Our dog bed

[DesertRidgeline]

Okay, being that we had planned a trip to San Francisco for the New Years, we couldn't let the dogs have to ride laying down on that awful ridge running across the back of the truck. But we also knew that we had to allow for at least one passenger (sister in law) while we were visiting up there so this is what we came up with.

I still have to take some more photos but heres a start...

Pic 1. This is the bottom frame work for the bed. You'll notice that it's nothing more than some simple wood frame (sorry I don't recall the size of the lumber, but maybe someone can tell from looking at the pic.

Pic 2. Shows the size of the plywood that we used. We have two large dogs, well one large one and a puppy that will be just as large so we need the entire back seat area so this plywood goes from side to side and front to back with a cutout where the center console is. This mounts to the frame rails that you see in pic 1.

Pic 3. I'm not sure if you can make it out in this photo, but where the mans hands are and the metal ruler thingy is, is where we cut out a slot so that the smaller of the rear seats can still be utilized with this bed in place.

More in next post.

[DesertRidgeline]

Continued:

Pic 1. As you can see we chose a gray vinyl material for the covering and here the carpenter in the family is attaching it to the plywood base. Under the vinyl is 2" thick foam for padding. It's green and I don't know what brand it is but it's makes for a very cushy bed in my opinion.

Once the bed was all covered he went ahead and cut out the slot in the vinyl so that we have a hole so that the single jumper seat can still be used.

The last couple pics show the finished product in the truck, one shot shows a closeup of the hole where the jumper seat can be latched down, and one pic of the jumper seat latched down.

When the jumper seat is in the up position we have a dog crate that sits over the hole for the puppy so nobody falls in there, but once she's old enough to ride without the crate then we will stuff foam or rags inside of the hole when the seat is not being used.

In my opinion, a far more comfortable ride for the "kids" in our family and according to the sister in law the amount of leg room reduced in the back is not a problem for the short trips around town, though she wouldn't want to have to ride back there for 10 hours, but she also mentioned regardless of the dog bed she wouldn't want to ride in that jump seat for 10 hours anyway. Fortunate for me, it's just the two of us and the two dogs.

We figure on those rare occasions when we need all of the rear seats down for guests, then we'll simply pull this bed out and leave it at home or put it in the trucks bed. Though for us, it's rather rare that we will need both jumper seats brought to their full upright position, trays in place and all.

[DesertRidgeline]

And finally a pic of the kids that ride back there. This is the pic that we used for our 2007 christmas cards so..... No, we don't dress up our dogs but the hat was for the christmas cards and next year they'll both be wearing santa hats (the pup was too young this year) and we bought two large santa dog hats while up in San Mateo at the scrub a pup store so that they both have one next year.

Amazingly they both show great deal of restraint and sat ontop of that table in this shots for as long as we asked them to hamming it up for the camera. At one point Weston decided to jump off hat and all as seen below. And Penelope was howling I think because she wanted a hat to wear too.

[Webwader]

Very nicely done! The cutout for the seat was a great idea Cute dogs, too.

[Truckin']

Another innovative and cozy design! I'm sure this will help others get their creative juices flowing to accommodate their furry children. Congrats on making your doggies at home in their truck.

That photo of your youngster howling is so precious. Your dogs are beautiful.

[Truckin']

It's just the four of us too, so the back seat is a dedicated doggie deck. We made our doggie deck in the split seat style so the dogs and one passenger can still be in the truck. I think we've used it that way one time, but it's there if we want to do it again.

You don't say where in the desert you reside, but if you're in the western states, you should definitely consider coming to the Sedona meet in April. With luck Ahab and Val will return with their two standard poodles, Sabrina and Ellie.

[ericrwalker]

[VoicesInMyHead]

ROTFLOL!!!!!!!

[djeaux]

What a great design, especially the cut-out for the seat.

[rickjr007]

That is an excellent design. I just found out about two new additions(miniture pinschers) to my household so I will need to do the same once I get back from this crazy place..