Car Window Guard

Car Window Guard

by Pam Green, © 2003

There is a fairly simple and inexpensive way to put a barrier accross your car windows so that the window can be open and yet the dog cannot jump out or stick his / her head out. It also tends to discourage people from sticking their hands into the car , and it would make it almost impossible for anyone to accuse your dog of reaching out to bite them.

Basically I just took some old style wire refridgerator shelves and tied the top edge to the coat-hanger railing over the window. Then I took a bungee cord and placed it so that I could use it to hold the fridge shelf in either the down position to block the window or in an up position up against the roof of the car. Exactly where the two ends of the bungess would attach would vary from car to car. In my car, the rear end attaches to the slot out of which the shoulder-belt emerges, and the other end attaches to the front seat to back seat barrier which I have also installed in this car. In effect the entire back seat has become a giant multi-dog dog crate. This enables me to have all 4 windows completely open when the car is parked, thus allowing free air-flow and minimizing heat build up in warm weather. Use of foil bubble-wrap barriers inside the windshield and the rearview window would further reduce heat intrusion if these windows are not fully shaded. Needless to say, parking in full shade in warm weather is highly reccommended.

You may need to put the barrier into the up position, ie up against the car ceiling, when a large or clumsy dog is entering or exiting. If the barrier is in the down position with the window open or partly open , it may cause some sound effects which you may find annoying. I would definately reccommend putting the windows at least half to three quarters up when resuming driving, regardless of the position of the barrier, so as to definatively prevent the dog from attempting to exit the car into traffic.

Please note that this system is NOT totally escape proof !!! It is still possible for a dog to chew through the bungee and then flip up the fridge shelf and hop out. I have even known a particularly clever dog to get out without displacing the bungees. This method is recommended only in addition to giving your dog some training about not exiting through an open car window. Such training can be done when you are parked in a safe place, eg with the car inside a fenced area.

Here is the exterior view of the car with the barrier in place :

Here is the view with the car door opened :

• Summertime, and the Living Ain't Easy (dangers of cars in summer; other summer care information)