# Dog Ramp



## Gailey (Jul 23, 2013)

Can anyone recommend a dog ramp suitable for motorhome use, and also an estate car?
Our old lass is really struggling with the steps on Hattie, our N & B, and I'd like to give her a little help - Andy tried to make one from a bit of aluminium, but it didn't fold and was too slippy ...he's not the best at getting around to things so I think I'd better buy one - and one I could fold up to put in the boot of my car would be much better...
Zara is getting on a bit, and is an Alsatian cross, so she's not small. Hattie has an automatic side step - not sure how high it is, but it's not low...
Any suggestions much appreciated
Gail


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## daffodil (Aug 7, 2014)

Sorry I am no good at putting links on but if you Google Folding Dog Ramps quite a few come up on EBAY 

Good luck in your search


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## vicdicdoc (May 14, 2005)

Rapide541 is the expert on dog ramps


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## Gailey (Jul 23, 2013)

Thanks - yes, I've looked at them...but there are so many its abit confusing.
If anyone has one, or has had one that they are happy with ....... I just don't want to buy something that's not suitable....as they're not cheap


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

We made one for our last GS

His back legs went

We used ply

Covered it with artificial grass and put strips of wooden battens across

It worked

Aldra


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## daffodil (Aug 7, 2014)

aldra said:


> We made one for our last GS
> 
> His back legs went
> 
> ...


Thats a great idea, my Jolie is clocking on for 10 yrs old now and is starting to slow down so that is what I will make Thanks Sandra

God, I love this site for all the help on here so freely given


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## 113016 (Jun 5, 2008)

last year, we took our daughters dog and her back legs are going a little. I was going to make a non slip ramp, but I came across a plastic step at the exact height to make it usable. The trouble was, the dog would not use it and tried to jump over the plastic step and over the fold down step up into or out of the van.
So it was a no go  
Don't go down that route


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## Gailey (Jul 23, 2013)

That's exactly what Zara tries to do...and it's not good for her.


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## GEMMY (Jun 19, 2006)

Something like this:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/...uminium-access-ramp?da=1&TC=SRC-folding ramps

Put some artificial grass on.............sorted

tony


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## djp30 (Jan 9, 2012)

We have a step which folds out from inside the "garage" door of our van on hinges.
It is made from ply & covered in carpet with an old folding table leg on the end that comes out. this allows for any difference in height on slopes etc.

Imagine a nornmal caravan table which fixes to the side wall with a leg at the other end but with hinges at the "wall" end.


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## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

Our puppy is only 4 months and detests the car and the MH - he starts to shake before we get anywhere near either and makes himself sick after only a few minutes......

Any advice would be gratefully received - he gets in OK and gets out even better, but just does not like travelling or sitting in either.....

We are off to the UK in a month by car and the vet has said "medication" but I am sure someone on here will have good advice - Sandra has probably never had the problem with Shadow..... but I am sure others will have....

Help please.....

Dave

Sorry to have hijacked the thread ....... we just need advice!


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## daffodil (Aug 7, 2014)

Penquin said:


> Our puppy is only 4 months and detests the car and the MH - he starts to shake before we get anywhere near either and makes himself sick after only a few minutes......
> 
> Any advice would be gratefully received - he gets in OK and gets out even better, but just does not like travelling or sitting in either.....
> 
> ...


My Jolie did exactly the same thing when we first got her (she is now nearly 10) and she loves the daffodil and the car now

anyway we cured her by taking her out for just a 5 min drive then a 10 then a 15 min

you get the idea? little trips often to show them there is no need to be afraid because that is what it is, but keep them short to start off and very smooth and gentle, Perserverance is needed but It worked for us Please try it before resorting to medication


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

I did a whole lot of research on this for my old girl who is, sadly, no longer with us.
First measure the width of your habitation door. I could not find one that was that narrow so we had to find one that fit the step.

Next is the slope. Too steep a slope is not good for the dog's back. This means that the ramp has to be quite long if the step is high. We had to change our car from a Toyota Yaris to a Citroen Berlingo (the things we do for our pets!) to achieve the right sloping angle for her to use. She was a 30kg lurcher.

If the ramp is too narrow the dog will not feel safe on it and so will not use it.

Having found the right length you then have to store it somewhere so folding is essential but can still be a problem to store.

Sturdiness and grip is vital if your dog is to use it. One bad experience will put the dog off for life! We put the ramp flat on the floor and taught our dog to walk on it with lots of treats and loads of patience. She had done agility so it was not too difficult for her. Stability is everything!

All of the above do not come cheap. I am trying to remember the name of the one we got. It was made of heavy duty plastic with a carpet for the dog to grip on.

