Sharples Safe N Sound Car Safety Belt for Dogs

A dog loose in a car is a passenger right up until somebody brakes hard, at which point it becomes something moving at the speed of the car, in the same space as the driver's arms. Long before that, it is a nose on the gearstick and a head between the front seats — which is the version of the problem most people are actually trying to solve.

This is the belt half of a car restraint, and Sharples sell the harness as a separate piece of the same Safe 'N' Sound range. The belt is strong, durable polyester webbing; the harnesses in the range use nylon. It is fully adjustable to suit the dog, and what it does is keep the animal secured in one place with limited freedom of movement around the vehicle — as much about the driver being undistracted as about the dog. It comes in two sizes, and the instructions for use are printed on the packaging.

• Polyester webbing belt, described as strong and durable
• Fully adjustable to fit the dog
• Two sizes: S/M and L/XL
• Part of the Sharples Safe 'N' Sound car safety range
• Harnesses in the same range use nylon webbing and are sold separately
• Instructions for use are on the packaging

This is the belt, not the harness. It is the tether that connects a harness to the car, so on its own it does not restrain anything, and it must never be clipped to a neck collar. No length, no width, no breaking strain and no crash-test standard has been supplied for it, and there is nothing to tell you which size suits which dog beyond S/M and L/XL. Buy it for what it is: an inexpensive way to keep a dog in one place and out of the driver's way. If certified crash performance is what you are after, look for a product that publishes a test standard, because nothing of the kind has been published for this one.

Who it's for: anyone who already has a car harness and needs the tether that goes with it, and drivers who simply want the dog off the back of their seat and out of the footwell.