Introduction: Inexpensive Doggie Ramp

A PET RAMP FOR BOO

Pet ramps are expensive! I looked at the cost of these things and thought that $100.00 to $180.00 was too much to pay so I thought that I'd design my own with common items found at Home Depot. My intention was to be able to use the ramp to get our Shar-Pei, Buster (otherwise known as "Boo") in and out of our pickup truck so that he could have some relief from his tennis elbow and not have to deal with the constant impact on his joints. My dog is a darned good tennis player BTW.

So my wife and I walked the aisles of Home Depot looking for parts and pieces that we could use to make a ramp for our dog, We found six foot closet shelves that went for ten bucks each and bought two of them to interlace, zip-tie and use as the ramp structure itself. We also purchased a six foot by two foot piece of outdoor carpet for the main anti-slip surfacing for the ramp assembly. By the way, if you want the carpeting to completely cover the assembly, then you will need to purchase a piece that's about two feet-eight inches wide.

Additionally, you can also make the ramp wider by about four inches by simply spreading the wire shelves apart and zip tying them at that wider point.

Step 1:

We also bought the rubber end covers for the exposed wire rod ends. These slip on covers serve to protect our hardwood floors and the fabrics of our pickup truck seats.

We simply used an awe and poked holes in the carpet at about every fourth spacing in the wire itself and zip-tied the carpet to the ramp wire rods. Eventually, the ramp was completely wrapped and all of the zip-ties were cut off and their edges rolled to be in positions so as to not be a cutting danger to anyone handling the ramp. Those zip ties can slice you open if you are not careful, so make sure you position those cut ends so as to be completely safe for you and your pet.

Step 2:

As you can see from the photos, Boo took right to the ramp quite easily. There was absolutely no training required. All totaled, this ramp cost us less that $32.00 including the carpet, the two closet shelves, the rubber shelf end plugs and the zip-ties. Overall, this project was simple and took about an hour to construct. So if you have a need for a car or a bed ramp for your dog, give this one a go and save yourself a ton of money!

Take note of the "Batman" logo on my dogs chest... that will give you a hint as to the nature of his night-time activities... no wonder he comes home sore after a night of fighting crime in the neighborhood.

Goo and Lou