Hello all!

We are picking our first dog next week, a male german shepherd.

Currently shopping around for a cargo liner to protect the back area, and noticed most liners don't have a tail gate cover on the inside, or wheel well covers to protect the plastic from scuffing and scratching.

My two main questions:

1. Having never owned a dog before, I don't know if these specific areas NEED protection. Will just covering the bottom and back of the seats be enough? I just don't want everything to get scratched up.

2. Besides Ultimate Pet Liner, is there a GOOD product that covers the sides as well? I saw a lot of stuff online that looks like cheap waste of money material. Is there some sort of plastic film or other products I can buy in addition to the standard canvasback that would work as well?

Well, congrats on the new member of the family!

I wouldn't worry too much about the plastics back there, you're more likely to scratch it sliding stuff in/out or around back there. I've been using a canvas drop cloth I got from Home Depot for ~$15 for over a year now without a any kind of problems.

Keeps all the hair, mud, and whatever else off everything else....for the most part. I still have hair pretty much everywhere in the truck, but it does the trick pretty well.

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I too am looking into rear seat covers/ cargo area options for my blue heeler.

I'm not sure what other options are out there, but as the owner of 2 pretty good sized dogs that go everywhere with us I'm pretty tempted by the wet okoles. Mainly because the cheap one we had in our fj wouldn't allow us to use the middle shoulder belt in the back seat.

As cool as it is to have the dog hanging out the back, one of the safest things you can do is crate your dog in the back. Then you also don't have to worry about scratching. I also just roll up a towel and roll it out (like a red carpet) for jumping in and out to minimize scratching on the bumper.

But a lot of members on here do swear by canvasback liners.



Here is mine loaded up for a family trip. There are better and even safer crates out there but she loves it, her own space. I put a memory foam
Liner on the bottom and she has the most comfy spot in the car.
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I need the liner for my kids. My dog doesn't mess up anything... no scratches, fur, mud, etc. But the kids track in grass and dirt, drop crumbs, wrappers, Legos, etc.

I got one of these for when we take our Boxer along with us. It is a near perfect fit for the 4Runner, I put two grommets on the corners and the little hooks near the hatch keep the sides up to protect the wheel wells without velcro. The bumper flap folds in and covers part of the rear hatch when closed.

https://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing...og+Cargo+Cover

wow! That canvasback liner looks perfect! ( I will still need seat covers but damn!)
Thanks for passing this along.

Dog Proofing my new 4Runner?

First off, unlike what others have said it's ok to care about not wanting to scratch the plastics. Some of us take pride in keeping a vehicle as in good of condition as possible so for people like me avoiding such things it's worth the time, effort and research.

Now with dogs the first thing I do with mine to help avoid scratching is dremel their nails. I round them off and it helps greatly especially when they launch off your lap when you are wearing shorts. I've never had a scratch on hard plastics with their nails done this way. You might get some light marking on the seats if they get on those (as mine are allowed on the back seat) but they wipe off like any other mark.

You're looking at having the dog in the hatch and not the back seat, yes?

Weathertech cargo liner for the hatch. Good for more then just having a dog back there. Put a nice bed for him in the back as well. Our dogs just hang out and sleep / play.

If you're thinking the back seat - I have used this in the past and liked it:

https://www.amazon.com/Epica-Quilted...et+cover+seats

I don't own this but I found a link to a cargoliner that also covers the sides. I'm a musician and take a lot of gear in and out and would like to protect the side plastic as well...(and perhaps one day own a dog)

Here is the link:

https://www.cargoliner.com/

My GSDs leave hair embedded in the carpet. My advice a cargo liner to prevent that but there is a Con to this... all of that hair will be loose to blow around unless you open all the windows and let it blow out. Also maybe consider a barrier. My boy loves to hop into the drivers seat when I get out.

k9 crate. If you're also a first time owner and going in with a working class dog you may have some fun times ahead.
Hopefully you already have a crate for home too. But the point of the second crate in the car helps restrain them in case of a collision and hopefully prevents them from fleeing if it's a bad one (common occurrence in the groups i'm a part of).

Allows you to step away from the vehicle without them destroying the interior in the five seconds of boredom.
Prevent's accidents since it reinforces them to hold it till destination.
It's proactive training instead of reactive/retroactive corrections.

As much as we'd love to let our children hang out in the flat bed of a truck for the open sky and breeze. If something goes wrong they'll end up injured. Keep the same in mind for the pups.

I have a Raingler. I had one in my FJ and 4th gen T4R. I won't use anything else.

What I like about it:
- Made in USA
- Restrains dogs to back cargo area
- Quickly removable for when needing to lower back seats to accommodate large items
- Allows dogs to use the rear window opening function

What I don't like about it:
- Expensive
- Doesn't cover plastics (however after 1 year of owning this with two black labs getting into rear 2+ times a day, there really aren't any scratches- just constant cleaning of mud, water, and slobber)

Raingler Nets & Grips, Dog Barrier Nets