In response to a comment on my Window Film Application post here are my thoughts on the Honda Element as a dogmobile and how I store my dog stuff in it. Basically it is a fine vehicle. I've had mine for just over two years. It has 42,000 miles on it. I don't keep track of mileage too much but I probably get around 25 MPG with mostly highway travel.

Before the Element I had a Jeep Grand Cherokee and had terrible brake problems (just got a check from a class action law suit over brake rotor warping problems). While the Jeep was quieter, had more amenities, better performance, it also had poorer gas mileage and wasn't convenient to use with crates. The Jeep also cost almost $ 10k more than the Element. It seems it was always in the shop too. I probably paid nearly $ 1k a year in maintenance on that Jeep.

One thing the Jeep got me used to was never being stuck in Chicago's snow storms. So I sprung a little extra for the Element EX with "real time" four wheel drive. I haven't gotten it stuck in the snow yet.

The dogcars.com website rated the 2007 Element the "Dog Car of the Year". I found the comments in this article to be pretty accurate as well.

The only downside with the design I've found are the "suicide" rear doors. If you end up parking a lot in pull in spaces (i.e. parking lots) and you put people or larger stuff in the rear seats you end up doing a little dance with the front and rear doors to get people and stuff in and out of the vehicle. I've also clobbered my head a couple times on the top bracket that helps lock the rear doors in place.

I like the tailgate and liftgate on the rear. I can flip open the liftgate and take care of the dogs while being protected from the elements. It also makes it easy to attach a sun shade and have good air movement in/out of the back area of the vehicle. The tailgate makes a great place to sit and you can use it to tend to your dog's grooming and taping of feet before flyball tournaments.

I built two platforms for holding Midwest 606SS side by side crates across the back of the Element. If you need two side by side crates you have to put them on a platform. The floor in the rear has a couple bumps for the suspension that keep the crates from fitting side by side directly on the floor. I use two heavy webbed straps to tie each platform and the crate to the tie downs located in the bed of the car. If you are creative you could also tie the crate/platforms to the brackets used to hold the seats the floor. I position the crates front to back within the car so I can open the crate doors while keeping the tailgate up. It also puts the front of the crates within easy reach of the front seat (for passing treats to good dogs). This also lets me put my easy up tent across the width of the vehicle behind the front seats and in front of the crate(s).

By having two separate platforms I have more crate/seat flexibility. I can have just one crate installed and drive two other people around. I've also used one crate and put the other two dogs in their car harnesses attached to the seat belts.

I made the platforms out of plywood with 1"x10" supports and held everything together with heavy angle iron supports and through bolts. Having the crate raised also gives me a place to put, collapsible chairs, and other dog trial gear.

I've seen other platforms that sit on top of the brackets used to hold the seats in place. That would give a good solid mounting location but would also set the crates several inches up higher in the vehicle. I like being able to look over the top of the crates to see cars around me.

I cleaned out my car after a weekend trip and took some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about.

One Rear Seat Removed
bump on the floor at the seat belt

One Crate Installed

Some Stuff In Place

Two Crates Installed

Room In Front of Crate With Seats All The Way Back

Now that the heat of summer is coming I've started looking for ways to keep our dogs cooler and safer while traveling in the car. Like many agility folk who won't make the jump to the mini van (or church bus as my friend Tony with 10+ dogs wants :^) I drive a Honda Element. It has slightly tinted windows in the back and on the rear sun roof. The rear sun roof ends up right over the dog's crates and the sun comes right in on the dogs. There isn't an opaque cover for the sun roof glass to keep all the light out.

Aftermarket window tinting is a very common thing to do in the Southwestern US where the heat of the sun coming into the car makes for an instant oven. One thing you can do yourself is apply window darkening film to your vehicle's non sliding windows. I got the idea from my friend Steve who put the film on the rear sun roof window on his Element. He kindly gave me his leftover film so I thought I'd give it a try.

Before you try this yourself check your local legal codes. For law enforcement safety it is illegal in some jurisdictions to tint some windows on the vehicle and the amount of tinting may also be legislated.

I read the owner's manual for removing the sun roof. It was pretty easy. Then it was just a matter of following the film's instructions. Wash the inside of the window with soapy water and cut the film to size (I just cut it to rough size):

Then I used a little water sprinkled it on the glass, and placed the film on top of the glass. You can lift and reposition the film to get it in the right location. Then using a credit card or squeegee work from the middle of the window to the edges pushing the air bubbles and water out from under the film. Then using a very, very sharp (brand new!) razor blade carefully cut the film at the edge of the window. Be careful not to cut the rubber gasket that seals the glass in to the frame. I found using the squeegee to hold the film down and to act as a straight edge made cutting the film on the straight sections easy. The rounded corners were trickier and my cuts weren't too smooth.

Here is the completed installation along with the tools I used. I squeegeed out the last couple bubbles before I installed it. It turns out if you leave the film a little too long it will pucker, so I had to trim a tiny sliver off in a couple places.

This was a pretty simple job, it took under half an hour including taking pictures. Once I reinstalled the window I could definitely see the difference. While this was quick and easy, I think I would have a professional install the film on windows that I had to look out of or windows that moved up/down, since it would bug me if I had to see air bubbles or crooked cuts.

Stay cool out there!

I saw a tragic story come through on a number of agility email lists a couple weeks ago that I thought I should share it with those of you who don't read all the lists. A family let their dog out into their yard of agility equipment and when they checked back later it appeared that their dog had gotten out of the yard. After searching the neighborhood they ultimately found their dog had become tangled in the chute material within the chute and suffocated. I can only imagine how heart broken they must be.

