Hi all

Marley the fat demon is now 23 kilos and I am struggling to lift him in and out the car:( I have hurt my back and pulled various muscles in my arms:( :( So I asked hubby to build me a dog ramp.....he looked at me blankly, which was then replaced by a very confused expression!!
Has anybody got any designs or ideas I could forward to my nearest and dearest to help him in his hour of need?:)
All suggestions gratefully recieved:D
Vickie & Marley ( the sumo demon)

Vickie

I would actually teach him sooner rather than later to get in the car himself !!! Otherwise you'll have a 6 month monster who you STILL have to lift in (I had to with my Dobe until 7 months and an angel came to my rescue). I'm afraid I can't describe How you do this except that you don't give him an option not to.

Kerioak (Christine) explains it very well (and DOES it even better ;) ) so hopefully she'll be here soon to explain.

Good luck
Beth

I may be missing some vital point here...but why can't the dog be trained to jump into the car himself????

Vicky

What breed is the Marley the demon?????

my OES pup is just 14 kilos at 3 mths and I can just lift him into the back of our vehicle.I have seen specific ramps on various dog websites, some unfold! and others are a long stretch of plank! maybe if you located one of these you could show hubby the picture and say thats it!!

Sam with regards to geting the dog to jump in himself I think the problem is they are so heavy at such a young age when they are not able to jump in if it is a high back vehicle and more improtantly with larger breeds I believe it is not wise for their hips in the longer term to encourage jumping under 12 mths because of the amount of & speed of bone developement.
I am stuill figuring what I will be doing in a 2 mths time when he is too heavy to lift !

Jude

Vicki

Train him to get in by himself!

Get someone to sit in the back seat waving his favourite treat through the dog guard - my 30 kilo akita soon got the trick and she no longer needs treats to get her to hope in. Not sure how she will take to jumping in with the new black lab pup that we have but time will tell. Kia the akita wouldn't hope in on her own until she was about 6 months old.

Also if Marley is a large breed becareful about getting him to jump out onto too hard a surface as it may cause problems to joints (at least that's what vet told me)

Good luck

Hi

Marley is a bernese.:)
I have been told by my vet that he his not allowed to jump in or out the car until he is one year old:( and by 12 months he will be able to step in and out the car!
At the moment he is gaining 3 kilos a week, so either I figure out this dog ramp buisness or I will have to hire in some muscle ( mmm Arnie...now there is a thought!!)
Vickie & Marley ( the fast growing demon)

My friend with Danes lifts a baby's front half up first, so paws are in car, then lifts the back half to follow it!! However, think it would have been the death of her to do this until they were a year old, does seem a little over-protective - 6 months, maybe, and careful where you allow them to jump down.

M.

Exactly Brihow....I lift my puppy hounds' front paws onto the back of the landrover & then boost their bums up. By 6 months they are jumping in themselves....I have never heard anything so daft as this vets so called advice. What the vet SHOULD warn about is jumoing OUT of cars....thats when bones etc get damaged. Even my adult hounds get their collars held & a bit of weight taken off the landing impact if its a hard surface.

Vickie

How high is the back of your car? Is it an estate? The reason I ask is that

a) is it any higher than things that marley might jump onto anyway (i.e Sofa :))
b) some cars have a lip, like normal saloon cars, and this can cause problems to dogs as they cannot judge how high to jump and don't like the drop the other side. If it is not an estate then maybe see if you can borrow a friends estate and see if he will jump into that.

I cannot believe that any dog would survive in the wild if they couldn't jump until they were 12mths+! Especially as a lot of large/giant breeds were bred for hunting, etc

It doesn't hurt my akita to jump into the back of the car, or out again. The bed is higher and she makes that quite happily (and I never persuaded her!)

Tim

vickie, barjo do a car ramp if you look at their site, it may give you some ideas to wave under your other halfs nose - alternative making your own suggestion , dont laugh but ..... kids wooden bunkbed ladder with flat board underneath, so no holes in rungs but treads for grip - did I explain that right, I know what I mean in my head, but then no one else usually does :D :D :D

http://www.barjo.co.uk have a look under accessories - folding car ramp Julie:)

When William got old and overweight we got him in the car by putting the caravan step up to the door you can get a caravan step quite cheap from any caravan suppliers.

Thanks Julie what a good idea :)
I think hubby will prefer that to me having muscle around :)

Tim
Have a grand cherokee jeep, so it is quite high:( Just bought the car recently for the dogs (so I tell hubby ) :D

LOL vickie - I prefer the hired muscle idea myself, you'd obviously need two hunky ones, who would of course have to escort you everywhere, in case you decided to take the pup :D :D :D I wonder why hubby didn't go for that one??? Never mind, it'll make him build your ramp faster!!! Julie:)

Might hire the muscle anyway.......shopping bags can get very heavy!!!!:D :D :D

I would, just to be on the safe side!!!;) LOL :D :D :D Julie:D

Julie
You don't have a list of breeders do you?
I do want pedigree muscle!! :D :D :D

Vickie - I'd do a link :D but I'd get my bottie smacked by Admin! LOL Julie:D :D