Quality is worth the price, especially when it comes to dog car safety – and that’s the impetus behind Optimus Gear’s Defender Harness for dogs. This harness is arguably the ‘child car safety seat’ for canines, and it meets the same legal safety standards. We used our Defender Harnes during our road trip to Mont Tremblant, Quebec here.

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The Defender Harness is also meticulously designed which is what drew me to the dog harness when I met the team behind Optimus Gear in its products, including CEO Gordon Templeton, at the Connect Pet Trade Expo in Canada recently.

Dog Car Safety

Speaking to the team at Optimus Gear, I first learned what I didn’t know about dog safety harnesses. Simply attaching a walking harness to the seatbelt in the car isn’t good enough – a simple canvas walking harness will tear easily with the force of impact during a crash. Clearly, I needed a better plan.

No surprise, my dog travel in the car often, including long road trips. Admittedly, I sometimes let my dog ride loose in the car. My spaniel hunkers down in her snuggly car seat (affiliate link) and usually sleeps – no head out the window here.

I’ve been lucky. We’ve experienced no accidents or sudden breaking. But luck eventually runs out … so, I’ve decided to change course before mine does. Enter the Optimus Gear Defender Harness into my travel routine. I purchased a harness for the online purchase price and promised my honest evaluation.

Optimus Gear Company History

But first, here’s the story behind Optimus Gear, an innovative Canadian company dedicated to engineering travel accessories for our furry friends. Owner Gordon Templeton, a mechanical engineer, dedicated his time to creating a crash safety harness that protects dogs as effectively as seat belts protect people.

Why? The old necessity breeds innovation axiom: his own dog Nala was injured after sudden breaking while traveling in the car with him. Fortunately, Nala recovered, but the scare led Templeton to design a dog car harness that passes the same safety tests as human baby car seats.

Meet the Defender Harness

The Defender Harness comes in six colours (I like the royal purple for my Victoria). More importantly, this dog car harness has the following features:

• Clips are metal and have an easy side squeeze quick release
• Clips attach to the harness in three places – two on the back and one in the front
• The Defender Harness attaches into the car seat belt clip
• A second attachment with a carabiner clips into the harness and then attaches to the shoulder strap of the car seat belt. The carabiner slides along the shoulder strap like a clothesline, allowing your dog some movement in the car.
• Carabiners are a durable twist and push style, so the harness can’t accidentally release
• A plastic piece fits over the car seat belt clip receiver, so the dog can’t accidentally step on the seat belt release button
• A leash attachment allows you to unclip the seatbelt clip and then clip the leash onto the harness before unclipping the carabiner preventing your dog from jumping out of the car.

The system is detailed and takes a bit of effort to understand – but every detail is designed for a reason. Plus, the company performed crash tests at a certified testing facility (using dog mannequins) – the same method used to test child car safety seats.

However, when first using the Optimus Gear Defender Harness, I made a few errors. Note that I am inept at figuring out how to assemble or install anything, so I REALLY needed to view the online video a few times.

Here are mistakes to avoid when using the Defender Harness. (In other words, learn from my mistakes):

1. Don’t clip the seatbelt after you’ve attached the carabiner to the shoulder strap. You don’t need to and securing the seatbelt won’t give your dog enough room to move. The shoulder strap does not need to be clipped into the seat belt – watch the video the company provides.
2. If the seatbelt clip that is part of the Defender Harness does not fit your middle seat, try another seat. The clip did not fit the middle seat in my KIA Soul but fit the seat behind the driver. (I’ve never used my back middle seat seatbelt).
3. Do not lose any pieces. Keeping all the pieces together is for some reason a challenge. I thought I lost the carabiner, only to discover (after hours of searching), I left it attached to the seatbelt. This would have been fine, if it wasn’t a rental car I was driving. I now clip everything together each time I use the harness.
4. You only need to use the car’s baby seat hooks if you have the LARGE Defender Harness. The large size is for really big dogs, so most people will have the medium-sized harness (like I do). That one attaches into the seat belt receiver. Again, watch the online video to see the difference.

Optimus Gear has a good customer service response. First, check out the instructional videos. If you are still having issues (like me) they will respond by email and set up a time to walk you through the instructions live – with a real person (not an AI chat).

Overall Evaluation of Optimus Gear’s Defender Harness

The Defender Harness is the real deal, but pricey. Consider it an investment that will likely last your dog’s entire (hopefully long) life. The clips are solid but easy to use. The carabiner is safety quality – you must twist then push – so it won’t pop open. I found it does take a bit of dexterity to open, however, but like all ‘child’ safety features, that’s the point.

Because the harness is thick canvas and all restraints are metal, it does have a bit of weight to it. That’s ok for the car, but for walking you might want to use a lighter harness, particularly during hot weather.

Defender Harness Leash Attachment

I got the leash attachment too. I plan to use the harness as a walking harness as well as in the car because the extra weight (again, not in the heat) will hopefully help tire my extremely high-energy spaniel faster. It hasn’t yet – but here’s hoping. (I usually use a Canada Pooch walking harness).

The advantage of the leash attachment is that you can unclip the seat belt before you unclip the carabiner from the shoulder strap and clip your leash immediately. That way your dog is never loose and able to bolt from the car. My spaniel hasn’t bolted yet, but she’s capable of it.

Note: Optimus Gear also sells full leashes that fit the harness clips.

Defender Harness Results

In the car, my dog stayed calm and curled up easily in the backseat. Her movement was limited only in that she couldn’t jump into the front seat (which she shouldn’t anyway). Once I figured out how to install the harness properly, travelling in the car went safely and smoothly, and my dog didn’t appear to feel overly restrained, especially during our recent road trips to Quebec and beyond.

Writer bio: Sherri Telenko has been a professional writer for decades and a travel writer for the last two. She’s a member of TMAC (Travel Media Association of Canada) and Dog Writers Association of America and travels almost weekly with her canine companion, Victoria. Contact Sherri at dogtrotting.net here. All written content is original, written by a person, and based on experience and research. Please subscribe!