And Now: Crash-Test Dummies for Dogs

Given the big bucks at stake among pet-loving Americans, this story might be surprising only in that it hasn't happened sooner: The Center for Pet Safety in Virginia has created crash-test dummies in the form of dogs and has been working with Subaru on rolling out sanctioned safety belts for the animals, reports the Wall Street Journal. The idea is to create a standard baseline of measurement for all such seat belts to come.

Full results should be out this week, but only one of the seven belts tested seemed to get the job done consistently, says the Journal. That would be Sleepypod's Clickit Utility Harness, and Subaru plans to start offering it as an option on its vehicles soon. The automaker pitches itself as pet-friendly, for good reason. "The company that solves the puzzle of how to transport pets safely will be very rich, and will deserve every penny that they make," an official at the Humane Society of the United States told Automotive News in an earlier story on the tests. (More dogs stories.)