No, you are not alone! 
We have a 2007 EX-L, three kids (6, 4 and 2) and an Old English Sheepdog (~75 pounds). What we depends on how long we travel and how much space we have:
- For shorter trips (less than 2-2.5 hours) we have kids in the middle seats and one kid in the back and we keep the dog in between the middle seats by tying his leash to the seat hooks on the floor. This is not the safest, but it keeps him in the middle so he goes flying forward he'll hopefully go between the front seats.
- For longer trips, where we usually have more stuff, we have all three kids in the middle seat (yeah, MagicSeat!), lower the third row seats and keep the dog in a large carrier in the back. By using the carrier we can put stuff around and over the dog, giving us more capacity. We put the carrier along the back of the middle seats, with the front facing the passenger side of the van and we direct the HVAC vents to the front of the carrier as much as possible, so he gets some air. We've done it for a couple of trips and so far he is not complaining. When it is set up like this the middel seats should be able to keep him back there.
Nicolas
We have a 2007 EX-L, three kids (6, 4 and 2) and an Old English Sheepdog (~75 pounds). What we depends on how long we travel and how much space we have:
- For shorter trips (less than 2-2.5 hours) we have kids in the middle seats and one kid in the back and we keep the dog in between the middle seats by tying his leash to the seat hooks on the floor. This is not the safest, but it keeps him in the middle so he goes flying forward he'll hopefully go between the front seats.
- For longer trips, where we usually have more stuff, we have all three kids in the middle seat (yeah, MagicSeat!), lower the third row seats and keep the dog in a large carrier in the back. By using the carrier we can put stuff around and over the dog, giving us more capacity. We put the carrier along the back of the middle seats, with the front facing the passenger side of the van and we direct the HVAC vents to the front of the carrier as much as possible, so he gets some air. We've done it for a couple of trips and so far he is not complaining. When it is set up like this the middel seats should be able to keep him back there.
Nicolas