Hope all this helps and I will try my best to remember the name of the one I bought, second hand on ebay, which was very good.

As regards travel sickness - de sensitisation, by very small journeys, is well worth doing. Our pup was very bad and the vet prescribed Cerenia. It worked like a dream. We only had to use it a couple of times for our pup to get over the problem.


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Penquin said:


> Our puppy is only 4 months and detests the car and the MH - he starts to shake before we get anywhere near either and makes himself sick after only a few minutes......
> 
> Any advice would be gratefully received - he gets in OK and gets out even better, but just does not like travelling or sitting in either.....
> 
> ...


It's best to get them used to a car as early as possible and learn to associate it with good things. Try giving the pup a treat close to the car/van (when it is parked up) and then try to give the treat inside a parked vehicle. Slowly slowly catchee Monkey.

The alternative is the tablets. Only needed them on one dog (a rescue) and like Pat says, you probably only need them once or twice. Car sickness is fairly common and they usually grow out of it by 6 months old.

We have actually taken a litter of pups in the car and driven them round the block (with their Mother of course). By the time they were old enough to travel to the Vet for injections etc, it was nothing new to them.


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## chris99 (Feb 9, 2008)

We bought a dog ramp off Gumtree when we changed our motorhome.

Max, our 8.5 year old Border Collie (still acts like he's 2) didn't like the steps on our "new" Hymer S510 and couldn't manage the jump without hurting himself (tried once and almost did himself a mischief!), although he is happy to jump anything else in his way, especially if food or a game is involved!!!

Our priorities were:
1. Strong enough to not flex when Max walked up or down, a lot of reviews I read for other ramps commented on the flexing and reluctance of their dog to use it.
2. Long enough to reach from our Hymer's dizzy heights (bottom of door is over 2 feet off the ground) at a usable angle. Needed to be a minimum of 6 feet long to be at a shallow enough angle for him to use without sliding off and hurting himself - we actually attach ours to our top step with a small strap.

Did some research on the web, looked at the options and settled for a Solvit dog ramp, best price was at the Easy Animal website (I have no association with this site, they just seemed to be the cheapest in the UK), but looked around for a second hand one first, and found the earlier model.

Ours is a very solid plastic or UPVC and aluminium model with carpeted walkway (nothing but the best for the pooches!!!) and can be opened to different lengths if we need to use it else where. I would thoroughly recommend one but beware, if you see one on ebay or Gumtree they do seem to sell quite quickly.

Link to picture
Flickr

Both ours and the later model slide together to a length of a little over 3 feet and fit into a standard habitation door, but measure first just to make sure. There is also an XL model that is longer and wider so would definitely need measuring!

Of course, this avoided me getting the tools out and making one myself, much to the boss's relief!


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## hulltramper (Nov 2, 2013)

Hi.
Jumping in is pityfull to watch,ramps are a no-no,so,our 13yr.old Border Collie growler thinks she is a sack of.... Coal ? :roll: 
On the command,"sack of coal",she rolls over ready to be picked up,you could not make it up.
hulltramper


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

Is a ramp the answer?

I'm not sure, but our previous (_15 year old_) dog didn't like going down them at all, however shallow the angle. I made two for her, and she wasn't being persuaded at any price. Even a trail of Go-Cat didn't lure her down, and most dogs would die for them!

Then I tried making shallow steps with several wooden boxes and she went up and down readily enough, even though she was quite weak by then. They were far too much hassle for regular use _(but did establish that she would use steps)_ so I made a collapsible version which folded flat(ish) for storage, and attached a little ratchet strap so I could fix them to the motorhome steps for stability.

The advantage was that we could still use the normal van steps, and the dog extension steps were there for when she needed them to get her up and down from the lower van step. _(She managed the second one OK - possibly because it was inside the van and maybe felt more secure to her??)_

Just an alternative thought. Wouldn't work for all vans, but it might help. Regrettably it didn't help our dog much, because we had made very little use of them before she died.

Dave


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

I wouldn't reject the idea of medication Dave

Some dogs like some people suffer from carsickness which is treatable

Some are just over anxious

I've bought some calming spot on (beaphar) which I will try on Shadow next time we go away in the van. Hopefully he won't feel the need to be so overprotective, we shall see

It's based on a natural valerian extract and works up to a week

I'm sure you will sort it out over time

Sandra


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## Gailey (Jul 23, 2013)

Thanks.

I will have to look more into the ramps, with the benefit of the advice that you have given.