So we all get the moral of the story right away: agility equipment (among other things we leave in our yards) can be potentially dangerous to our dogs if we leave them unattended. I figured that was pretty much the end of the story.

But of course, just like on every email list, someone will come along and post a reply. Many were sympathetic and even helpfully listing other dangers. But the reason I didn't post this right away was I was fuming from a couple of the replies. They were basically taking the owners to task for leaving their dog unattended, how could someone be so irresponsible, everyone knows you shouldn't do that, how could they do that, etc. Almost to the point of they deserved that to happen and don't deserve to have a dog. Don't you think these people will be remorseful for the rest of their lives? Is it really necessary to heap scorn on them publicly in a holier-than-thou manner? So I did the right thing, I didn't reply to their replies.

Anyway here are some of my thoughts on keeping agility equipment safe when not in use and some comments on other's thoughts:

• If you have the luxury of having your agility equipment in a separate yard that is inaccessible you are indeed fortunate.
• A fully enclosed dog run is often safe, be sure to check for raccoons, and other wildlife that might have created or found a way into your dog's run.
• Obviously don't leave your chute out. I stuff the material in the barrel and stand it on end up against the fence.
• A Tire can be dangerous to leave out. I put mine against the fence.
• A teeter can be especially dangerous if you have more than one dog. If left up one dog could bring it down on top of another dog. So if you have an adjustable teeter you could leave it out if you disconnect the chain so it falls down to flat on the ground. Or flip your teeter upside down.
• Other people were warning about dog's having their contact behavior degrade if they were allowed to climb on and off the A Frame or Dog Walk. I don't really see that being an issue. I trained Meeker using the Jungle Gym approach where I want him comfortable jumping on and off the contacts at any time in a controlled manner. If he looses his footing on the Dog Walk and chooses to jump off I'll praise him for making the safe choice. I also don't think allowing a dog to stand on the DW or AF and survey the surroundings will have any impact on their actual performance. Dogs know the difference between different situations/environments.
• I'm not seeing the danger of a tunnel being left out as long as you have the ends held in position by sandbags/snuggers. Otherwise the ends might flop closed against the ground (like a Slinky when "walking down stairs") and you could have a dog overheat within the confined space.
• Wading pools, fish ponds, swimming pools. Empty them or restrict access. These are dangerous to children too and most towns have legal requirements about access to large swimming pools.
• Usual caveats about fire pits, grills, thunder, lightning, fireworks, lawn care products, fertilizers, tools, shovels, rakes and other implements of destruction.

Some folks were warning about the dangers of leaving bars up on jumps. I guess if you have multiple dogs rocketing around your yard they could get injured by chasing one another and colliding with a jump. But I'd think running into a contact would be more dangerous.

I think an important issue in multiple dog homes is how the dogs interact with one another. Obviously if they don't get along it would be dumb to leave them outside together unattended. Dogs that chase one another without regard for themselves or their environment are also a disaster waiting to happen, more so when there are literally obstacles in their way. Our dogs pretty much only interact with us, every now and then Petey and Meeker will chase each other but they stay cognizant of their surroundings.

So do I follow my own advice? Sort of. I have left Meeker unattended in the backyard for as long as 10 minutes. But that is quite rare. I often have agility equipment set up in the yard, but with the caveats I listed above. But he will never interact with it without me being present. The army of squirrels in the trees surrounding my yard is much more interesting.

Milo is perfectly safe unattended. He will just chew on his tennis ball while watching the door for you to come out again. But I still don't leave him out unattended for long. Petey is just too likely to "get into something" to be left unattended for longer than tens of seconds at a time.

So did I miss anything? Is it really never safe to leave your dogs unattended?

Here's my interpretation of the Contact Cozies Steve Stochaj wrote about in his comment on my article about the dangers of frost on contacts. I got the dog footprint fleece on sale at a local fabric store and after many fits and starts got my Mom to cut and stitch them. I think they look pretty good:

A Frame Contact Cozy

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In the past month there has been a lot of discussion on the AgilityDogs and USDAA SoundingBoard email lists about serious injuries to dogs on the tire. I strongly recommend you read through the archives. There are several "failure modes" on this obstacle that can make it dangerous:

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Unfortunately, I left my A Frame in the middle of the yard when the snow and subsequent freezing rain hit Chicago-land last week. With this weather the backyard is too icy to be safe for playing (something I'm concerned about). But I've also been retraining Meeker to use a running A Frame and really need some practice time. So I decided to unbury my A Frame and move it to my snow and ice free driveway, roll out my flyball matting and practice out there. At least that is the plan.

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The previous owner of my house had installed fixtures for three pairs of incandescent floodlights lights pointing out to the yard. This time of year I need to use the lights before and after work for playing and training with Meeker. It has always bothered me that together these lights use over 600 watts of energy, more energy than running the washing machine. So I thought I'd use Blog Action Day to post about what I did to reduce my energy consumption to only 144 watts.

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Well I've had the parts for almost a year now and I finally made time to put together my own Chute. This isn't exactly a "how to" article but for someone who is reasonably handy you should be able to use my experiences to make your own chute. The usual cautions apply - use common sense so you don't hurt yourself doing this.

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Grass as agility equipment you might ask? Sure. I want Milo and Meeker to have a comfortable and safe surface on which we can play and practice agility. Since I can't afford artificial turf and don't want to replace my existing grass with mulch, I have been looking into how I can improve this agility equipment safely, economically and responsibly.

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