Honda Element owners with dogs: Room for crates?

I'm starting to investigate vehicles that will work well for our family
of two humans and two (maybe soon three) 60 lb dogs.

Any Element owners out there with large dogs? Do you find crates fit
well in the Element? Or do you use a pet barrier? Plenty of room?

Thanks for feedback.

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> I'm starting to investigate vehicles that will work well for our family
> of two humans and two (maybe soon three) 60 lb dogs.
>
> Any Element owners out there with large dogs? Do you find crates fit
> well in the Element? Or do you use a pet barrier? Plenty of room?
>
> Thanks for feedback.
>
Sometime back, Click 'n' Clack suggested that a woman who ran a doggie day
care get an Element to fill her transportation needs.

I don't know if that helps, but that it sounded reasonable to me at that
time.


--
Kent Finnell
From the Music City USA

In article .com>,
wrote:

> I'm starting to investigate vehicles that will work well for our family
> of two humans and two (maybe soon three) 60 lb dogs.
>
> Any Element owners out there with large dogs? Do you find crates fit
> well in the Element? Or do you use a pet barrier? Plenty of room?
>
> Thanks for feedback.

We carry around couple of 60-70 lb dogs all the time ** though perhaps I
shouldn't admit that we do it with them just loose in the back, no
crates, just with them sitting on dog beds placed on top of the rear
seats folded down flat ** probably really not the safest of practices.

Our Element is off on a trip with someone else at the minute so I can't
check any of the following, but in any event based on general
impressions:

1) With rear seats folded down flat (on the floor) there's probably
enough height for two medium-size crates on top of them, maybe three
(but rear vision will be lousy).

2) With rear seats folded up to the side walls (and that is a weird
system, with the carabiners and all), you can surely get one large crate
in the middle, but my guess is, not two large ones ** you'll have to try.

3) With rear seats totally out, two large crates for sure, maybe three
(might have to orient them transversely), but you'll have to check on
that also.

4) With rear seats folder down to floor, there is actually quite a bit
of open floor space between the backs of the front seats and the front
edges of the rear seats, especially if you're not tall people and don't
push front seats all the way back. If your dogs will accept being
confined in a somewhat tight space, you could use a couple of dog beds
or a blanket to make a nice den in the space down there -- and they'd be
very safe down behind the front seatbacks.

Haven't seen a pet barrier for the Element.

**AES

AES wrote:
> 3) With rear seats totally out, two large crates for sure, maybe
three
> (might have to orient them transversely), but you'll have to check on

> that also.

Thanks, AES. That's exactly the kind of report I was hoping for. I need
to schedule a test drive!

An entire forum for Honda Element owners with pets over at Element Owners
Club:

http://www.elementownersclub.com/for...splay.php?f=26

Good luck.

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> I'm starting to investigate vehicles that will work well for our family
> of two humans and two (maybe soon three) 60 lb dogs.
>
> Any Element owners out there with large dogs? Do you find crates fit
> well in the Element? Or do you use a pet barrier? Plenty of room?
>
> Thanks for feedback.
>

My wife got into dog shows a few years back (just after the "Best in
Show" movie came out but I'm sure that's just a coincidence) -- we
travel all over the southwest to dogshows.

We just got an '04 Element EX last October and it really works great
with the dogs -- the crates, grooming tables, pop up tent, tables,
umbrellas, and all the other stuff that goes along with it.

The Element is VERY popular with the dogshow crowd -- primary reasons
being:
* Great "square" storage area with flat floor
* easy clean out with the rubberized "no carpeting" interior
* very good mileage
* Although all the crates and etc can be bulky, it really isnt heavy.
So the Element hauling capacity is fine.

Our dogs are small (http://www.havanese.org/ ) and we often haul four
dogs in one big crate, plus all this other junk. At the Scottsdale AZ
show, we saw a young woman with a big crate that pretty much filled the
back of her Element with two BIG Rottweilers. Looked cozy (ok, crowded)
but it worked!! And she was thrilled with her Element, and I am too!!

not sure if my other msg posted ... got some error messages ... so here
it is again (pardon the redundancy if both get posted)

My wife got into dog shows a few years back (just after the "Best in
Show" movie came out but I'm sure that's just a coincidence) -- we
travel all over the southwest to dogshows.

We just got an '04 Element EX last October and it really works great
with the dogs -- the crates, grooming tables, pop up tent, tables,
umbrellas, and all the other stuff that goes along with it.

The Element is VERY popular with the dogshow crowd -- primary reasons
being:
* Great "square" storage area with flat floor
* easy clean out with the rubberized "no carpeting" interior
* very good mileage
* Although all the crates and etc can be bulky, it really isnt heavy.
So the Element hauling capacity is fine.

Our dogs are small (http://www.havanese.org/ ) and we often haul four
dogs in one big crate, plus all this other junk. At the Scottsdale AZ
show, we saw a young woman with a big crate that pretty much filled the
back of her Element with two BIG Rottweilers. Looked cozy (ok, crowded)
but it worked!! And she was thrilled with her Element, and I am too!!