Best Car Boot Dog Guard – November 2024

So you’ve decided to put your dog in the rear boot of your car. Maybe you’ve chosen to put him or her there for safety reasons, or to help keep your car clean. Or you’ve got a bigger car and you want your dog to have more space, which they can have in the boot. If this is the case, you might need a dog guard for your boot, something sturdy, that fits either the back seat headrests or locks in place between the boot floor and your cars roof.

Check Your Cars Boot First – A Few Checks

We have a little Fiat Panda which we use on our little adventures and it has a tall boot space but is not very deep. The back seats have an angle to them and the roof of the car over the boot area is not flat. Make sure you check these things before purchasing a dog guard, it is very important you do this. To recap;

• Is your boot not too high or wide for the dog guards you are looking at below. They have a maximum and minimum height and width that they will reach to.
• Do your rear seats lean back on an angle? If they do, like ours, you can try and put the dog guard up on an angle and inline with your rear seats. This is so that the guards vertical legs don’t come too far in to your boot and waste space. The problem with this is that the cups/mounts at the top and bottom might slip more if on an angle. If you put them vertically straight, you will impede in to your boot with the struts.
• Our cars ceiling roof interior is not flat above the boot, it comes down on itself and curves. We have had to wedge the top cups/mounts on to the edge of this curve, luckily this still works, will it with your cars interior shape?
• Do you have headrests, if so, you can use all types of dog car guard as we test a couple which fit specifically to the back of the cars rear seat headrests.

Why Use A Dog Boot Guard?

The main advantage and why we have chosen to use one in our car is to stop our young pup from jumping from the boot in to the back seats. We have a new car which we bought with him in mind, we didn’t want him sitting on the back seats. There are a few reasons for this, as he’s a pup, he can see us but he can’t get to us because he is clipped in to the back seat belt clip. Due to this, he whines often, even though we are trying to train him and we ignore him when he does whine. Jumping up from the rear of the car in to the boot, which he can just manage by himself, means that we only get the rear bumper dirty and the floor of the car boot. Both of these are very easy to clean, comparing that to car seats, he may rip, tear or make a mess of the back seats, especially if he shakes.

If our dog is in the boot, it keeps the car cleaner and stops him whining for us, out of sight, out of mind. So far, this has worked tremendously and only on the first couple of journeys did he whine or bark at us. He couldn’t get over the back seats due to the dog guard and after a few minutes he settled down on a blanket. We have been very impressed with this car accessory and glad we made the decision to get one.

In deciding and checking which would be best for us, we have reviewed a few universal dog guards for car boots to stop your dog from getting out of the boot and in to the back seats and rest of your car. You will see our summary below this introduction which has a table of our best ranked universal dog guards for car boots. Then beneath that, each individual review about the best we have gone through and tested. We hope you find the reviews help your decision.

After a dog guard for your boot? If you have headrests on your rear seats then we recommend the Xtremeauto barrier, it’s easy to install and because of it’s wire mesh means that paws and all are kept back in the boot where they should be.

If you need the mesh as you have a smaller dog but don’t have headrests or want something a little bit cheaper, the Rosewood dog guard is a great choice. We placed this second because the legs need to be tightened and with all guards that have legs, these may come loose over time. Were as, with the mesh guards which fit to the headrests, these latch on and are good to leave.

We placed the Speedwellstar 3rd and the Flamingo dog guard 4th because they are almost copies of the other two, just not as good. The Flamingo uses metal bars to stop your pet getting through but this doesn’t stop their paws and legs reaching through and hitting passengers.

Review of Xtremeauto Heavy Duty Universal Dog Guard Boot Barrier

A universal dog guard barrier to fit to your headrests on your rear seats, it is height and width adjustable and should fit your car, whether that is an suv, estate, hatchback or 4×4.

Check price @ Amazon

Technical DetailsRating4.3/5Price£££Remote ControlNoWarrantyNoVehiclecarsuvMaterialsteelBrandxtremeautoCategoryuniversalNumber of seats0 seatsSeat PositionbootWashableNoNext Day DeliveryNoStar rating

A solid dog guard barrier that we tested in our car and with our little pup in the boot. It fits really easily, although the instructions are not very good, it wasn’t too hard to work out. It comes with 3 metal wired sections which you place on to your headrests with the grips provided. They hook on to your headrest supports and tighten in place. We had no problems getting it in to position and once set up seemed really secure and strong. We have a small car and it was perfect for this, there may be trouble with getting it to fit the entire width of really large cars. If you don’t have a puppy though, that should be fine as medium sized dogs wouldn’t be able to fit through the gaps on either end.

You get the mesh wire sections and fittings to your headrests, you need headrests for this dog guard to fit above your rear seats, there is no other way of securing it. If you don’t have headrests on your back seats then this dog guard will not work with your car. It doesn’t attach to the sides, back seat or roof of your car, you’d have to choose one of the others we have reviewed which secure with legs from the roof to the boot floor. When fitting, it may help if you have two of you as when we fitted it, it was fiddly with holding the sections in place and making sure everything was tight enough so that it didn’t move around.

