How To Make A Doggie Ramp?

[annaannaanna]

Hi all! Has anyone made their own doggie ramp? I have a small dog (25 lbs.) who is getting older (10 yrs.) and starting to have trouble jumping up on the bed, couch (yes, we let her on the furniture! My husband and I are neurotic "doggie" parents!) and into the car. I'd like to make ramps for her at home for the bedroom and living room, and a lighter-weight one to use in my car. Any ideas?

Oh, and she doesn't like steps. We live in a one-story house, so she's not used to steps and doesn't seem to like them much whenever we're out and encounter steps, so I thought I should stick to a ramp-style device.

Thank you in advance! Anna

[SnowDancer]

My husband and I can't even hang a curtain rod straight so no help here. I expect if you Google you should be able to find some plans. I am not sure what the cost is to buy a ready made ramp but I see them regularly at pet stores now - say at a PetSmart. Due to aging dog population and dogs with disc disease, hip problems etc. they are now readily available. If my Dachshund was still with us, we would have a couple - and may yet as our Eskie ages. Hope you find something - a very good idea to get one. I prefer the ramp over the steps - I have tried out some of the steps and I wouldn't trust the ones I have tried.

[Tommysmom]

We've had huge problems with the doggy steps out there, they're really not that wide and our dog just slips on them. We bought a new bed though that was too tall for him to jump on safely, so we made a ramp for that - although the one we made wouldn't work for the living room or anything.

All we did was place two 1'x4' boards together and brace them permanently together side by side, and then we added a few brackets at one end that hang over the edge of our bedframe. We covered it in carpet. Tommy can run easily up and down it now... we had originally made it only 1' wide, but he was a wee bit scared coming down that one, so we expanded it for him. If you have a bedframe, this is really easy to do. Unfortunately, if you don't have a frame, it won't work.

[Longblades]

Only thing I have to add is we put cross pieces of 2"x2" on the ramp. Seems to act like "mini" steps and aids in climbing up and helps prevent sliding down.

[annaannaanna]

Oh thanks, everyone! My husband ended up buying one he found online and we'll try in the bedroom, but I suspect we'll end up making one for the tv room, since we won't want to be moving it from room to room - and I still want to make something for the car. I see the ones from petstores are lighter-weight for use with automobiles and that makes sense.

I like the carpet idea very much, and the cross-pieces. I could see our dog getting "spooked" if the ramp was slippery. She's a bit of a scaredy-cat, for a dog!

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the good help!

Anna