I don't really think steps are an option, although they would be less of a faff - because she is having problems at the moment with steps in general (the automatic fold down one is 3 steps anyway) - she just doesn't have the power in her back legs any more without a run up to it.. which isn't really a long term solution. We do lift her at the moment but she is quite heavy (alsation collie cross with a bit of err middle age spread....sack of spuds 2 ??)..and she's a massive muck magnet ..not sure how she does it but when she and our small terrier go for a walk..she's always the one with the muddy belly...when shes much higher off the ground...!

So far as the car journeys are concerned, I'd echo the advice already given to do the short, pleasant journeys...so the pup begins to associate the car with nice things - Zara was from a rescue at 18 months and was neurotic - she'd been in rescue as a pup, rehomed and then taken back - the rescue transport system worked by way of volunteers (of which I was one) who drive with the dog(s) in the boot of their cars a particular distance then hand over to another - enabling the rescues to move dogs up and down the country to other rescues - Zara hated the car and I felt she associated that with moving from one person to another, and insecurity....with time we got to a stage at which she stopped being nervous and got to the point that she enjoyed it - because it meant she was going with us rather than being left at home (or handed over in a car park). I would try taking your pup to nice walks etc in the car and build that up 

Gail


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

Just a thought

When Ben went off his back legs

We bought a leather harness with a handle

He wore it on short walks, albert took most of the weight of his back legs, supported him up the ramp into the van, etc

The things we do for our pets

Aldra


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## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

Slightly off topic but I have pondered making a dog ramp for the last van, a Burstner 747 with an external step and internal step. The floor level was high off the ground due to the false floor.

As an ex-Engineer, I concluded that whatever would work would need to be bulky and be a faff on when used.

As regards a car, our last 2 have been Skoda Roomsters. I chose them because the rear seats can be removed completely. This makes a large area to fit dog cages (at the time, we had 4 Whippets and 2 Pugs). Most of the dogs gained access through the rear passenger doors which was much easier than overcoming the Tailgate door height. The 2 youngest Whippets jumped in via the Tailgate.


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## nordasen (Jun 25, 2012)

May be any of the ramps shown in the attached links can be at your liking.

http://www.zooplus.com/customerpict...carriers/dog_car_travel_products/ramps/290099

http://www.zooplus.com/customerpict...carriers/dog_car_travel_products/ramps/146413


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## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

I have remembered that the one we had was telescopic.
They do need to be sturdy otherwise the dog is too nervous to use them. If it wobbles it will frighten them.


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## chris99 (Feb 9, 2008)

With an Alsatian I would still recommend the Solvit dog ramp, as in my earlier post.

The reason I am so picky is that I would not recommend anything that I would not use myself and I would not use anything that would put our Max at risk of injury.

The telescopic ramps have far less ability to wobble than fold-up ramps, and can normally take considerably more weight (we can walk up and down ours although this is advised against by the manufacturer and would invalidate any warranty).

Max, our Border Collie, weighs about 25Kg and the ramp doesn't move at all when he walks up or runs down.

The three things to consider are:
1. Length, to keep the angle usable for your dog.
2. Weight limit, the more weight it will bear the less likely it is to flex or wobble.
3. Ease of use, with ours we just hook the top-end over our step, pull out to length and lower the bottom-end to the ground - we use the step rather than the door due to the door being 28 inches off the ground (I measured it again),

Solvit also make a range of accessories, including a side-door adapter!

Best price I found when looking was:
http://www.easyanimal.co.uk/dogs/dog-ramps/.

Cheers

Chris


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## Zebedee (Oct 3, 2007)

All good points Chris, but what do you do if the old mutt is afraid to come _down _the slope?

That's why I tried the shallow steps, which did work. When our old dog's legs became very weak, she would struggle up a ramp, but refused point blank to come down.

Dave


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## hiramk (Feb 20, 2015)

I've a 59Kg Bernese and he can get in and out the MH OK but have folding steps for the 4x4 as it's way too high. They are very compact when folded and made in the UK. I've thought about using a narrow version for the MH when he gets older, not looking forward to that day.


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## cabby (May 14, 2005)

With the London style taxi they have telescopic ramps which they use for wheelchairs.The newer ones now have a fold out ramp. have a look on the taxi breakers site they should be cheap enough.Or even ebay.

cabby
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=taxi+wheelchair+ramp


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## Gailey (Jul 23, 2013)

Just a little update.
The thought of me spending money on a ramp was enough to scare Andy into action....the aluminium ramp he made got covered in an off cut we had in the garage from our old living room carpet and the job's a gud un....Zara went straight up it happy as Larry, and we've not looked back. It just goes underneath when we are stopped and in the garage if we are out 
Thanks for all your advice xx


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