****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
If I am being honest, I felt a bit ridiculous even *considering* buying this product at first. I felt like, if I bought it, I would be spending quite a bit of money for what essentially boiled down to a fancy pillow / booster seat for my dog. I mean, my dogs have it pretty good - but was I really ready to admit to myself that they are really *this* spoiled?However, I finally bought the bullet and bought this for two reasons.First, I have two dogs that both love riding in the car - but one is four times the size of the other (60lbs vs 15lbs). If I don't have them restrained / limited to their own little areas in the car, the big one (Ahu) constantly steps on, sits on, or otherwise smooshes the little one (Milo). When this happens, Milo freaks the heck out - but Ahu is deaf and generally pretty oblivious, so she doesn't typically seem to notice, and as a result, she does not necessarily stop standing on him / mashing his face into the door / whatever. As you can imagine, this creates a less-than-relaxing driving experience (for everyone except Ahu at least - she doesn't give a fig).Standard doggie seat belts and harnesses are not really sufficient for the issue described above, because I can never get them set up such that both dogs can:1) sit down, stand up, and lie down AND2) not get tangled up with each other.Each time I would think I finally had everything adjusted perfectly, I would get no more than 5 minutes into our drive before hearing some weird sound and seeing in my rear view mirror that somehow the little dog's seat belt was wrapped around the big dog's leg and the big dog was sitting on the little dog's tail. So, my solution to that has been to have the big dog (in her seat belt and harness) in the back seat and have the little dog in the front seat.One major downside of the big dog back seat and little dog front seat setup is that the front seat is really not as safe or secure for dogs (or anyone really) as the back seat is. Even with his doggie seat belt and harness, Milo still kinda flies around more than I really like when he sits in the front seat. This is especially the case because because he likes looking out the window, but due to his size he has to stand up on his hind legs in order to see out. While the seat belt keeps him from going through the windshield or falling out the window, he still loses his footing and swings around wildly if we so much as go over a speed bump. [Note: The reason Milo is in the front seat instead of Ahu being in the front seat is because my car is small and Ahu is too big to be able to lie down in the front seat during longer drives. If she tries to lie down, she tends to sit her butt directly on the gear shift, which makes it a bit difficult to drive my manual transmission car.]Another downside is that I have a great hammock-style seat protector to catch dog fur in the back seat, but I haven't found a similarly easy to put up and take down seat cover for the front seat, so I typically just throw down a towel or blanket to try and keep the front seat area from getting too furry. [Because I actually do need to drive humans around too! Despite how this review makes me sound, I am not just a dog chauffeur.]So, as you can see, I have really tried many different strategies over the years.Well, all I can say now is that I really should have gotten this Snoozer Lookout Car Seat a long-ass time ago. It keeps Milo safe, secure, and away from my gear shift while he is riding in the car. It also keeps the dog fur contained to a small area and is easy to set up and take out quickly. And, as I think you can tell from the pictures I posted with this review, Milo freaking loves it.TLDR / Moral of the story: Don't let your stupid pride get in the way of buying a product that will bring joy to your dogs and reduce your stress level while you drive them around. Learn from my mistakes and just buy Snoozer Lookout Car Seat already.
