slam on your brakes.

What is going to stop your dog from flying forward and getting hurt?

The next time you think about leaving your dog alone in the car with the windows rolled up in the heat, think about what that heat feels like to you when you get into your car after the windows have been rolled up all day.