Open Air Driving With a Dog: Top Down Kit
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With the roof stowed, everything about the back seat changes. A nylon collar stays damp for hours once it has been rained on at 50 miles an hour, road grit lands directly on the coat instead of on a door card, and the water bowl that lives in the trunk is useless at a stoplight. Five items answer those specific problems, and none of them are the ones a normal road trip list would pick.
Wind is the variable nobody accounts for
Driving with the top down is not a longer version of driving with the windows cracked. It is weather, continuously, for as long as you are moving, and gear that is merely adequate in a closed cabin starts to fail. Whether your dog belongs back there at all is the subject of our article on convertibles and sunroofs with a dog. This page assumes you have already made that call, and it sits with the rest of the kits on the Bundle Guides hub.
One thing before the gear. A collar is not a restraint, and none of this changes that. Keep a leash or harness clipped to something solid any time the roof is off or the windows are down past your dog's reach.
Collar, towel, bowl and a fish
The Lucky Dog collar is the piece doing something a normal collar cannot. Lucky Dog Pet Company describes it as PVC in odor free and waterproof material made to withstand the elements, built for rain, sleet and snow, in Small, Medium and Large. That waterproof description is the whole point in an open car, because webbing soaks and PVC does not. Measure the neck before you pick a size, because Lucky Dog Pet Company offers three and nothing between them.
The Rubyloo shammy is what you use in the driveway at the end. Rubyloo describes the towel as absorbent and says its Rapid Dry Technology dries a dog faster than cotton does. It is sold as a 1 pack or a 2 pack, 34 by 26 inches per towel, trimmable for a smaller dog. It is used damp, not dry, which catches people out the first time. Wring it out, work it over the coat, and put it in the machine for the next drive.
The Bernal set is here because of where it fits rather than what it holds. Wildebeest describes it as two ripstop nylon bowls that pop open in seconds and fold flat into a zippered case, with a daisy chain for carrying, holding 8 cups between them. In a convertible there is no useful trunk space and no loose object policy that survives 60 miles an hour, so a bowl that folds flat into its own zippered case and lives in the console is the only version that gets used.
Our freeze dried pink salmon is the reward. One ingredient, Alaskan pink salmon, freeze dried in small batches in Malvern, in a single 1.5 ounce pouch. Our page describes the pieces as breaking into small, quick reward sizes, which is what you want when you are handing something back one piece at a time at a light.
The waste bags round it out, ours, leak proof on an easy tear roll. Convertible parking tends to be street parking, so the roll goes in a pocket rather than in a bag you would have to walk back to.
Why there are no dog goggles in here
Goggles are the first thing people suggest for an open car, and we do not stock them or recommend guessing at them. Fit on a dog's face is specific, a pair that slips is worse than nothing, and the honest answer is that a dog who wants his head in the airstream is a dog who should be lower in the seat instead. We also left out a bandana or neckerchief. In a closed car it is decoration and in an open one it is a loose object flapping against the neck at speed.
How the drive actually runs
Size the collar from a neck measurement and fit it at home, not in a parking lot on the morning of the drive.
Offer water at every stop, not only when he looks like he wants it. Open air drives are longer than they feel and a dog in the back is not going to ask.
Pay him for staying down. Hand over salmon when he is lying on the seat rather than when he has stood up to look over the door, because whichever position you reward is the one you will get for the next hour.
Towel him before the house, not after. Road dust on a damp coat ends up on furniture, and a wipe down in the driveway is the cheapest place to stop it.
What owning it replaces
A collar that smells like a wet tent by Sunday. A bath towel that is already soaked through halfway down one flank. A plastic bottle poured into a cupped hand at a gas station, which wastes most of it. And the biscuit that blows off your palm before the dog gets to it. If salmon is not what your dog will turn his head for, Explore groups what we make by protein first, then by life stage and format.
Questions about driving with the top down
Can my dog ride in the back seat of a convertible at all?
That depends on the dog, the speed and how he is secured, and it is the subject of the article linked above rather than of a kit. What we will say plainly is that nothing in this list is a restraint, and none of it substitutes for one.
Is a PVC collar uncomfortable compared to nylon?
They are different materials and a dog used to webbing will notice the change. Lucky Dog Pet Company describes this one as odor free and waterproof, made to withstand the elements, and that is the trade you are making. If your driving is mostly clear days with the roof up, a webbing collar is the easier choice.
How much water should I carry for a two hour open drive?
More than you would for the same drive with the roof up, and offer it twice rather than once. The two bowls hold 8 cups between them, which is more than most dogs will take at a single stop but covers two stops without refilling.
How it ships
Three of the five pieces come from three different makers, which is worth planning around if there is a weekend you are aiming at. The collar leaves Hamburg, New York on its own tracking. Lucky Dog Pet Company items are sold and shipped by Lucky Dog Pet Company through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift. The shammy is a separate box out of California. Rubyloo items are sold and shipped by Rubyloo through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift. Bowls are a third delivery again. Wildebeest items are sold and shipped by Wildebeest through Shopify Collective, not made or shipped by Sniff and Shift. Only the salmon pouch and the roll of bags leave our own kitchen. Fit the collar a week before the first drive so a size swap is not a last minute scramble, and the other road trip kits cover the closed roof days in between.
Related guides
- Rental car dog kit
- Road trip laundry and gear reset kit
- Pup Cup Drive-Through Treat Kit: What to Put In It
