Best Dog Harnesses and Carriers for Travel

Lucy and I had congruent experiences setting up the harnesses on our pups. As I mentioned, I was confused by the unorthodox straps at first, and Lucy had a similar reaction to them. “We found the harness kind of physically cumbersome to set up, even with the easy-to-follow illustrated instructions card,” Lucy says. “To me, it’s not obvious how the straps should be oriented because they don’t run in the direction they’re supposed to go for the back straps—they are instead sewn parallel to the side straps where the seat belt goes through. Tightening was also quite difficult. It appears this size of this harness might be a little too big for Milky Way, but we were able to tighten it to the point of making it work for her.”

(Note: Sleepypod provides instructions on how to measure your dog’s torso to fit them in one of four harness sizes, but I also encountered the same issue as Lucy and received a harness that was slightly too large.)

Your dog’s comfort level with a new harness or carrier may depend a lot on their previous experiences with them. Milky Way wore a 2Hounds Design freedom harness prior to trying the Sleepypod, so Lucy says she was happy and patient to put on the new harness.

“For this harness you need to put the front legs through the static arm holes. This is a hard task compared to the 2Hounds Design, which is designed so that you put the front part of the harness over the dog’s head and then connect two sets of straps that reach around each arm connecting the front part of the harness to the back part of the harness, so no balancing and stepping through each arm hole is necessary,” Lucy says. “Milky Way was a good sport about putting her paws through the arm holes, but it wasn’t the easiest.” Thankfully, she says, Milky Way seemed plenty comfortable in the harness. 

Lucy says that you also have to clip your leash to two loops that join two buckles, so you can’t unbuckle the harness and keep the leash clipped on—you must remove it.

Getting Milky Way to lie down for the initial adjustment needed with the seat belt was the hardest step. “We travel with lots of stuff, so we typically have only one back-passenger seat set up. Because of this and Milky Way’s size, we found it challenging getting her to lie down, as instructed by Sleepypod, to adjust the belt. And once we did get her to lie down, it was hard to buckle her in since her body covered the buckle,” Lucy says. 

Blake is used to wearing a harness, so he patiently allowed me to strap him into it. And because he also seems born for the “ride free or die” life, the mere act of being in my car calmed him down enough that he willingly reclined and let me strap the seat belt into his harness with zero drama. It couldn’t have been easier to do.

Once Blake was buckled into his harness and securely fastened with a seat belt, I realized this was the way all car rides would need to be from now on. He had enough freedom of movement to sit up, peer out the window, and inch over to my young son next to him for a hug. But he could not lean too far over toward the front seat or stick his head out the window. 

Lucy shared my sentiment. “I definitely find that the harness keeps my dog safe and protected,” Lucy says. “I know the freestanding crate in the trunk is not as safe as having her connected to the car seat belts.”

CPS gave this harness a rating of five out of five stars.

There’s often room for improvement on products, and this harness is no exception. “The twisting of the reflective straps that the seat belt goes under bothers me,” Lucy says. “I wish it was flush, but perhaps it is designed this way so that there is more space/wiggle room for the seat belt for comfort?”

Personally, I would prefer a system of straps on the back of the harness that isn’t as complicated to put on and adjust. While I had time to fiddle with the straps at home before taking Blake out, I can imagine that doing this at the groomer or vet would be needlessly time-consuming.

Attaching this harness to Jenny was straightforward, O’Connell says, but despite measuring her dog’s chest and ordering the right size, she says the harness was too big for Jenny.

According to O’Connell, this harness felt “really stiff” and Jenny didn’t seem supercomfortable in it. When I tried the Sleepypod Clickit Sport Plus, I also noticed right away that the fabric was harder and stiffer than other harnesses I’ve used, though Blake didn’t seem to mind it (I also removed the harness from him as soon as we came back inside from our car trip).

Our impressions of how this harness felt and fit differed from our impressions of its safety abilities—it gave the impression of being a reliable, secure harness for the car. “I think if it fit, it would have been good for travel,” O’Connell says. “It is really sturdy in its structure, and sliding the seat belt straight through the buckle seems like it would be very safe.”

CPS gave this harness the same rating as the Sleepypod Clickit Sport Plus: a five out of five.

A harness for car travel is helpful only if it fits well in your car or SUV and, unfortunately, O’Connell says, the buckle shield on this harness was too long for her car’s buckle part (she has a 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe). “It’s hard to get the buckle into the cylindrical piece of fabric to click it in and also hard to get my hand in there to unbuckle it,” O’Connell says. “I wish it was shorter but understand the idea is that it prevents your dog from unbuckling themselves."

Setting up this carrier in a car is an okay experience, but it could be better. “It strapped in easily around the seat belt, though getting the belts around the carrier and clicked into the buckle was a little tricky,” O’Connell says. “It was slightly longer than the width of my seat/seat belt, so it didn’t fit entirely on the seat and had to be tilted a little bit to get it to click into the buckle in the back seat.”

