Honda Element owners with dogs: Room for crates?

Discussion in 'Element' started by greyptr, Mar 14, 2005.

  1. greyptr

    greyptr Guest

    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.
     
    greyptr, Mar 14, 2005
    #1
  2. greyptr

    Kent Finnell Guest

    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, Mar 14, 2005
    #2
  3. greyptr

    AES Guest

    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, Mar 14, 2005
    #3
  4. greyptr

    greyptr Guest

    Thanks, AES. That's exactly the kind of report I was hoping for. I need
    to schedule a test drive!
     
    greyptr, Mar 15, 2005
    #4
  5. greyptr

    garray Guest

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

    http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=26

    Good luck.
     
    garray, Mar 20, 2005
    #5
  6. greyptr

    feltonbarch Guest

    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!!
     
    feltonbarch, Mar 22, 2005
    #6
  7. greyptr

    feltonbarch Guest

    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!!
     
    feltonbarch, Mar 22, 2005
    #7
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