Obviously the dog doesn’t come with the kit, but everything else in the above photo does. As you can see, not much to it.

The wire mesh is not the thickest, it’s advertised as heavy duty but is actually quite thin. It will though do it’s job of stopping your dog from getting out of the boot and in to the back seats or rest of the car. A good thing with the mesh wiring is that it stops your larger dog from getting its feet and paws on to your family and friends sat on the back seats. If you have just been the beach or for a long walk on muddy trails, this will stop your dog from climbing on to the shoulders of your passengers, which is great.Pros

• Simple dog guard that will keep your dog in the boot and out of your back seats
• Colour will suit any car
• Not very expensive
• Adjustable for any width car
• Mesh stops larger dogs from getting their muddy paws on people in the back seat

Cons

• You need headrests on your rear seats if this is to fit, without them it won’t work
• Not heavy duty, quite flimsy metal wire
• Hard to fit by yourself, we had two of us fit it to our back seats and that was easier

Verdict

A very simple dog guard barrier which just places a metal wire section across the back of your rear seats using the headrests. it is not the most heavy duty we have seen or tested but it does exactly what you need at a good price. If you have a really big car, like a 4×4 which has a lot of headroom and width, you may have a bit of space around it.

Review of Rosewood Dog Car Guard

Another day, another dog guard for the boot of your ‘universal’ car, obviously you don’t have a universal car but this dog guard should fit in pretty much any car out there, including yours.

It’s white, made of metal, so pretty strong, has two legs which extend from the floor of your boot to the roof of your car and you don’t need headrests to secure this guard behind your back seats.

We go through and test this product to see how it holds up with our dog in the boot of the car and what we think of the build quality and its overall use.

Check price @ Amazon

Technical DetailsFits boot width906mm – 1400mmFits boot height760mm – 1010mmRating4.1/5Price££Remote ControlNoWarrantyNoVehiclecarsuvBrandRosewoodCategorydoguniversalNumber of seats0 seatsSeat PositionbootDimensions160 x 129 x 105 cmWeight2500 gWashableNoNext Day DeliveryYesStar rating

This is a pretty affordable universal dog guard which can keep your dog where you want it, in the boot of your car. Or out of the boot if you don’t have headrests and your dog is on the back seats.

Fitting

This dog guard should fit to your car, whatever you have, well, as long as it has a minimum height of 76cm, a minimum width of 90cm and maximum height 101cm and a maximum width of 140cm. We tested it in our Fiat Panda with the dog in the boot and it fits great. When we were researching this product, we found that some purchases received the guard with straight legs, rather than the angled legs you see in the picture. The only downside to this is that if your back seats are on an angle, the legs will not follow this and will come away from the rear seats at the floor. With the angled legs they will follow the angle of the rear seats which is great for space saving and looking neater.

Although it doesn’t need headrests, this dog guard comes with clips that go from the upright posts to the headrest to better secure the fitting of the whole dog guard.

If your cars height is too much, you may have to add something to the bottom of the struts to fit this gap, maybe a plank of wood. Even though we have a small car, it’s pretty tall inside the boot and only just fit, if we had something bigger we would have had to add a plank of wood to make sure it had something to tighten up against.

It is easy to assemble and fit in the boot, only taking a few minutes. This is great if you wish to swap it from one car to another and you have more than one car in your family.

Usage

It has a steel wire mesh which stops the dog from getting from the boot to the rear seats, this is extendable in its width. So even the smallest dog will not get through the gaps and if you have a wide car, a 4×4 or an estate, it should cover the entire width of your boot and above your rear seats.

We used it on a few occassions and it was great going to the beach, down small back roads, over pot holes and it kept our little dog in the boot and stopped him trying to get to us in the front of the car. After going to the beach, this stopped our dog from getting his paws on to the shoulders of family sat in the rear seats of our car, this is a real positive in our view as he was trying to paw them from the boot of the car.Pros

• Quick and easy to fit to any car, this means you can swap it between family cars if needs be in minutes.
• Affordable price, so wont break the bank.
• The wire mesh stops your dogs paws from hitting people on their heads and shoulders

Cons

• Plastic clips which secure it can break, we were ok but they did look flimsy
• Even though it’s universal, make sure your cars boots dimensions can fit the dog guard

Verdict

A great product at a good price, which will keep your dog or pet in your boot. Very easy to fit and didn’t take long to do either. We didn’t have any problems with ours, our little dog didn’t try to jump through, it was more of a visual deterrent than physical and only time will tell if it lasts for a few years and plenty of adventures.

