Pooch Problem

[littlebrooklyn]

Anyone got any good suggestions for not getting all the back sill of an estate scratched when your animals jump in and out?

One of the main reasons we bought an estate was so that our labrador could go in the back, which was lovely after nearly 6yrs of having her sit in the footwell of our last car.

However she is a hefty thing and we can't lift her into the car, so she has to jump in and out. We have put a blanket in the back so that when we open the tailgate we pull that over the painted sill and that works fine.

However when we go to let her out, unless one of us goes in the backseat and grabs her by her collar, she just jumps straight out the back before we can stop her and has already managed to scratch the paintwork.

I see on the Mercedes site that you can buy something called a cargo net holder but I wonder if she's just going to get in a tangled mess with one of those.

Lyn

 

[OlafMaxwell]

How about:

www.doggloves.com

www.dogpawtrimmers.com.

On a more serious note I think one option is to have a small panel to let fall out over the rear cill. I saw a friend of mine make one, you can remove the chrome/stainless steel cill and fit a harder fabric material under it so that you can let it fall out over the cill when you open up for Fido/Pebbles/Charlie/Towser. Another very useful thing is a bootliner and you could probalby attach something to this. I have also seen a blakc heavy rubbere type strip stuck tot he top of the cill and bumper but these where home made options. Try www.carbox.co.uk

You should really use the net holder or something like that because in a front end crash a labrador is a damn big projectile to have coming at you from the rear. If you have strap hooks you could consider a long lead and attaching it to one of these.

 

[littlebrooklyn]

You should really use the net holder or something like that because in a front end crash a labrador is a damn big projectile to have coming at you from the rear. If you have strap hooks you could consider a long lead and attaching it to one of these.

Thank you Olaf, I think I will try and get the net holder. As you say a labrador is pretty big, ours is about 28kg and I wouldn't fancy that coming over to the front of the car.

Lyn

 

[andy_k]

we find the word "stay" has always worked really well with our dogs although it is slightly less effective on the kids .

Andy

 

[nicky]

we find the word "stay" has always worked really well with our dogs although it is slightly less effective on the kids .

Andy

Well you are not saying it and meaning it,kids get away with too much and end up spoiled brats..........When you say no mean no..........

 

[littlebrooklyn]

we find the word "stay" has always worked really well with our dogs although it is slightly less effective on the kids .

Andy

See that would work pretty well with my son, he would stay, although I don't think he'd be too happy being put in the boot of the car.

The dog however has a mind of her own and stay doesn't seem to be in her vocabularly, just ask the postman/papergirl/tesco van driver/gas meter reader/electricity meter reader/window cleaner...in fact anyone that comes to the door for that matter.

However I did find this very interesting pic, now I think this would work :idea:


Lyn

 

[jberks]

My solution is very effective though admittedly a bit pricey - I bought a jeep and won't let my 2 potty collies anywhere near the Merc!

I have heard of a cheaper alternative which is to put a piece of transparrent sticky back plastic on the affected area of the bumper. Then just replace the plastic when it gets grubby. Not sure I'd be too keen personally but its an option.

 

[robbi-wan]

Once again: Simple is best.
An off-cut of carpet makes an ideal bootliner in my C220 estate so the hound can get as dirty as he likes and still get home!!
Leave approx 12 inches of overhang at the tailgate end; This will drop down when the door is opened, thus preventing paintwork damage to bumper.

 

[paulcallender]

Would it be possible to remove the panel which would become scratched, then put it back once you sell the car? In the grand scheme of things, estates usually end up with the odd scratch here & there, around the loading bay. A dog is a relatively minor offender compared to some of the things I've carried in my time. So it wouldn't really cane your resale value.

My car's last owners had a dog. A very large, hairy dog. There is no real damage but there is a distinct "essence of dog".

The last car I had kids in the boot, was a Peugeot 505 - mind you, it did have 8 seats. They seemed to love the rearmost seats.

 

[littlebrooklyn]

Once again: Simple is best.
An off-cut of carpet makes an ideal bootliner in my C220 estate so the hound can get as dirty as he likes and still get home!!
Leave approx 12 inches of overhang at the tailgate end; This will drop down when the door is opened, thus preventing paintwork damage to bumper.

That's a very good idea robbi, no idea why we never thought of that, cheap way to sort out the problem too.

Apparently my other half says I was wrong to describe it as a sill, he said it's the moulded bumper assembly, whatever that is :???:

Lyn

 

[nicky]

That's a very good idea robbi, no idea why we never thought of that, cheap way to sort out the problem too.

Apparently my other half says I was wrong to describe it as a sill, he said it's the moulded bumper assembly, whatever that is :???:

Lyn

Ok thats that problem solved,so now how do get rid of the hair and the smell of the dog???????I have seen cars traded in and even after a valet it still smells of dogs......

 

[pascal]

Ok thats that problem solved,so now how do get rid of the hair and the smell of the dog???????I have seen cars traded in and even after a valet it still smells of dogs......

