Helping an older dog in and out of the car

For a great many older dogs, getting into the car is the single most painful movement of the day. It is a jump, from a standing start, onto a hard edge, usually while excited.

It is also the one most owners fix last, because the dog still does it. Dogs will keep doing painful things for a walk.

The moment it changes

Watch the take-off rather than the landing. A dog that used to flow into the boot and now gathers itself, pauses, or takes two attempts has stopped finding it easy. A dog that scrabbles with its back legs is loading its front end to spare its hips.

Coming out is worse than going in. Landing puts several times body weight through the front legs and shoulders, and for a dog with elbow arthritis that is the jolt that ruins the next morning. If you only solve one direction, solve the way out.

Lifting, and how it is usually done wrong

Lifting is fine for smaller dogs and a reasonable stopgap for larger ones, but the common method hurts.

• Never lift under the front legs like a toddler. It hangs the whole body from the shoulder joints, which is precisely where the arthritis often is.
• One arm around the chest, one around the back legs, and lift with your own legs, keeping the dog level and close to you.
• Put them down, do not let them jump down out of your arms, which is the jolt you were trying to avoid.
• For a dog over about 20kg this stops being sustainable, for your back as much as theirs.

Ramp or steps?

They are not interchangeable, and the wrong one gets refused and put in the shed.

A ramp suits dogs with hip or knee problems, and anything large. There is no flexing of the joint through a full range, just a steady walk. The catch is length: a short steep ramp is worse than nothing, because the angle forces exactly the pushing motion you are trying to avoid. Longer is better, and grippy matters more than people expect.

Steps suit smaller dogs, and cars where a long ramp will not fit. They ask for repeated small flexions, which is fine for a stiff-but-mobile dog and unpleasant for one with bad knees.

For a big dog with sore hips getting into a high boot, a ramp. For a Cavalier getting onto a back seat, steps.

Dogs refuse ramps, and it is nearly always the introduction

A ramp is a narrow, wobbly, unfamiliar surface that ends in mid-air. Of course they hesitate.

• Set it up flat on the ground first, not attached to the car, and let them walk over it for treats.
• Raise it a few inches, then a few more, over several days.
• Only attach it to the car once they trot over it without looking down.
• Never pull them up it on the lead. One frightening slip and you have lost the ramp permanently.

Rushing this over a weekend is the single most common reason an expensive ramp lives in a garage.

Boot or back seat

The boot is usually lower to load and gives a flat surface. The back seat is lower still in most cars, but it slopes, and a dog that slides around a corner on smooth upholstery braces hard with sore legs to stay put.

That sliding is the bit people underestimate. A hammock-style seat cover fills the footwell and turns the bench into a level surface with sides, so an unsteady dog is not constantly correcting. For a small dog, a raised booster seat both stops the sliding and lets them see out, which helps with the nausea side of things.

Neither is a crash restraint, and we say that on both product pages. Under the Highway Code a dog must be suitably restrained — our guide on what UK law actually says about dogs in cars covers what counts.

The things that cost nothing

• Park somewhere flat. A kerb adds height to a jump they are already struggling with; parking with the boot to the kerb takes it away.
• Give them a moment before and after. A short walk before loading warms stiff joints; going straight from a two-hour lie-down into a jump is the worst version.
• Non-slip in the boot. A rubber mat or an old rug. Scrabbling on a slick plastic liner frightens dogs off the car entirely.
• Stop for a stretch on long journeys. Stiffness sets in quickly at that age.

If it is getting worse

Struggling with the car is usually the visible edge of something with a name. Our guide to arthritis in dogs covers the other signs and, more importantly, the fact that effective pain relief exists. A dog on appropriate medication often gets back into the car unaided.

The rest of what we stock for this stage is in for older dogs. We do not sell ramps, and for most large dogs a ramp will do more good than anything on that page.