Doggie stairs?

[Scooter's Mom]

Does anyone know where I could find a set of doggie stairs for my sweet Jadie? Our bed in the master bedroom is so high and she has always has trouble jumping onto it, but as she's beginning to age, she is just having more problems. I'd like to get her a set of doggie stairs that won't break the bank (since it's pretty non-existent LOL) but will allow her the freedom of getting up and down at will.

I thought I'd ask here because y'all would know the best places, for good quality at good prices.

Thanks!

[Freedom]

Crystal, make your own! Very inexpensive, and quite easy. I posted plans and made some which Tasha uses constantly, here:

http://petoftheday.com/talk/showthre...ghlight=stairs

[Scooter's Mom]

Did you end up covering yours with fabric or anything?

[Karen]

You may be able to get carpet scraps free or inexpensively if there's a big carpet place nearby, and as she's pretty light, maybe even stacking some cardboard boxes and fixing them together (duct tape!) and covering the tops with the carpet scraps will work.

[robinh]

We tried stairs for ours and they wouldn't use them. My SO built ramps up to the beds. They use them like a raceway and love them.

[Freedom]

I never did cover mine, no. I do find a few bits now and then, nothing major.

I don't think a cardboard box will work; once the dog gets used to the stairs, they really jump and bounce, bounding up and down rapidly! Tasha is 15 pounds and no way I'd trust her on cardboard. Not sure how much Jadie is.

[Karen]

The good thing about corrugated cardboard is it is very sturdy when used the right way. And of course, it's often free! People discard boxes all the time! If you get cardboard boxes you can reinforce the height by just cutting pieces to stand on end with the "ribs" perpendicular to the floor. Even the trays that come underneath bottled water, etc, can be used for this. Set pieces in, a few inches apart, across the width of the box, and it will be much sturdier.

My least favorite class and instructor in college was a 3d design class, and the final project was to make a chair out of corrugated cardboard that would support an adult's weight. I not only made the chair, I made a rocking chair, and it worked. I got great pleasure in throwing it away afterwards, though, as I wanted no reminders that class ever happened, and I had a pretty small room with no place for it anyway at the time.

[Scooter's Mom]

DH put a box by the bed and she won't go near it. The cats LOVE it though.
Thanks for some good ideas!

[Karen]

Hmm, maybe bribing her with a biscuit piece on each step?

[IRescue452]

Autumn has some small stairs from walgreens. After a lot of training she will go up them but not down. She needs to go down them because of her back but the steps are too tiny for her and she doesn't trust them. I'd definately recommend trying a ramp or something large for the dog's size. Maybe just getting a piece of shelf board and two cinder blocks to make a "bench" at the foot of the bed so she at least has a boost halfway up would work.

[Freedom]

Crystal, Karen is correct, you do need to train using treats.

You can use Google, put in: training dog to use stairs. Here is one video:
http://www.ehow.com/video_5238550_tr...lk-stairs.html

I hadn't thought of the reinforcing, like the way you explained that Karen.