Solvit 62294 Pet Vehicle Safety Harness, Small Review

I have two Jack Russell Terriers and before i bought this protective gear my SUV's rear seat was a mess, always full of hair. Now my dogs can enjoy the ride with much more comfort and I can enjoy an always clean seat.
I brought this in order to keep our one year old maltese/dachshund mix puppy safe whilst travelling in the car.



I was not very impressed with the product when it arrived. There were no instructions or any indication (not even a picture) to show how the harness was supposed to fit the dog, nor how the straps could be adjusted. My husband and I managed to figure it out reasonably quickly, but it was a bit of a pain trying to get the thing on a squirmy dog for the first time. Instructions would have helped so at least we would have known what we were doing. Having never brought a car harness before, we were equally unsure as to how the harness was meant to secure in the car. We were able to quickly figure out how it attaches, but again, instructions would have been nice to save time and the stress of having an excited dog leaping around whilst we try to restrain her (in the end, we detached the leash part from the harness, fixed the leash to the seat belt, then attached the leash to the harness once certain everything was secure).



The product itself seemed to be well made, although I was concerned by its weight. My little dog is only about 15lb, and this harness seemed a bit bulky and heavy for her to be wearing. Still, the harness felt secure (after minor adjustment to fit my dog's size) and although it seemed a little weighty, my dog tolerated it fairly well. Most of the weight seems to be the fault of the metal fastenings, which were a lot larger than I expected to find on a harness intended for small breeds.



The reason I am giving this product only one star is because it did not serve the purpose I brought it for --- keeping my dog secure on the back seat of the car whilst traveling.



After only ten minutes wearing this harness whilst traveling in the car, my dog managed to jump onto the floor (and, if she can jump down, then she can also fall down if the car were to come to a sudden halt). Unfortunately, once on the floor, the harness became extremely tight and might well have cut into her and caused injury. In addition, once she had climbed onto the floor, the harness was so tight that she could not climb back onto the seat. Gladly I was accompanying my husband at the time and was able to release my dog immediately, but had this happened without me there to release her, it could have proven to be be a very distressing/potentially harmful situation. Unfortunately, this problem could not have been avoided by shortening the length of the leash attachment, as it was already at its shortest setting.
Read more about Solvit 62294 Pet Vehicle Safety Harness, Small Review...