Where There's a Hook, There's a Way

At 6 months of age, weighing over 40 pounds, and filled with boundless bouncing-off-the-wall energy, Kane is a handful. And he's more than a handful in the car.

Driving him to the park each day is an exercise in multi-tasking in trying to keep his wet nose out of the eye that's supposed to be on the road.

And when there is a passenger in the car, Kane is even worse.

It was obvious that Kane is a safety hazard while driving.

The most perfect solution would be to get get a doggie vehicle barrier to make sure that Kane does not distract the driver and cause an accident (or "wreck," as they like to say here in Texas).

I saw just the right barrier on Amazon - the ZooKeeper.

If it weren't for our current financial straits, I would have ordered it in a heartbeat. But with several thousands of dollars of medical bills that still need to be paid, spending $79.99 was out of the question.

Since necessity is the mother of invention, I had to start inventing.

Where to start?

I didn't have the rigid metal tubing to create a doggie vehicle barrier like the ZooKeeper, but I did have a big-ass (another Texas expression) crochet hook, and some cord. So I was going to crochet a dog barrier net.

I started out with parachute cord, which is rather tough and durable. But unfortunately I ran out of it before the barrier net got to the proper size. However, I still had some hemp cord kicking around.

Now hemp cord would not have been a first, or second, choice with me. Sure it doesn't rot when it gets wet, but it sheds like hell. By the time I was done, my black pants were covered with tiny hemp fibers.

I installed the net this afternoon.

To install it, I had to remove the headrests and then insert the posts of the headrests through the holes in the net before inserting them back into the chair. Then taking some spare cord, I looped it through the bottom of the net and attached it to the bottoms of the front seats.

We were ready to roll.

I put the pup in the back seat, and then realized that I left my cell phone back in the apartment. (After all, I can't go anywhere without my cell phone. LOL) In the short time that it took me to get my cell phone, there was Kane, sitting in the driver's seat.

Apparently, the doggie vehicle barrier net was not 100% pooch-proof.

That fact was reaffirmed during the few times that Kane tried to get into the front seat while I was driving to and from the park. (However, it was easier to get him back into the back seat when he tried to come up front.)

Well, it seemed like I was going to have to do some more tweaking on positioning the barrier net.

I had a plan.

After we got home, I uninstalled the net, and then reinstalled it by having the net drape over the front of the seats. With that, I flipped the net over the headrests, and proceeded to tie it down like before.

Using some extra cord, I ran one piece through the top of the barrier to create tension which would help increase the height of the barrier.

The other piece of spare cord was used to close up the hole that Kane chewed in the hemp netting. (Another reason why I would have preferred not to use hemp.)

It's too bad that I did not have black cord, as that would have coordinated better with the color of the car seats instead of sticking out like a glaring neon sign.

Tomorrow the doggie vehicle barrier net goes for another test drive.

Of all the projects I've crocheted, this has got to be the ugliest. But at least it's one of the most practical.

After all, necessity is the mother of invention, and where there's a hook, there's a way.