A safety tip for our four-legged friends: dogs and cars. During this season of very hot weather, never leave your dog in the car with open, or even semi-closed windows! Our cars can turn into an oven in a very short period of time.

It's also a very bad idea to ride around with open windows so the dog(s) can put their heads outside while driving. Yes, I know a lot of dogs love that, but it is very dangerous. You can actually be putting the dogs’ eyesight at risk.

I rode a motorcycle for a few years, and one day while riding, I had a pair of very good glasses shatter after hitting a bee; you can see evidence for yourself if the next time you go out to your car, look at the front end, mainly around the grill area and you should see quite a few very small paint chips all over. Most of those paint chips were caused by tiny grains of sand hitting the car as well as loose debris getting kicked up by the tires of other cars, all of these factors have the potential for causing your dog to go blind.

If you have a very active dog in the car, my two sense as a dog trainer is that it could be a bad distraction for the driver. At most pet stores they carry a type of harness that connects the dog to your seat belt. This harness will keep the dog comfortably in one place and in case of an accident, the dog would be much safer and won't become a flying projectile in your car.

I hope these tips for traveling were helpful, happy and safe motoring! For more information on tips and tricks for dog training and dog obedience school, contact K-9 Communication by giving us a call at (203) 874-7299 or visiting our website today!