Contributed by Christopher Dyer
I love taking my pup, Hopper, with me anywhere I can. And believe me, he hates it when I don’t! But I also don’t want to have unnecessary damage caused to my car by an overly excited dog. Yes, that’s the sad reality of pups in Porsches; they can damage it. I’m not even that picky, I don’t mind some normal wear and tear, patina looks right (and is almost necessary) to bring out the character of the car. But I don’t need a shredded seat and door panel, that’s a bit excessive. So how can I protect my car and still enjoy the pleasure of my pup’s company? Glad you asked!
There’s two big concerns when taking your pup out in your Porsche: safety and protection. While there are a lot of options and “bells and whistles” out there, like ramps and steps for SUVs, front seat extenders, travel beds, travel bowls, and front seat barriers, I’m going to cover the basics of what’s really needed for any car and dog adventure. I’ll tackle protection first.
In your car there’s two main areas that are prone to dog damage, and that’s your seat and door panel (whether your pup is in the front or back). There’s several seat covers available from different manufacturers, as well as door protectors, and most have color options so you can closely match your interior color if desired. There’s a lot of brands that make seat covers like Weathertech, Covercraft, Kurgo, Molly Mutt, 4Knines, to name a few. Just find one that fits your style and budget. I went with this Kurgo cover for my 996.
I chose Kurgo because it was readily available at my local pet store when I needed one, and it was black (since my interior is black, it matched nicely). You can also easily order it online and choose black, tan, or gray, but I didn’t buy it just because it was there. I bought it because the material is easy to clean, you just wipe it with a damp cloth, or hose it off if there’s a lot of mess. Confession: my dog gets car sick from time to time, so I needed something that was easy to clean. The Kurgo seat cover also has a front pocket so I can keep small dog necessities in there like poop bags.
If your pup is in the back seat of your 911… I haven’t found a seat cover for that yet! In fact, I’m not sure you can find a rear seat cover for small spaces like that, so that could be challenging for 924, 928, and 944 owners as well. If you find any, I’d love to know about them. I’m willing to bet that someone out there can custom make one. If anyone knows of one… or is willing to make one, please contact me!!
The door protector is much the same as the seat protector, there’s several companies that make these. Kurgo makes one that’s pretty handy, even has pockets, but I went with this one from Weathertech. I went with that one as it’s simple and no frills, wipes clean, and slides right between the window and inside door panel. They’re sold in a set of two, so you get one for each side (if your pup is in the back seat of a sedan or SUV like the Panamera, Taycan, Cayenne, or Macan).
The last thing I recommend for protection is an all-weather floor mat or floor liner. You can find a few different manufacturers of these too, but Weathertech has these custom sized for your car, so they’re an exact fit. These are great if your dog has any sort of “accident” in the car as you can just pull them out and hose them off. I went with Weathertech All-Weather Floor Mats, but you might be interested in their FloorLiner, which is a very cool way to protect the side areas of the footwell.
Let’s move on to safety. If the unfathomable car accident should happen, I’m certain you would want your pup to be as safe as possible. Or, like my pup, he loves it when the windows are down, but I sure don’t want to see him fly out the window! The first thing your dog needs is a harness. There are special car harnesses for dogs that are designed to have the seatbelt go through them in some way, but most of us already have a harness for our dog that we use on our normal and regular walks. There’s really no need to buy a special harness, just use the one you have. But, make sure you have a harness, just a collar won’t do. Your dog is at risk of strangulation should something happen and your pup is only secured by a collar around the neck.
To make that harness effective, you’ll need some sort of tether that keeps the dog safe and secure. There’s a lot of great choices and styles out there from Kurgo, Mighty Paw, LeashBoss, Blueberry, and others. Most common is the type that connects to your seat belt buckle, and I have the Kurgo version of this. The one problem is if you have a curious and mischievous pup like I do, it doesn’t take them long to figure out how to press the button and release their tether. So I recently ordered the Mighty Paw version which attaches directly to the vehicle’s frame using the latch bars found in the crease of a car’s backseat. Not much use in my Porsche, but should work well in my BMW or 4Runner.
So that’s the basics you need for the safety and protection of you pup and Porsche. I’d recommend keeping some cleaner and towels with you too, but for safety and protection your set with the five basic items noted above. As a recap, or for the TL;DR crowd:
- Car seat cover
- Door panel cover
- All weather floor mats
- Harness
- Seat belt tether
Be good to your pup, be good to your Porsche.
