The Odd Old Days: Take Your Dog For a Ride Outside the Car!
I’m a fan of the blog Kitschy Kitschy Coo, and yesterday when pawing through the latest entries, I came across this 1936 promotion for a way to pop your dog in a sack on the ol’ running board and whisk him off on a road trip. No muss, no fuss, no dog fur or pesky dog odor in the car. Just put the pedal to the metal and off you go! This ad or article (no one knows if it was for a real product or just an idea for home tinkerers to experiment with) came from a 1936 edition of Popular Mechanics, as reported by the fun site, Modern Mechanix.
While I was perusing Modern Mechanix, I found a slightly less horrifying but equally bizarre product for transporting dogs in cars: The running-board kennel, found in an ad from a 1932 Modern Mechanix magazine. Here it is, in all its shining glory:
Yes, that was quite the palace. I wonder how many dogs were transported in regal fashion, and how many lived to tell about it? The good news is that these inventions were not the standard at the time. I have proof! Here’s a Laurel & Hardy still that shows that not only did dogs get to ride in cars — they got to drive them, too.
Well considering that at the time the “safety feature” in race cars was to have the car throw you out clear of the car in the event of the crash (so as to not be pinned in the mangled remains that would catch fire), such a external module is about on par on safety for the dogs…as long as it was a head on or rear end crash. Never mind that the interior of car was festooned with pretty (but brutally hard) trim pieces and that safety glass was still probably not widely adopted.
Dare I say that while strange, such a module wasn’t probably any more unsafe than the rest of the car in a crash.
@Santiago, thank you for this good info about the “safety features” of race cars of the day. Interesting!
I am a OLD car nut and also love old advertising pieces these are great.
TopDogTom
P.S. I am a dog lover as well
@SmallDogTraining — Old cars rock! My hubby’s cousin has a Locomobile that is droolworthy, and I hope to soon take a ride in it. I don’t think he has the “side sack” ready for Jake, though!
Wow, can you imagine putting your dog is the sack on the side of the car. I wonder if it was ever really sold and if it was how many dogs were hurt from it. But it was very interesting to see such advertising from the past.
the “Traveling Comfort for the Dog” showing the crate-on-flivver arrangement really tickled me. I have been involved in carriage driving for about twenty some odd years and know just enough horse-and-carriage information to be dangerous. Anyway, in hunting traps, gigs, and even some 4-wheel horse carts used for “business purposes” as opposed to showing off (such as on Rotten Row in London) there were often dog crates built on for transporting usually working dogs to wherever or whatever their jobs were. There was even a “dog cart.” The crates were built into the back or underpart of the horse-drawn vehicle (because it was a servant who would get the dogs out, not the lady of the house who would soil her gown by kneeling down in the dirt/mud to open the crate door). Since so many car features in the early days were adopted from horse drawn vehicles, it is easy to see where the car-with-dog-feature came from.
lol just a little…
These were probably used more often than not for those who did dog shows or traveled from ‘winter-to-summer’ homes and who-knows-what-else.
I’m going to assume that they were/are no more safe than a small pup peeking out of a motorcycle jacket or flopping it’s ears in the breeze from a car window @ 65mph.
The cars ‘back then’ only did 20/25mph on the average. I think speedometers topped out @ 45/55mph.
But being on the running-board also assured one of being hit by a rock thrown from tires. Ouch!
Most of us just carried our dogs in the back of the pick-up truck with all the kids. LOL
I guess it’s funny but these kinds of things don’t just belong in the past. Remember Mitt Romney strapping his dog’s crate to the roof of his car for a 12 hour drive? Here’s Time’s take on it: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1638065,00.html
Advertisers come up with some crazy stuff but unfortunately some people are nuts enough to fall for it.
My dog can stay in the passenger seat, thank-you. BOL! Very interesting article!
Am enjoying learning more history from these comments! Thanks for passing along these fun tidbits!
@Pamela — I did not remember this! What planet was I living on!?
@Annie —
My dogs would never ride outside my car it just isn’t ans in my opinion wasn’t safe then either.
Massachusetts’s animal cruelty laws specifically prohibit anyone from carrying an animal “in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel or inhuman manner or in a way and manner which might endanger the animal carried thereon.”
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1638065,00.html#ixzz0yzPxskmo
And yet pets are put in danger everyday when they travel as cargo on planes…
go figure
I could not imagine Checkers in the running board sack–how would I ever know if he fell out or were in trouble?!
The whole idea is just crazy, but for the dog sack — it looks like the dog’s head would be in the way of the door! How does the driver open his car door without smacking his dog in the head?
Yeah, and Romney still wants to be President! Doesn’t he know that there is an association between animal abuse and human abuse;-)
Of course, dogs travel in much the same was as fifty years ago in parts of the country. And, if a huntin’ dog doesn’t hunt, he might just find himself “let out” on some country road somewhere, and the car or truck pulls off leaving him stranded. People still suck, and it’s 2010.
The canvas sack has gone the way of the dinosaur, but there are still companies making metal boxes that attach to the sides or backs of cars. Lots of beaglers use them to transport dogs – here’s a commercial version:
http://www.kargoholder.com/accessories/dogpac.htm
I have old 1960′s bird dog training books that mention how to train your dog to ride in the trunk.
Our dogs were in the back seat or the back of the pickup (with the kids). But we also allowed our dogs in the house, which was basically unheard of. They should be on a chain outside!
Very interesting. As was mentioned, the cars in those days only traveled at about 25 mph. Mostly because the roads were just dirt. There were not very may cars on the road then either. And most people didn’t travel very far. Another thing to remember, in those days, not everyone considered dogs as family members. Some may have been pets, but most dogs lived outside like the rest of the animals did. It was perfectly acceptable at the time.
My Daddy has a 1940 Buick, and all of us pups get to ride inside of the car. You can see pictures of us in the car on our Dogster pages.
Dante, Bogey, & Parker
I am a long time fan of the visual comedy & silly situations of Laurel & Hardy.
The dog who posed as the driver of the car has a higher IQ than these 2 comedians
who portrayed themselves as morons.