June 28, 2020

Dog ramp review: Covercraft

Today I want to talk about a dog ramp that I bought to help my dog get in and out of my truck and tell you what my honest feelings are about it. I spent a lot of time looking at various ramps online before purchasing this one and think it's important when purchasing an item that will literally be holding your animals weight (life) on it, that we know how other consumers have fared using the item before making our purchase.

Dog on ramp going into truck, ramp review

I was not given this item, unfortunately....because it wasn't cheap! I did purchase it. The price was around $120, though they did provide free shipping and I ordered it from a company called Covercraft.

Why purchase a dog ramp?

Last year my dog Lulu was diagnosed with a condition called degenerative myelopathy. This means that slowly over the course of about a year she will lose mobility in her back legs the point that she won't be able to use them to walk at all. Right now she's in the stage that it's very awkward with her back legs, and they don't like act the way they used to. 

I've had to buy a few different products to make mobility easier for her as this disease progresses. One of the first things that I bought was this dog ramp. This ramp can be used to help her get into vehicles or even used in place of stairs. I'm a 5'0" tall, 50 year old woman and my dog is a boxer mix that weighs about half what I do. Lifting her onto the back seat of a pickup truck was not feasible.

Dog walking up ramp into car

Dog ramp review

I have a pickup truck as seen in the pictures and so as the degenerative myelopathy progressed it was harder for her to jump up or down from anything. This ramp could be placed on the floor edge of the vehicle like where your feet would go, or it can be placed on the seat. Placing it on the seat makes for a steeper incline for the dog, so we placed it on the floorboard of the truck.

This is a very sturdy item. It has a nice little hole cut into the one side of it where your hand would go so you can carry it, and open and close it without smashing your fingers. The only thing I didn't really like about it was it didn't have a latch to keep it open or closed. Keeping it open wasn't as much of a problem but if you tried to pick it up in your hand wasn't in the right spot it could swing shut. 

Plus if you picked it up and it was shut it kind of could wobble open.
So a latch would be a great idea for this. I'm sure you could make something quite easily. Though it would be nice if the company came up with like a Velcro tab or something.

This ramp comes assembled, it is two pieces with a hinge in the center. This is nice because it fits in the trunk of a car very easily.

The ramp is durable. It does not get destroyed by weather. It's very sturdy, our dog is about 60 lb. and it had no problem at all supporting her. There's a slight lip at the sides so it's not easy for a dog to fall off though they absolutely could misstep. This isn't an item I would just let the dog use on her own, but considering that she has DM and her foot placement isn't sturdy I'm beside her all the time anyway.

As I mentioned I chose this item because it had excellent reviews and I'm also giving it an excellent review. A lot of the other items that are comparable had problems collapsing when they were being used, or had weight limits which wouldn't work with a heavy dog. I haven't had any of these problems with this ramp by Covercraft

That link to Covercraft is not an affiliate link, I did purchase this item myself and get no benefit if you buy from them...other than knowing I helped you pick a ramp we can both trust!

While the item is much more expensive than some comparable ones you can find on Amazon, I highly recommend spending the money for the security of the dog being safe and on a sturdy ramp.

Reading reviews for products

It was weird to me that Covercraft sold this item because their usual inventory are items that cover things. Hence the name. They don't have many dog items but one of the items they do have is a seat cover for your vehicle. I haven't tried theirs but I have reviewed them before and I find they're very useful to keep your seats of the vehicle safe from scratching and it makes it easier to clean up after a dog too.

They also make car covers etc. I ordered the dog ramp from them instead of a dog product company, because of the great reviews online. I read reviews for other items the company makes too. 

As mentioned before, I think honest reviews are super important and would hope nobody would leave an unfair review. I'm always honest even if it hurts (me or them!) and have been contacted more than once by companies that didn't like my honesty! Check out the time I had to review fake essential oils. Awkward!

Update 2021: This item has been in use for over a year now and it is still in perfect shape and working condition and we have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. I stand by my positive review and highly recommend this for large dogs that have problems getting up onto high surfaces..

~Lisa

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