Hope you are not going to suggest the vet, Nicky.
Only joking Lyn.
It is just that some people would never let a dog near their car or inside their house.

I would say, cover the 'Moulded Bumper Assembly' (sill to us folk here) with ducktape, or a strong transparent adhesive backed variety. This can be renewed when needs be, and when selling your vehicle, removed altogether.

 

[littlebrooklyn]

It never crossed my mind that a dog would make the car smell, I'm pretty sure our last car didn't, even after 5yrs of having a dog inside it.

Maybe we have been lucky, or maybe we have no sense of smell, but I swear you could come into our house and never know we had a dog.

I hardly ever give her a bath, and I really mean hardly....like once a year as the vet told us only to bath a dog when really, really necessary. Even though we have a labrador, she hates water and never really gets wet, apart from her feet.

Also she is very good at sitting at the door and letting you dry her feet when she comes into the house. If only men were so easy to train as dogs

Lyn

 

[turnipsock]

My long dead Doberman used to ride up front. The position he adopted was one foot on the passenger seat, one on the drivers seat and the back feet in the rear footwells. His head was hard to see past when driving. He was one of these dogs that everybody knew and a policeman, I was talking to years later, said it was a standing joke as they all had seen, what they thought, was a doberman driving a car!

The police did get hold of him once. When I used to take him for a walk in the forest he used to take off after deer. We had an arrangement that we would just meet back at the car, even though this was six or seven miles away, he never failed to find his way back, except once. Some ****** do-gooder thought he was lost and decided to hand him into the police. I was out looking for him and since the police knew the dog they phoned my dad who went to pick him up. My dad said that there was scratch marks on the cell floor where they had dragged him (the dog) into the cell!

 

[nicky]

Also she is very good at sitting at the door and letting you dry her feet when she comes into the house. If only men were so easy to train as dogs

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i think there are a few men on here that would sit at the door and let you dry their feet........

 

[SLinKyjoe]

you can do my toes....but my feet are well hidden....i can manage the rest of me thanks..



as for dogs and scratches...simple...shoot the dog. end of problem, then you can buy a sensible car too....and cheaper....look at all the ideas here see.

or maybes you can do like i do even with the slk. i have a thick black plastic sheet that is trapped under the boot floor, it extends out of the boot almost to the floor covering the moulded black thingy holding the back of the car on. helps to stop scratches when doing that most domestic of chores, ie, placing the shopping in the boot. zips, keys etc all scratch and this prevents it. cheap too. it then folds inside the boot bofore you go. Men, see. full of solutions, all you had to do was ask.

 

[littlebrooklyn]

as for dogs and scratches...simple...shoot the dog. end of problem, then you can buy a sensible car too....and cheaper....look at all the ideas here see.

or maybes you can do like i do even with the slk. i have a thick black plastic sheet that is trapped under the boot floor, it extends out of the boot almost to the floor covering the moulded black thingy holding the back of the car on. helps to stop scratches when doing that most domestic of chores, ie, placing the shopping in the boot. zips, keys etc all scratch and this prevents it. cheap too. it then folds inside the boot bofore you go. Men, see. full of solutions, all you had to do was ask.

Men are so full of solutions they suggest shooting the dog lol! Good job my dog doesn't know where you live, she's a gun dog and she'd be round there in a jiffy to sort you out lol!

As for 'the moulded black thingy holding the back of the car on'....that's the kind of thing I would say....but I don't have a clue what you mean. I don't see any moulded black thingy on the back of my car....maybe it fell it off

 

[robbi-wan]

Ok thats that problem solved,so now how do get rid of the hair and the smell of the dog???????I have seen cars traded in and even after a valet it still smells of dogs......

My collie has a fondness for stinkin' black rancid ponds covered in scum and the car tends to smell a bit after he has been in it. good thing about carpet is I wont worry about throwing it away.

Mind you, the kids usually make more mess/smell than the dog so it is all relative really......

 

[littlebrooklyn]

My collie has a fondness for stinkin' black rancid ponds covered in scum and the car tends to smell a bit after he has been in it. good thing about carpet is I wont worry about throwing it away.

The trick is to only take your dog in the car when they are clean and dry and don't let them out until you get home :roll:

 

[SLinKyjoe]

Men are so full of solutions they suggest shooting the dog lol! Good job my dog doesn't know where you live, she's a gun dog and she'd be round there in a jiffy to sort you out lol!

As for 'the moulded black thingy holding the back of the car on'....that's the kind of thing I would say....but I don't have a clue what you mean. I don't see any moulded black thingy on the back of my car....maybe it fell it off

yeah, its black on mine, maybes it blue on yours....the bit you stand on to reach right in....i call it a bumper....showing my age....

i take it you dont want to shoot the dog then? you cud drown it! or worse...you could leave it tied up somewhere and hope it starves to death. apparently dogs dont have feelings you know...