You know, people raised similar objections back when everyone was discussing putting kids--even new babies--in car safety seats. Some politician somewhere went on about "the joy" of the new mother riding home from the hospital with her new baby in her arms. We also had an entire segment of the population who believed "it's better in an accident if a child is thrown clear of the car."

It seems to me that any dog (or cat?) small enough to get under your feet on the driver's side is also small enough to be seriously injured or killed if you have to stomp on the brakes in a panic stop. And as well, dogs are no different from smaller humans in terms of being thrown around in the car, crushed by a deploying air bag, or even ejected entirely. People who say their dogs are "under their complete control" aren't considering the fact that traffic in general is entirely out of our control when we are driving. I'd be happy with a well-designed restraint system that allowed a dog to ride comfortably in the back seat. Until I find one, the dog is riding back there anyway.

Bim rides shotgun, always (I've had friends sit in the backseat while he sits in the front). On long trips he puts his head on the console up against my arm. When I had a car without a console, his head was in my lap.