We’re not in the market for a car, but if we were, I’ve got to admit the new Honda Element has some pretty cool features.

I don’t usually post about cars, but this car is really going to the dogs, I just had to share.

The new version of the Element is sort of a rolling Ritz-Carlton for the canine set. It features a built-in bed in the cargo area, a private electric cooling fan, a spill-proof water bowl and a mesh net to keep animals separated from people. Rubber floor mats are embellished with a dog-bone design.

Being shown at the show as a concept, a final version of the pooch-coddling 2009 Element will go on sale in late summer, setting up a dogfight of sorts with Toyota.

Honda’s rival has outfitted its Venza crossover with its own canine-friendly features and displayed it at a few dog parks and events around the country.

The Venza offers doggy seat mats, barriers and other items designed to make dogs and their owners more comfortable.

Honda and Toyota officials say the curious timing of the twin debuts is just coincidence. In an age when dogs join HMOs, get massages and see therapists, it was only a matter of time before they could have their own limousines.

More empty-nesters dote on their dogs now as their children have scattered, says James Jenkins, a Honda product planner.

The Element even has a built in dog ramp, for older dogs or those that won’t jump into the car.  Having an older dog I know what a great feature that would be to have. The price for all these doggy extras isn’t going to come cheap. The Element EX retails for $22,385, but the price with the added pet features has not yet been specified. I told Bo he is going to have to sell a lot of books if he wants to see himself in the driver’s seat of a new Element.

In all seriousness, I think it’s great that car companies are finally recognizing how important our dogs are to us and incorporating some dog friendly features into their vehicles.

*Royal Bentley Deeogee in his cool new car, not a Honda Element

I’ve previously done posts on keeping dogs safe when riding in cars.  Today I came across an article concerning a bill from Maryland trying to ban dogs in the back of pick-up trucks.

The legislation would have required that pets be caged or harnessed when riding in the back of a pickup truck. I didn’t realize that 25 states already have similar laws in place.

“I love dogs,” said the senator from the lower Eastern Shore, minutes before he joined a majority of the chamber in voting to kill legislation that would have required pets to be caged or harnessed when riding in the back of a pickup truck.

The lopsided 30 to 17 vote, hailed as a victory for the rural way of life, put to rest one of the most controversial issues to emerge during the first month of the 2009 session of the General Assembly.

Although Sen. J. Lowell Stoltzfus loves his dog, he voted no.  Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr, the bill’s sponsor, along with other proponents expressed the bill is just common sense, and about the safety of other motorists as well as the safety of the dogs.

In the end the bill did not pass, opponents happy because the rural way of life will be preserved and Rover will still get to go for a ride.

Let me know what you think about this type of bill, give me a bark.

* Oliver knows the importance of car safety.

There are a few things that I must clarify before I go on with the story.  First, Bentley is a 50 lb. Boxer and Shar-Pei mix rescue that was adopted a month ago.  Second, the coffee house didn’t have a drive-thru.

It all started when musician owner, Bryan Maher, stopped at the Cool Beanz coffee shop in Long Island to sign up for open mike night. Maher left the car running because it was cold out and he didn’t want his newly adopted pup to freeze.  He figured it would only take a minute, what could happen?

“The next thing I knew, I looked up to see my van coming at me in the window, with Bentley in the driver’s seat grinning at me.”

“Bentley was driving a ‘92 Ford van!” marveled shop owner Patricia McCarthy, 57. “I was astonished, very much so.”

The crash left the shop’s glass front window cracked, some patio furniture busted and the van with minor damage, but neither Maher nor McCarthy was mad at the lovable dog, who was unscathed.

“Aw, Bentley was wagging his tail afterward,” said McCarthy. “He really is a sweet dog.”

Maher still got his booking for the Saturday open mic, and Bentley will be getting a new doggy jacket for Christmas to keep warm.

I’m thinking Swedish dogs don’t read English.  If they did they would have learned a lesson from the story the other day about the Pit Bull who drove the car through the car wash.

This incident was so unnecessary,  had those dogs ordered an English course from Rosetta Stone this tragedy could have been avoided.

A miniature Schnauzer and its Chinese Crested friend were fingered as the culprits in a Swedish runaway car incident, police said.

The canines were found curled up in the backseat of a car that had smashed through a fence and ended up in the yard of a home in the southern Swedish town of Skurup Friday, the Swedish news agency TT reported.

The homeowners initially thought the culprit had fled because no one was behind the wheel, but on closer investigation found the dogs on the backseat, uninjured but very frightened.

“The dogs had presumably managed to knock the gear box and put the car into neutral on a downhill slope while their owners were paying a visit to friends,” Calle Persson of the Skane police told TT.

Two important things to take away from this story.  Dogs like to visit with friends too and don’t appreciate being left in the car.  And for the dogs…remember to buckle up, not only is it a good idea, it’s the law.

Since I always like to leave things on an up note I have a funny story out of Australia.

I’ve heard of the dog eating your homework but never a car.

A DARWIN man woke yesterday to discover dogs had eaten his car.

And he says it’s not the first time it has happened.

Clayton Dwyer, 47, of Millner, thought his girlfriend was kidding when she woke him up and told him his work ute had been gnawed by a pack of savage dogs. But when he walked outside his Beetson Place home he discovered this was no joke.

His front bumper had been ripped from the car and chewed to bits by the dogs. They had even tried to munch on the front panels.

“You can see the teeth marks,” he said.

Asked what he thought when he first saw the damage, Mr Dwyer said: “Doggone it! That’s a bit ruff.”

The landscape gardener said the pack of wild dogs had been lurking around his neighbourhood for months.