The carrier was really hard to keep open, according to O’Connell. One side must be fully zipped to keep it upright, so O’Connell says she found it was more difficult than her usual carrier to keep the dog access door wide open for Bug to go in. 

“I couldn’t just unzip this one and have her walk right in—I had to squeeze the opening into the top handle to get it to stay open,” O’Connell says. “Once inside, she seemed comfortable and didn’t protest at all. She had to be coaxed in with treats for the first go, but once inside she laid out comfortably and stayed in there with the top closed. She was able to walk in, turn around, and then lay down. She didn’t want to get out! The bottom pad is really soft, and I think she liked laying there.”

CPS gave the Sleepypod Air a rating of four out of five stars for safety because, although it was a high-quality, secure carrier, the amount it raised off of the seat exceeded the threshold for the highest point score during testing, according to Lindsey Wolko, founder of the CPS and CR staffer. Nevertheless, our evaluator felt secure using this for Bug. 

“This feels very sturdy and well made,” O’Connell says. “The clips that go around the seat belt felt secure. All the zippers worked great, and it has a hard bottom. I do feel like this would keep her protected; it seems high quality.”

“I would like to see some clip or mechanism to keep the door open," O’Connell says. This is critical when getting a pup used to a carrier—at least in my experience—to get them acclimated to the small space and comfortable spending time in there. I was able to keep it open, but I don’t think it was intended to open that way.”

O’Connell says that the instructions were just pictures and were difficult to understand. 

There’s no learning curve involved in setting up the Diggs Passenger Travel Carrier, according to Davis, who says it was “really easy and intuitive to set up.” Because she already uses a car seat for Sophie, she was used to strapping one in, which might have helped.

Sadly, this carrier was not a hit for the Chorkie. “Sophie hated being put in this carrier,” Davis says. “She stiffened all of her legs and braced against the sides to try to keep me from putting her in it. When I zipped the top shut, she pawed at the sides trying to escape.”

Even worse: Sophie vomited in the carrier—but the good news is that Davis reports it was “so, so easy to clean.” The “pee pad” cushion inside came right out, and the material (which feels almost like microfiber) was really easy to clean in the sink with soap and water, she says.

“The carrier seems protective and safe,” Davis says. “There isn’t a lot of room for her to bounce or shuffle around, and all of the closures feel secure.”

CPS gave this carrier a rating of five out of five for safety.

Even though Sophie didn’t take to this carrier, Davis had trouble finding fault with it. 

“The carrier is really thoughtfully designed (you can close the top zipper quickly with one hand; the top closure is magnetic to help close it; there are top, side, and front zippers; the shoulder strap easily works to secure the carrier in the car),” Davis says. “I just wish Sophie was a little more keen on it! If we were traveling via air, I’d definitely use this carrier because it’s compact and secure, but in the car I don’t think she’ll tolerate such a small space.”

As cute as it is to see a pup sticking their heads out the passenger seat window, it’s important to remember that pets can cause distractions while driving, and containing or restraining your pet can help prevent a crash, according to Wolko. Dogs can also catch road debris in their eyes and nostrils—these are painful injuries and, in some instances, dogs can lose their vision as a result of this, Wolko says. 

“We do not recommend that pets travel in the front seat of a vehicle for multiple reasons,” Wolko says. “Older cars may not have sensors that turn the airbag off (we have reports of dogs being crushed and killed instantly by the airbag—even though they were riding in a plastic carrier). We also want pets to avoid becoming distractions, so the back seat and cargo areas are the best places for pets to travel, depending on the product selection.” 

Some pet travel products are marketed for use in the front seat, but Wolko says the CPS doesn’t recommend them for these safety reasons.

Sophie isn’t the first or last pup to reject a new harness or carrier the first time it’s used. 

Helping a dog get comfortable being seat belted or crated in the car depends on each individual dog, certified canine behavior consultant Cathy Madson tells CR. 

“Some take to it easily, especially when introduced early on,” Madson says. “If using a crate in the car, feeding meals in the car crate can build familiarity with the environment and pair it with a positive experience. For some dogs, we will give them a chew or stuffed Kong or Toppl to work on to ease any anxiety and distract them while riding in the car.”

Car sickness and travel anxiety are closely linked for dogs, Madson says, and if they feel sick while traveling in the car, they develop anxiety about getting into and riding in the car because they anticipate feeling sick. “This doesn’t necessarily go away once a dog doesn’t get carsick anymore,” Madson says. “They still anticipate feeling sick.”

Working with your veterinarian to find the right supplement and/or medication can be incredibly helpful, Madson says, especially while working through a behavior modification plan with a behavior consultant. “It’s a team effort when it comes to anxiety,” Madson says.