Let’s talk about vehicle safety. Growing up, all of us humans are taught the importance of vehicle safety on the road. However, a lesser talked about topic is vehicle safety for your pets. There are many situations where you may be hitting the road with your pets, and in that case, it's crucial to ensure your pets are well protected. We all know the importance of wearing our seatbelts and being attentive drivers, however, we must also pay attention to our pet’s safety while in a moving vehicle.
In the unfortunate event of a car accident, you would never want to be unsecured in your car. This is where seatbelts come in for us humans, as they ensure we are not tossed around during a crash. When traveling with your dogs, keeping them safe and secure is of paramount importance. This is where secure, travel-friendly dog crates come in. Rather than letting your pup roam around the car unsecured, protecting your dog in a heavy-duty crate is the most effective way to ensure their safety in the event of a car accident. While many of us may think “Oh, it will never happen to us”, life can be very unpredictable. This is why it’s essential to be prepared in the event of an accident; because you never know when it may happen to you. After all, in the aftermath of a car accident, you likely will never regret being too prepared.
Below is a testimonial that the Impact Dog Crates team received from a customer, Britney. While traveling with her 6 dogs recently, she was in an unfortunate car accident. Knowing the importance of pet safety on the road, her dogs were safely secured in their Impact Dog Crates, and because of that, they were all safe from harm. Check out this incredible story of how our crates protected Britney’s dogs when they needed it the most.
How Impact Dog Crates Protected These Pups in a Rollover Car Accident
"On July 2/early morning July 3rd, myself, my son and 6 dogs were driving home from a dog show. We had stopped at about 1am to drop off a dog and then proceeded to a gas station to grab food, drinks and to fill up. Getting back on the road I told my son we would stop in just a bit once we got through the up coming city and we would stop for the night before making the rest of the drive home.
About 4 miles north of that city my steering wheel shook and then something in the right wheel area locked up/broke/messed up. It immediately pulled to the right. I tried getting it to go back straight to stay on the road but it wouldn’t budge. The shoulder of the road was only so wide and unfortunately it went down a grass hill to the feeder road. Which was where the van was pulling us towards. I applied slow steady breaks to try and slow us down as we went onto the grass hill. Due to the incline of the hill we only got a few feet before our van flipped onto the passenger side, slid about 50 or so feet and then rolled over the front of the van and landed on the drivers side.
Obviously shaken up by the accident it took me a second to get my bearings but as soon as I did, I called 911. Knowing we had 6 dogs in the back in Impact crates we climbed out of the van and began trying to pry the sliding door on the passenger side open. We could not get it to budge. While on the phone with the 911 operator I began to panic because none of the dogs were making any noise. We had 5 German Shorthaired Pointers and a Cane Corso puppy with us. The operator kept telling me I needed to focus and answer her questions..because I was calling for the dogs and banging on the door to be able to get any kind of noise or movement so I knew they were alive. My son climbed back in the van through the open window to get the keys so we could get into the back of the van. A man did stop to check on us and helped me off the top of the van. He told me the only reason he saw us was because I was standing on the side of the van, otherwise he couldn’t see the van from the road. Once he helped me off the van, we went to work on getting the doors open and everything out of the way to get to the dogs in their Impact crates. As far as we could tell at that moment all the crates were intact and the dogs were safe. We quickly got wire crates and collapsible Impact crates (that we had to use zip ties on to hold the sides together) out of the van, so we could get them set up to get the dogs out of the van.
The EMTs showed up and asked to check us out, both my son and I said once we get the dogs out. They jumped in helping myself and my son get the dogs out of the crates, handed each one to me and put them into the crates on the feeder road. They both said they have dogs as well and completely understood. As we got the dogs out I assessed them to check for any injuries and they were all fine. The corso puppy had one little abrasion on her hock but it wasn’t bleeding. We were all pretty surprised and impressed that the kennels had kept them safe. A friend of ours was about 30 mins behind us and was able to stop and load the 6 dogs and us into her van and get us home.
While loading the crates we did notice a few had some dents and were bent but they were still useable at the moment. It wasn’t until the next day when we went to unload everything out of the van that we saw the damage on the worst crates. Even though they were bent, separated at the seams and damaged beyond any further use, they still held strong and protected the dogs."
"I have used impact crates for many years and anytime I have had issue or needed help with anything they have been super helpful. The crates have held up with many dog breeds of all sizes, getting moved in and out of the kennel, to the van and into show sites all over the country. They have kept them safe and secure and ultimately saved their lives in this accident. I will never have any other type of crates for my dogs and encourage everyone to get an Impact crate if you’re traveling with your dogs.
I will forever be grateful that I spent the extra money on the Impact crates because I do truly believe they saved my dogs lives that night. I will never own or buy anything but Impact crates from here forward. Thank you for making a quality product."
Thank you, Britney, for sharing your amazing story with us! We are so relieved to know that you and your precious pups are all okay.
