We should be taking delivery on our 2009 MCS in the next 10-15 days. We have two small dogs (a beagle and a similar medium-sized mixed breed) that we'll take on occasional trips. My question is this: how do we protect the back of the car?

I plan to keep the rear seats folded forward when they're in the car, but need something to cover the entire surface in the back. We also need to somehow protect the sides, particularly below the windows. (They get excited when they see other dogs and put their paws/claws on the windowsill when they're barking. They scratched the surface of the sill in our Subaru Forester by doing that).

My thoughts so far have been to sew together a couple of furniture movers pads to cover the surface, but I can't figure out how to attach it to the back of the front seats and to the sides. If I were to apply silicone caulk near the base of the glass of the rear side windows, could I use that to glue velcro strips along the glass? (I'm assuming I could use a razorblade scraper to remove the caulk from the glass without leaving any marks, but don't have any experience with that).

Has anyone out there come up with (or bought) any solutions to this type problem? Thanks!

 

I have not but what you could do is put velcro tape on the windows and sew the corresponding part to the pads. This would take care of the sides and removing from the windows would be easy with a razor blade. Have not received my MINI yet but if the parts of the seats that are exposed when folded allow you to sew some velcro to them that would work too, then just remove the threads when ready to permanently remove. Just my .02.

 

Go to Poochstyle.com , they are also a vendor here.. They have car pads specifically for the MINI and the Clubman...check there and they have a wide variety of styles too!! Good Luck!

 

Seats would be easy enough with the seat covers available (poochstyles or something like that, they're onthe vendor page,) as for the sides, the safest play for you and your dogs is to buy them padded shoulder harnesses and seat belt adapters so that the dogs stay put. you can get them in any of the big box pet stores. If you even get in a small collision with loose dogs in the car not only are they going to get killed (even in a fender bender,) but it doesn't take much to turn your dog into a projectile that could seriously injure you or your passenger.

 

My fiancé's mom got us something similar to this:

http://new.minimania.com/web/Item/G2.../InvDetail.cfm

at first I thought it was ridiculous but after going on weekend road trips with it I love it, keeps them off of everything and keeps them contained.

At first my dog, a pug, didn't like it but after about 30 minutes of being in it she now loves it.

 

I got mine from www poochestyle.com

 

I bought this for our MINI: http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewPro...eIndexID=58209

Works great for our dogs. I'll snap a pic of our set-up when I get a chance.

 

Those 3 pups make the back look pretty roomy! Thats a nice setup... I have a 2 year old purebred St.Bernard... wonder if I can get him in there with the seats down and a nice mat like that?

 

I have a 40 lb australian shepherd mix.

she sits in the back seat. I use an old blanket to cover my seats, mostly just to protect from fur.

She doesn't paw at the windows, thankfully, since I have tint.


I will never fold my back seats down, my dog has a harness and stays buckled in at all times. There's a reason why people have to be buckled in, I care about my dog as much as I do any friend I have in my car, if not more. I don't want her getting injured if the worst happens.

 

Thanks, that looks like it would protect the sides as well as the floor. I would appreciate a photo or two when you get a minute.

From the instructions, it looks as though it's made by MINI. Is that correct?

Thanks again.

 

This is how you should be thinking about dogs in a car.