How to secure a plastic kennel in the back seat?

[r%C3%A9union]

We use a 28" plastic kennel to transport our 28lb dog in the car. But our new car, hatchback, has a truck that dips down into a well. We liked it since it provides a lot of extra vertical space in the trunk compared to other vehicles, but it is posing a problem for our dog to get in and out. He can't get up over the bumper anyways so we help him up, but its the getting up and then down that is giving him problems. Sometime he'll go to fast and knock into the kennel door or something. He is super used to the kennel so he basically runs into it knowing its car time.

I saw an image googling on one secured with straps, but it was a kennel that was designed for that. Ours has tie down holes on the 4 corners. This is basically our kennel if no the exact same model.

If getting a different kennel or travel device would work better and be safer we'd go that route as well. Just worried about him being loose in the backseat in case of an accident and the breeders and owners we spoke to all agreed a kennel in the back that cant slide around much is the safest option for travel.

 

[meehan8381]

@r%C3%A9union You can use ratchet straps and thread it through the handle maybe? I think if you wanted to be super safe and secure it would be worth it to invest in a Ruffland Kennel or similar since they have screws for tie-down D-rings. Here's my dog in ours

 

[r%C3%A9union]

@meehan8381 That's probably a bit expensive for us. We also need to balance the heft of it since we do move it from car to car and in and out every day.

 

[meehan8381]

@r%C3%A9union The small ones are relatively light: https://rufflandkennels.com/product/medium-kennel-2/ They're the cheapest of the crash tested kennels.

 

[mikula20117]

@r%C3%A9union I have a Gunner kennel for my dog (I saved up for it over about 7 months, as they’re expensive) and bought a kit that includes their ratchet straps, and one of the ways they suggest strapping their kennel in is using your car’s car seat anchors. Do you think you’d be able to use those anchors and 2 ratchet straps looped around the kennel so the long side of the kennel is flush against the backside of the backseats? Depending on how you configure the loops with the ratchet part of the strap, it might not be super annoying to take apart regularly.

 

[r%C3%A9union]

@mikula20117 I’ll take a look. I think our car seat anchors are on the back of the seat