“My girlfriend’s car got eaten about three months ago,” he said. “At first we thought it had been attacked with a hammer, but we took it to the panel beaters and he said it was dogs. You could see the teeth marks on it.”

Dwyer wasn’t sure if insurance would cover this.  Hmmm…I gonna have to say no.

Summertime is the time for outdoor activities and having fun.   However, being outdoors with your dog, or leaving him outside more, does lead to an increased chance that your dog could get hit by a car.

The following are five great tips to keep your dog from becoming another statistic and keep everydog’s summer safe and fun.

1. Summertime can be the time for some nasty weather.  Always check on your fence after a storm to make sure it’s still intact.

Due to the storms, high winds can blow open gates or blow down sections of fences and dogs can escape. The most frequent emergency seen by veterinarians is a dog or cat being hit by a car. There are so many ways to prevent this tragedy. Always check fences and gates after high winds and storms before letting dogs in the yard. If there is a pet door and nobody is home during the day, install a padlock to the gate so it won’t blow open. If the fence is questionable during high winds, lock the pet door until the fence can be secured against high winds or until someone is home to monitor the dogs. Always be prepared for dogs to escape by having them microchipped by a veterinarian or local animal shelter. Microchips last forever and dogs will be returned when they are scanned.

2. Summertime is also the time for  having friends over, bar-b-q’s, and get togethers. This means a lot of traffic coming in and out of the front door.  No not car traffic, people traffic, so it is imperative to teach your dog not to run out the front door.

The best way to persuade your dog not to dash through doors is: do not let your dog make a successful dash through the door. Sounds obvious — but countless dog people and their guests have accidentally let the dog out the door, giving the dog a taste of freedom that can be exhilarating, but fraught with danger. The dog does not realize this, but he could get hit by a car, get in a fight with another animal, get lost and hurt, knock over children, not to mention alienate your neighbors. Even after dogs who get hurt after an escape fail to remember the connection between door-darting and pain when spotting a new chance to dash out the door.

3. Make sure your dog is always leashed, with the proper leash,  when you take your dog for a walk. As I’ve mentioned before Bo was quite a Houdini in his youth, a true master of slipping the leash.  When we got Logan, our Berner, his foster parents sent him along with a Martingale collar, something we had never heard of.  This collar prevents dogs from slipping the leash when they pull back.  Not usually an issue if Fluffy is 10lbs, but when she grows to be over 80lbs and turns into a ‘flight risk’, you’ll come to appreciate it.

Leash laws exist to protect not only your dog from tragic hit-by-car accidents but also to protect and safeguard all humans and other animals out and about in a civilized society. No dog, despite its level of training should be allowed to roam or to walk about freely when not in a fenced in yard, a home or a fenced dog park where dogs are permitted to run.

4. Having your dog spayed or neutered.

Dogs become sexually mature at around six months of age. Like a teenager first feeling the surge of hormones, an intact male dog has a strong, natural drive to seek out females. As you can imagine, it can be difficult to prevent an intact dog from escaping when his motivation to do so is very high.

Have your male dog neutered. Studies show that neutering will decrease sexual roaming in about 90 percent of cases. If an intact male has established a pattern of escaping, he may continue to do so even after he’s neutered, which is even more reason to have him neutered as soon as possible. Have your female dog spayed. If your intact female dog escapes your yard while she’s in heat, she’ll probably get pregnant (and she could be impregnated even if she stays in your yard).

5. Teach your dog to come.

Coming to you when called is one of the more important skills your dog can learn. Although we strive never to put our dogs in unsafe situations, the “come” (or “recall”) command can avert a car-dog collision, a deer chase, or other hazards.

In the event that your dog does get loose it is imperative that he has the proper tags and identification.  There are multiple ID choices and now is the time to decide which one is right for your pet.

Take the time to call your vet and investigate the options NOW. Once your pet is lost it’s too late. Also make sure to have a good clear updated photo of your pet should you ever need it.

In California it is now illegal to leave a dog in a hot car. In 2006 Gov. Schwarzenegger signed SB 1806:

“SB 1806 makes it a crime for a person to leave a pet unattended in a vehicle in a way that endangers the well-being of the animal due to heat, cold, lack of adequate ventilation, or lack of food or water, or other circumstances that could reasonably be expected to cause suffering or death. Unless the animal suffers great bodily injury, a first misdemeanor conviction for this crime is punishable by a fine of $100 or less per animal. If the animal suffers great bodily injury, the punishment is a fine of $500 or less, a sentence of up to six months in county jail, or both. A person convicted of felony animal cruelty is subject to a fine of $20,000 or less, time in state prison, or both.”

Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation to Protect Pets from Overheating in Vehicles

The bill was passed in 2006 and became a law in 2007. Last year I saw a police officer at a mall and because he was waiting for his partner to get a cup of coffee I approached him and asked if they had ever used the law yet. He was really nice and said he had heard there was a law but no, he had not responded to an incident of a dog in danger at that point in time.

He didn’t know the specifics of the law, so it may be a good idea, if you live in California, to make a copy of the statute or the article at the link above to show the police if you ever see a dog in distress and they are reluctant to do anything about it.

I find the place I most often see dogs in parked cars is at the mall, in which case I contact mall security to let them know. Even if the sun isn’t on the car at that moment, we all know that could change if the car remains for an extended period of time. Last year I called them 3 times, and for the record, none had the air conditioning running.

For those who live in states that don’t have this type of law, you could always forward a copy to your legislators and ask them to pass a similar bill where you live.

For great tips on keeping your dog heat-safe, check out our Vet Blog and today’s blog post by John Woestendiek of The Baltimore Sun.