Top positive review
56 people found this helpful
Its a dog ramp....great for your dog, a little bit of a pain for you!
By Cannin314 on Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2014
I'm super happy with this purchase. I will review this as a benefit to my dog, and then my perspective as the person using it. My 110lb American Bulldog is the product of crappy backyard breeding. He had awful hips to begin with, and over time they've deteriorated. About every 4 months he has a few days where he must tweak something and he's in pain. (Hence the x-rays and the determination about the hips). I decided I probably shouldn't let him jump in and out of my jeep liberty anymore. I need to preserve the hips he has, and reduce the potential for serious injury. My dog is the biggest chicken in the world. He was afraid of the doorbell when I first got him. He's afraid of the dishwasher because I dropped a plate once and it scared him, so now he thinks the dishwasher is the devil. I knew it was going to be a challenge to get him used to the ramp, so I'm glad I started before he was unable to get in an out of the car on his own. Here was my technique./The review of the benefit to your dog: 1) I opened it up and left it on the floor right in the hallway for about 3 days. He walked as far away from it as he could. I always walked ON it when I needed to walk through the hallway. 2) After ~3 days I got some treats and I stood on the ramp. (Flat on the floor). He was terrified of it, but after a few tries during the day he finally put one paw on it. TREAT! I continued this until he started getting more comfortable. 3) Finally I started encouraging him to walk across it by enticing him with treats. He would get on 1/2 way, get off 1/2 way, but after enough treats he could walk over it flat on the floor like a champ. **I found that I needed to keep one foot on it or else it did slide on our wood floor and scare the s*** out of my dog, which sent us back to square one for a little while** 4) Once he was completely comfortable with walking on it flat on the floor, I brought it outside where we had a staircase of ~6 stairs, and put it on the lowest stair. Then the 2nd stair and so forth until he got completely comfortable going up and down. 5) Only THEN did I move to the car. He is oddly more willing to walk down it than up it. Even to this day he likes to stand on the side and get up on it about 1/4 of the way up. But that's enough to keep him from jumping so I don't push the issue. If I ask him to get in now without getting the ramp out, he looks at me like "really, you want me to JUMP? Get that ramp out I'll wait here" ------- As the person using it I can say sometimes I wish I didn't "have" to get it out. Its not even really a hassle, but still its an extra step. I think for me part of the issue is that I have to leash my dog and open the garage door to use it, because I can't extend it without opening the garage door and our garage opens to an alley so I can't just let him shoot out there without a leash. I'm 5 foot zero, and I don't have any problems whipping it open and closed. I did have to get used to carrying the ramp around in the back of the car at all times, but it really wasn't that big of an issue. Honestly I think just the hassle of using a ramp...any ramp...will be the same, so it has nothing to do with it being "this" ramp. With that said, the hassle is worth saving my dogs hips and hopefully extending his life, so I wouldn't really complain about it. Based on the dog balking about getting in or out without it now, I can say I think it really does make a difference for him.
Top critical review
6 people found this helpful
I can't say I'm impressed with it.
By TheElderGodFather on Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2017
Picked this up as our Akita recently sprained his paw and has a vet's visit coming up and I know he would not be able to get in and out of my in-law's truck and I felt he would have difficulty getting into the back of my Honda Fit. We picked it up week of the visit, my wife didn't think about it until I said "How are you going to get him there?" Unboxed and it was sealed in a bag, but there was still damage to the top of the ramp, as though something sharp cut into it. (minus one star) it feels pretty solid and if I place it on the bumper of my fit it seems solid enough... however here's were you get to the classic adage "can't teach a old dog new tricks" (at least not quickly) dog ignored it... mind you he's an Akita, he's over 9 years old and he's already bull-headed... so after spending about an hour trying to train him to use the ramp, it suddenly dawned on me he was able to step up into the garden (he likes to pee on the bushes there) - so I used the "magic seats" in my Fit to fold them up and let him come in the passenger door and he's was more than able to get in without issue. So... all in all I can't tell you how well this is going to work, I'm keeping it because we know our Akita only has a few more years of life, maybe we'll try training him more on it, but more than likely we'll use this when he's long gone and a puppy or two (we figure two Shiba might be about equal to one Akita lol) so we'll save it and train future puppies on it so they can use it... especially since I'm planning on replacing my Fit with a SUV or crossover (like the HR-V) But yeah, the top's like sandpaper, reminds me of Grip-tape for skateboards and you definitely want level services on both ends. There's a hook at the top and two eye holes for anchors, I can see bolting this down if you're going to keep it up all the time outside (or inside) for stairs etc. But if you've got a hurt dog and you need a fix, chances are this isn't going to do it unless you've already trained them for ramps.
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