Posted By: CarolC
Date: Thursday, 12 May 2005, at 7:54 p.m.
My 62-lb senior dog cannot jump into the back seat of the car from the driveway. I can still get him into the car by parking with the wheels against the curb and having him climb in the back on that side. If I parked in the driveway, he would have to hop an extra 9" or 10", but parking next to the curb gives him a shorter hop. HOWEVER....we are still stuck when we can't park next to a curb.
At the vet, they have to lift him in for me because it's a parking lot. THEREFORE, I have decided that if I have to, I am going to REMOVE THE BACK SEAT FROM THE CAR. I don't care what it looks like. If he stands at the open door of the car, he can raise a front paw high enough to place it on the floor of the back seat, he just can't raise it high enough to place it on the seat itself. Therefore, he could jump in onto the floor if he wasn't so wide in the shoulders, but he doesn't fit because he gets squeezed by the edge of the seat.
I will take out the seat, lay a blanket back there, put a cedar dog bed or something comfortable for him to lie on, and still be able to buckle him in because the seat belts will still be there. Yes, the car will look odd. Yes, I'll have to store the seat somewhere. I DON'T CARE! I'll make it look as cute as possible.
Nobody ever rides back there except the dog anyway! Maybe I can even carpet the area where the seat was, depending on how bumpy it is.
Also, I finally figured out that the Back Harness you see on the Harnesses page of this website, the one that seemed "weird" because of the loop on the rear of it, is really a very smart thing. Looking at it in the picture below, it would be the very best harness for loading a dog into a car. It would be better than the kind with suitcase handles. You wouldn't have to lean into the car to load the dog.
