Warning to pet owners

[Sharon.72064]

Baby sitting our daughters 15 yr. Border Collie & camping for the week. She has difficult making it up & down the steps to our TT. We place a beach towel under the tummy and so far it helps. HOWEVER....this morning going down the steps I noticed she was limping when she was on the ground, than I noticed blood on our mat. I went up the steps to notify my husband when I noticed a whole toe nail laying on one of the steps. Her toe nail got pulled out completely by one of those small holes in the steps. Please don't let this happen to your dog, lesson learned a little too late for Bella, but we now have wrapped bath towels on each step & secured them with grey tape. We did not have carpet on the steps, had a strip of sand tape with a rubbery yellow strip on edge for ourselfs to see the steps better when stepping down. Just never heard this on any forums, so please be aware. She will be just fine, we soaked the foot & cleaned it, than placed peroxide & triple antibiotic on it. We will watch for infection. We feel like such horrible grandparents.

[martinto]

We have carpet step covers. Two of our three use the steps...the 14 year old boy needs to be lifted up and in. We have a garden bench with floral design cut outs in our backyard and my rescued Schnauzer likes to sit there with me...well last week he jumped up and promptly got his paw snagged in a cut out...screamed like a very hungry infant. I held him and my wife was able to dislodge his paw. He was a bit sore but ok. Doubt he sits with me there again. I'll miss that!

[Sc00ter]

We just carpeted our steps for our last trip. Our border collie refused to step up into the camper. Sorry to hear about your pooch, hope that it heals quickly.

[EdJunior]

Wow...I never heard of that. I will have to look. Thanks for the heads up...and hope your pup gets better.

[hrlyguy2]

Flour stops the blood and will help .
Many of my dogs have had broken nails .Always keep flour around. .

[Canadiancrew]

Wow we will have to look at some carpeted pads for the steps to prevent this happening to our lab.

[Life Without Whine]

A 15 yo dog does have some anti-inflammatories that she is already taking right? If not she really needs a quick vet visit for pain & antibiotics - most topicals won't help at the nail bed & can lead to bone infection .....

[Unclebuck1956]

We have 2 small breed dogs and they just can't climb the tt stairs so I built them some cedar stairs into the trailer and they fit nicely in one of our ward boxes. Actually my wife and I kind of like them too!!!!!!

[wrottdog]

These things happen. Don't beat yourself up. I got carpet covers at Walmart pretty cheap.

[maddiesmom06]

I will be purchasing carpet covers for our steps. We have 3 small dogs and one has always been hesitant about the stairs. Thanks for he heads up. ��

[Pauls Toy Hauler]

Yep. happened to our little Chihuahua. None of them now walk up the steps. we carry them down and up. Heck, now the little Chihuahua waits to be picked up. She learned quick those steps ain't nice.

[kluza2786]

Although we have carpeted steps, we use a telescoping ramp for our elderly, arthritic German Shepherd. During the trip, we use the ramp for her to get into the Tahoe, then once we get to the camp site we use it to help her get into the TT. We got one of the aluminum ones that telescopes to about 7 ft. and will hold 300+ pounds in case we need to be on the ramp with her. I also carpeted the ramp since the sandpaper-like coating on it would be too rough on her feet.

[Bowhnter]

Thanks for the heads up, I can see that happening.

[ChipBruce]

Here is a link to what PetSmart has to offer. https://www.petsmart.com/search;pgid...earchTerm=ramp
We got a ramp for our 14 year old Golden Mix. He will only use it with a rug on it, but that's fine. It sure beats lifting all 80 pounds of him.

[kluza2786]

Chip - We got ours at PetSmart also. Then I went to Lowe's and bought 2 chair mats that were a rubber-backed tweed type of carpet that I cut to size and screwed onto the ramp so that it wouldn't slide around. Our GSD is about 100 pounds so I didn't want to try lifting her in and out of the SUV or camper.

[bluewoo]

Thanks for sharing!

[bajamike1]

Get a doggie ramp, it’s light ( made of aluminum) and expands out. We used it for our two Border Collie.

[ChipBruce]

Kluza2786 I totally agree. We have a white GSD that just turned 2, so he is still a puppy but weighs about 115 pounds. If he ever gets to the point that he has to be picked up, I would have to install a winch and drag him into the toy hauler. They sure are fun though.

[j free]

I use step covers and also have a suit case dog ramp that I put in place for them. It works the best I have a 14yr old shitzu and it needs all the help it can get. The ramp works great. another plus is it has a 250# payload so I can use it at time also.

[kluza2786]

Before we bought the telescoping ramp we looked at the folding ones. The issue that I had with the folding ramps was that they seemed heavier and bulkier than the telescoping - also didn't have the capacity as I recall. We use a dog crate in the Tahoe TV and this one sits right on top of the crate and doesn't slide around.