Review of Speedwellstar Universal Dog Guard Car Barrier

The Speedwellstar Universal Dog Guard Car Barrier is a mid range simple to fit pet guard that can be used to keep your pet securely in the back seats on in the boot. 

Check price @ Amazon

Technical DetailsFits boot widthMinimum width 89.5cm (35″) – Fully extended 130cm (51″)Fits boot heightHeight 42cm (16″)Rating4.5/5Price£££Remote ControlNoWarrantyNoVehiclecartruckBrandSpeedwellstarCategorydoguniversalNumber of seats0 seatsSeat PositionrearbootDimensionsWidth – 89.5cm (35″) * Fully extended width – 130cm (51″) * Height – 42cm (16″)Weight2700 gWashableNoNext Day DeliveryYesStar rating

Fit

The guard is easy to fit and requires hooking to the headrest poles, therefore no standing poles in the boot are required providing more boot space and one less item for your dog to chew! 

The guard works brilliantly at keeping your dog and passengers secure as well as allowing you to keep an eye on them with the large spaces in the mesh. 

Technology

The guard is made of a steel coated mesh which is strong and sturdy. If the guard fits your car well It should not rattle and will keep even a lively dog secure. If however it isn’t quite fitting well you may find there are gaps which a dog could potentially try its best to get around. There are no sharp edges or loose pieces that could injure your pet. This speedwellstar dog guard should provide you with a long lasting car divider giving your favourite companion its own little dog cave!

We really like this mesh type dog guard, one benefit of having this is if you have a medium to large dog, it won’t be able to get it’s legs or paws through. This is great when you have people sat on the rear seats, especially after being out on a walk and your dog will undoubtedly have dirty and muddy feet.

The height is 42cm, but this is only the middle section, the two wider sections which you use to extend the width of it are actually smaller in height, about 30cm, so the far sides of the dog guard will have a smaller height. If you have a really wide car, there might be small gaps around these extension mesh panels as they aren’t as big,Pros

• Can attach to either the rear or front seats
• Will fit most cars with headrests
• Utilises the boot effectively as does not require poles to hold up the guard
• Available for quick delivery using Amazon prime
• Does not obstruct view through rear view mirror
• Strong and long lasting
• Mesh wiring can stop larger dogs from getting their paws on to the back seat

Cons

• Requires headrests which some cars do not have on the rear seats
• For some cars there may be gaps around the guard
• There are cheaper models on the market

Verdict

This dog guard is simple to install and can be easily moved between different style cars. If it fits your car well then it will do its job well, however on the occasional car it doesn’t there will be gaps for sneaky dogs to try and get through and if your dog is strong may push it. The quality is demonstrated in the price however there are cheaper models on the market that will do a very similar job. 

Review of Flamingo Universal Car Dog Guard Barrier

A very simple stand up dog guard barrier for your car. It has two upright legs which extend and lock with twisting to fit in your car boot and stop your dog getting from the boot in to the back seats and making a mess.

Check price @ Amazon

Technical DetailsFits boot widthMaximum width 1.4mFits boot heightMaximum height 1mRating3.4/5Price£Remote ControlNoWarrantyNoVehiclecarsuvMaterialsteelBrandFlamingoFaceCategoryuniversalNumber of seats0 seatsSeat PositionbootDimensions82 x 14 x 6.5 cmWeight3500 gWashableNoNext Day DeliveryNoStar rating

At first glance, this is not the prettiest of best looking of guard barriers but it looks strong. Once we fitted it though it was not as strong as we first thought it would be. The locks on the upright legs which lock the guard in to position need to be twisted quite hard when it’s in position for the guard to stay.

It does fit in to position quite well, but because it doesn’t have any other way of fixing the guard to the car other than with the pressure of the feet on the floor and roof of the cars boot it means that a bigger dog could knock it out of position or move it with some force.

The instructions were not very good but once it was unpackaged it didn’t take too long to fit it all together and get it in to our boot. Just make sure you check your boots dimensions as this will fit in a boot height of 1m high, from floor to roof.

One thing we noticed about the metal bars which we didn’t like is that the dogs paws and legs can still get through. This is fine if you don’t have people sat on your rear seats. But on one of our adventures out with family, our dog was able to claw my sisters head and also get his muddy paws all over their shoulders and clothing.Pros

• Very affordable dog guard
• Will stop your dog from entering the rear seats of your car

Cons

• Bad instructions, don’t really explain how to put it together and fit in to the boot
• Only held in place by the pressure of the feet on the floor and roof
• It’s cheap to buy but is also flimsy, the price relates to how it works somewhat
• Your dogs paws can get through and hit people on the rear seats

Verdict

We don’t have any headrests in our Fiat Panda so there is a huge gap that our dog can just jump through to get to the back seats and rest of the car, we were quite happy with this dog guard after a few journeys, it kept our small dog in the boot and wasn’t expensive either. If you have a bigger dog or want to move it from car to car then we wouldn’t recommend.