If you are a dog trainer, you expect a lot from your vehicle. You want a ride that is safe, roomy, and of course, dog friendly, since your training operation will often mean that you need to transport the dogs you are working with to a location where you have room to work. Of course you want your canine clients to have a comfortable ride, and you also want to be sure that you can adequately restrain them. The last thing you want is a dog hitting the windshield if you have to brake suddenly, or worse, in the event of an accident, a rattled dog frightened enough to bite a first responder.
With canine and human safety as well as comfort in mind, we have considered a number of used vehicles, and identified the five best for the dog trainers as being the Volvo S60, Dodge Durango, Honda Fit, Chevy Cruze, and Mercedes GLK 350.
Volvo S60: We chose the Volvo largely because of its Pedestrian Detection feature – it helps the driver to avoid colliding with anything that is moving, so it’s a great safety feature for when the dog is not inside the vehicle. It’s compact, though, so if your focus is on large breeds, you likely won’t be transporting many dogs at the same time.
Dodge Durango: The Durango is a nice, wide SUV that has plenty of room for you, the dogs you’re training, and a good bit of gear. When the seats are folded down, you’ll enjoy a spacious 84.5 cubic feet of cargo space, which should suit most dog trainers very well.
Honda Fit: This is a subcompact, and probably best suited to trainers who focus on small breeds. That said, the interior is fairly spacious, with foldable seats in the second row that you can hoist up to handle tall things like kennels.
Chevrolet Cruze: This eco-friendly offer delivers a lot more than you might expect in a compact, with innovative technology and a sporty appearance. It also features ten air bags, meaning that in the event of a collision, everyone in your vehicle, human or canine, will have the best possible protection.
Mercedes GLK 350: With five air bags just for the driver, and window curtain air bags for both rows of seating, this is another very safe vehicle. It also offers traction and stability control for easy, fast emergency maneuvering.
You may prefer one over another based on certain features, but one thing they all have in common is that they will accommodate buckling devices, and they all have above-average safety features.
