Ditto with what everyone else said above. We frequently travel with 2 humans and 2 dogs. 4 humans is maxing your space without the dogs. Our dogs are small/medium size. The longest road trip has been 6 hours or 260 miles. Unlike my previous LR4, the defender just do not have the capacity we are used to for all of our stuff. Using soft type of bag similar to the Army style bags I have loaded on top. The first time I used them after 70 miles into our trip at a rest stop the front of bag moved. So had to stop and get a bungie cord to secure the front from not moving. The rest is secured by front runner stratchics straps which are the best straps for securing anything on a roof rack. I have multiple eyelets around my rack for securing anything on top. I triple check everything before even leaving.

 

get smaller dogs