Dog vs Leather Arm Rest

Hey gang. :) I bought my Ridgeline late July but made my 80 lb. yellow lab wait 60 days before breaking it in. Cruelty, I know... I wanted to enjoy and hair free and saliva (drool) free zone while it still had the new car smell. Finally had to make a two hour road trip with the dog from Toledo to Cleveland last week. My wife made custom fit camo covered cushions for the rear floor area. Camo hides the dirt etc... Everything looked good for his royal highness to ride back there in style. Had to make a gas stop 5 minutes from the house and asked my wife to watch the dog. As soon as I left the car, she hops out to check the trunk and the dog launches himself into the front seat. :eek: On the way up and over he managed to scratch the leather arm rest. Arrghh!!!. Wife now in the doghouse. :mad:

We have since thrown a towel over the armrest to safeguard from the puppy when he is on board. Anyone have a more permanent or secure recomendation for protecting the armrest w/out limiting its functionality? :confused:

That is one of the reasons I did not opt for leather.

You are lucky to have a nice mellow lab. About thirty years ago I was walking up to a country store in my area, there was a nice newer Mercury Capri parked outside with a Doberman inside. As I walked by I said Hi Pooch, the dog went berzerk and started bitting into the seats with in minutes there was leather and stuffing flying all over the inside of the car when I came out of the store the seats were totaly shreded with springs sticking out.

That is hilarious! :D

I doubt the owner of the Capri saw the humor in it, he probably owns a cat now.

Actually, leather is easier to fix than cloth. A number of companies make leather repair kits, but if it was me, I would replace the armrest alltogether. Check out www.hondaautomotiveparts.com, you can find the part you are looking for. You might also want to give HandAaccessories.com a call.

No worries mate.

My dog did the same thing to my leather arm rest. I had to drive him to the kennel because we were going out of town. I jumped out of the drivers seat to come leash him up in the backseat and he jumped into the front seat tearing the leather on the armrest. I couldn't stand to look at it and would have replaced it up to $100 cost. When I went to see how much it did cost I was only charged $9.17. The install is really easy too. I would highy recommend getting it replaced!!! :)

Dog's Driver, wow, you have a firm resolve. We took our girls for a ride on the day of our test drive, but only after covering the back seat area with piles of blankets. We also washed off the dog slobber before we returned the truck. (LadyRidge, you'll be glad to know it was a silver.) We had to know it was going to be a decent dog vehicle!

Our first weekend we spent designing and building our doggie deck. You can see our project here:

http://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1087&highlight=doggie+deck

For your current dilemma, I have some suggestions. I'm guessing you're talking about the armrest that pulls forward between the front seats. You didn't clearly specify.

I have not come up with a good cover for the console armrest. Other than gooping it up with stick on velcro, I haven't come up with a way to cover it. We ended up blocking access to the front seat with some PVC tubing. Not very pretty, but cheap and effective. That prevents the girls from standing on the console armrest and becoming a hazard when we drive. It also has protected our vent direction knob for the backseat air and heat. They knocked that off two times before we put up the PVC bars.

AutoSport also has a material drape that hangs from the window that protects the sill and will drape over the armrest. Unfortunately, it does not show up on their website. It is in their catalog with order #3562 for $36.95 a pair. They are called Slip-on Door Shields.

Good luck on sufficiently doggie proofing your truck. With your screen name, you can hardly quit giving your dog rides in his truck.

I'm including some photos of the method we used to protect the back armrests. There are more photos and descriptions about how I made these armrest covers in the above link about our doggie deck. You can see that we glued on more styrafoam to make them slide deeper into the indentations on the armrest. It improved their stability. They never tip out now, but are easily removed by simply pulling them straight up.

No worries mate.

My dog did the same thing to my leather arm rest.

I couldn't stand to look at it and would have replaced it up to $100 cost. When I went to see how much it did cost I was only charged $9.17. The install is really easy too. I would highy recommend getting it replaced!!! :)

Where did you get your replacement part? That's about the cheapest part I've seen! Maybe that would give me a way to put something over the leather, like some fake fur.

Actually, since my console cover is still in perfect shape, all I'd need is the replacement instructions to see if I can come up with a protective cover.

I found a couple of photos to show our inelegant dog barrier. It's just a PVC frame that we built. It has a leg on each side that fits down into the pockets on the back of the seats, then we've got a nylon strap wrapped around the base of the headrest to hold it upright. It's taught the girls to stay in the backseat.

The blue bag keeps their flexi-lead, pick up bags and dog wipes handy. Their red water canteen stows in the doorway. I drop their pinch collars along the bottom door edge by their water canteen. I can get them safely hooked up before I let them out of the truck if we're in a place they need to be on lead.

I doubt the owner of the Capri saw the humor in it, he probably owns a cat now.

My English setter that we rescued in the mountains years ago totally ate my dash when we left her in the car for a few minutes by herself. It was not funny.

I love dogs, but after spending 3 years remodeling a house that has been destroyed by 2 labs, I am not going to let any dog NEAR the interior of my $35,000 truck. If you are going to go through that much trouble to protect the interior of your truck, why not just buy a kennel that fits in the back seat? (or the bed for that matter) :) We have a Pommeranian, but even that dog doesn't get to go in the truck.

I love dogs, but . . . If you are going to go through that much trouble to protect the interior of your truck, why not just buy a kennel that fits in the back seat? (or the bed for that matter) :) We have a Pommeranian, but even that dog doesn't get to go in the truck.

Trouble?? Not at all. It's a labor of love. You see, we bought this truck to be our family vehicle. Our kids just happen to be the furry type. We want them to have a cozy place to ride. The deck we built gives them maximum space at an elevation that allows them to see out the window from a seated position. If they were a taller breed, we would have built the bed on the floor. Having it higher gives us an extra out of sight storage space.

Our dogs are completely trustworthy in their truck. The only damage they would cause would be incidental, from their toenails, for instance. I was not crazy about having leather interior, especially with all the perforations in it. They are not allowed in the front seats.

We also love this truck and want to keep it in as good of condition as possible. The armrest pads are precautionary to prevent their toenails from marring the interior. By having their own dog proof space, I don't stress if we're at a stream or a lake and they take a dip. They are short haired with no undercoat, so they dry off very quickly, even if they hop in wet. The bedding is easy for me to clean. I just toss it in the washer.

My dogs are softies. They live inside the climate controlled house. They have free run of the yard when we're home because they have a doggie door. They prefer to be with their people over hanging out outside if we're not with them. They would find riding the the back a punishment and they do not do well with the elements, hot or cold. They need the climate control of the cab.

Kennels? Many people use them to survive puppyhood. I only use them when we are at dog events and I need a safe place for the girls between activities. They are fine in their kennel. I see no reason to use it inside the truck since they are well behaved while travelling. They're even well behaved when left in the truck for hours at a time. We only do this with appropriate shade or weather conditions. They are content to wait. They know they are going with us the next time the truck starts up.

Weims are intensely interested in having attention showered on them. My two demand that I interact with them until they go to bed at night. While we are on vacation we call it "doggie days." We do activities that our dogs will enjoy and can participate in.

They are our joy and our focus. When we ordered our personalized plates, it was obvious what they should say: