Modern Vespa

So I when I first got a scooter and got on this site, I noticed that the term "pet carrier" was used to describe the compartment under your seat. Then I found a sticker under my seat that said "No pets" or something like that. I presume that the name is a joke based on those stickers? If so, that's one of the funniest origins for a term I've ever heard of. Additionally, it begs the question--how standard are these no-pet stickers? Are they on all Vespas? Since when? Other brands of scooter? Motorcycles? Harleys?

Just wondering, think it's hilarious, and I love getting funny looks from my friends every time I use the term without explaining it....



Michael

I think you are correct on all accounts..... When I got my first Vespa and saw the "NO PETS" sticker, I thought it was the dumbest thing I had ever seen. Who would ever use that thing to transport pets???? Then I remembered that I live in the United Law Suits of America. From that point on I had called it the pet carrier. I thought it was funny, when I joined "Modern Vespa", that others used that term too. (And here I thought I was an originator of a joke....)

In short to answer your question..... I don't know.

In Australia Vespas don't come with a "No Pets" sticker, which really sucks. I wonder whether it's possible to get one of these stickers to put on my pet carrier? I would love one of those stickers.
Or have I got it wrong, and it is actually okay to carry pets in the seat compartment in Australia? Unfortunately my dog wouldn't fit. It doesn't even hold my helmet!
In another thread someone made the suggestion of keeping takeaway curry warm under the seat, but we all know that this should be carried on the curry hook.

It is, technically speaking, the "Heated pet carrier", AKA the "Underseat pet warmer".

Does it come NO BEER sticker?

Can't have it getting warm!

After seeing a woman put her dog under the x-ray at the airport I think that the "no pets" sticker is not so exaggerated...

Dog's bones looked fine

We suffer from the same stickerlessness in the UK Those pesky Italians are short-changing us.

OMG you mean the dog SHOULDN'T travel in there?

Fido, Fido, I am Sooooooooo sorry.

No it doesn't. And it doesn't need to. We know what to do with beer.

With all the talk of heated gear, seems someone should be turning the puppy bucket into a bum warmer!

Bun warmer is an excellent idea! Why can't the engineers at Vespa come up with a way to channel that engine heat right into the seat and bypass the pet carrier? This would be so nice on this chilly mornings.

I want a sticker

I've got a Vespa OEM topcase on my GTV and it has the sticker too.

Really? Neither my GT or my LX Vespa OEM topcases have that. I wonder if it is a new thing, or you got a special one because yours is a GTV with a leather backrest.

You can get the stickers from Motorsport Scooters:

http://www.scooterwest.com/items/?_pageCCS=t#page=/item_details/No-Pets-Sticker/1786

No pets Topcase Sticker

There *must* be a case on the books somewhere involving Vespa & some dumb dumb and one dead chihuahua.

And some intrepid lawyer combined with our natural attraction to litigation.

I posted the first photo of said Pet Carrier here on Modern Vespa when I posted these photos on November 12, 2005, the first post in the Scooter Gallery forum.





About the same time I posted them on urbanscootin, and Crystal Waters, who at the time was writing a blog for Vespa wrote to me and asked about the photos and posted them and the story on the Vespaquest blog. Unfortunately, Vespa USA ended the blog and there doesn't appear to be an archive of it.

Matt Gordon was the first to use the term "pet carrier" in regard to the underseat storage on April 27, 2006., Then Michael_H a couple of weeks later Then there are many individual comments about putting things in the pet carrier, removing it, losing it, etc over the next months. But we don't really get around to talking about it being called the "Pet Carrier" until this thread on July 19.

(Yes I looked those all up once, because I thought I had coined the phrase...)

Stever, your puppy is so darned cute.

Not my dog. It belonged to a lady where I was taking photos. Daughter was petting the pup, I got the camera out of the pet carrier, saw the sticker, showed the lady, and she agreed to let me take the photos with her puppy in there.

order one. I am sure if you email a US dealer they would order one and mail it to you.

How about a ceramic version of the carrier so that you could use it like a croc pot for those long rides and have stew at the end of the trip!

would be easy to do if you had a kiln.

When I first bought my ET in 01 I pointed out the sticker to the shop guy in Santa Monica who was prepping the bike, like wtf?

He told me, as he had just got out of Piaggio tech school, that they were going to put another sticker with a pictogram of someone riding while walking their dog on a leash inside a null symbol but considered against it.

Any old school Piaggio techs can verify that?

Until Matt Gordon (hi Matt!) dubbed it Pet Carrier it was known as 'the bucket', but that was in the pre MV days when myself and Spock and M@inNapa used to attract the derision of the bbs crowd.

The underseat pet carrier is great for keeping takeout warm until you get home. Even on cool nights, I can pickup takeout Indian and bring it home piping hot.

Now the top case no pets sticker is overdoing it. I mean really, just drill a few holes in it for ventilation and the little bugger will be fine for a short ride.

after I purchased my s150 I removed most of my warning stickers. the pet sticker remained. I was visiting my nephew in tulsa OK a while later & popped into the tulsa vespa dealership. really nice dealership which also sells aprilia, beamers & duc's, anyway they photoshopped the pet carrier sticker & use it on the back of their 'vespa oklahoma' t-shirts. they gave me a T which I wear quite often. daughter has camera hostage so don't know about pics.

No "No Pets" stickers stuck on puppy buckets here in New Zealand either

The sticker really must be related to US liability issues. I don't recall that my GTV has any "no pets" sticker in the -- umm, pet carrier, however, the mirrors have the warning "objects in the mirror are closer than they appear", which I thought could be found only in American cars.

I've found the "pet carrier" is great for carrying home one of the rotissarie barbecue chickens from Costco or take-out Chinese.

I think it was probably placed there by the same person who puts "not for internal use" on shampoo bottles. Apparently, a lot of we Americans have to have clear directions spelled out.

When I was in sixth grade science class, We made a cake out of baby shampoo....

And the same guy who came up with this warning for bags of Peanuts: "Warning -- contains nuts"

Never quite got that, peanuts aren't nuts... So where in the bag do they hide the nuts?

We all laugh on that one but I know of one rider that was considering an option to add a carrier to their scoot to be able to mount a real pet carrier so they could bring their dogs to the rally.

Here is what one rider used at the Third Coast Rally in San Antonio:

In Arkansas, the warning on the mirrors says, "Objects in the mirror are behind you."

On the mirror on the ceiling above my bed it says, "Objects in the mirror are larger than they appear."

WOW great response! I liked the idea of the crock pot, but just to clarify...that's PET stew we're talking about right? I mean if the trip is long enough.....

Add 1 pomeranian and 1 sprig rosemary. Simmer at 70 mph for 5 hours. Salt to taste.


Michael

OH, and those pics of the dog in the pet carrier--CUTEST. THING. EVER. My wife cooed for 5 minutes!

Thanks for the tip. I'm getting one right now!

Y'all look at the pic and see a dog? I look at it and see a kitteh. I mean the image has pointed ears and a long rounded tip tail, just like a cat.

It's a well known fact cats luv bikes of all sorts: