How to Make a Dog Ramp for a Small Dog

Not made with the wants and needs of small dogs in mind, travel throughout a house can be difficult for tiny canine family members. As they age, the issue becomes even more pertinent. With their athletic ability declining, stairs they once bounded up and down on become arduous and sometimes impossible to cover. To help facilitate older dogs in getting around and reduce the wear and tear on younger ones, stair ramps are helpful additions to the home.

Things You'll Need

  • 8 1-inch wood screws
  • 20 3/8- or 1/2-inch wood screws
  • Four 16-inch wooden lathe strips
  • Plywood cut to the length of your stairs, 16 inches wide and 3/4-inch thick
  • Indoor-outdoor carpeting cut to match plywood
  • Staple gun
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Instructions

    • 1

      Measure the distance from the top of the stairs to the bottom. This will serve as the length of the plywood board for the ramp.

    • 2

      Cut the carpeting to match the plywood measurements, plus four inches in height and width.

    • 3

      Place the carpet on the plywood, wrap the extra material over the edges and staple it to the underside.

    • 4

      Turn the carpeted plywood over and arrange the lathes crosswise upon it. Space them evenly, then screw them into place with a 1-inch wood screw on each end.

    • 5

      Determine how you wish to stabilize the ramp to the stairs. Make-and-Build-Dog-Stuff.com suggests anchoring it by screwing it directly to the stairs, but this can cause irreparable damage to the wood of your the stairs. For an alternate method, staple rubber runners in an outlining pattern on the underside of the ramp. Though not as stable for larger dogs, the rubber should hold the ramp in place well enough for small dogs to travel up and down upon it.