Category: Dogs

The Waterboy travel water bowl is hands down one of the best purchases I have ever made for my dogs. I think adequate hydration is important for everyone, including my dogs, and now I don’t have to worry about it whether we’re running around doing errands or on the road for a trip.

Gone are the days of the dogs only being able to drink at stops along the way. The Waterboy travels full of water and I can hear the dogs in the back of my SUV lapping up water while on the road. It stays in my vehicle all the time. Best thing? It doesn’t spill water.

The little blue bowl allows just a small amount of water into the bottom and refills as the dog drinks. That’s why there’s never enough water in it to slop all over the place. I love it.

My timid dog Ellie started using it as soon as I filled it and set it down on the kitchen floor before taking outside to my vehicle. My fearless dog Nikki looked at it with a baleful eye, sniffed it with disdain, and had an expression that said “I’m not drinking out of that thing.” When she got thirsty enough on our first trip with it she gave in and used it readily after that. So don’t expect every dog to be immediately thrilled with the little pool of water available at the bottom of the blue cup.

I have read reviews where people complain about leaking. The big black o-ring shown in the picture is like any other o-ring. It needs periodic maintenance in order to keep doing it’s job. Every once in a while I take the o-ring off, wipe all the accumulated dried slobber and crud off of it, wipe on a fresh thin coating of petroleum jelly and put it back on the bowl. It seals beautifully and my Waterboy never leaks.

There’s only one thing I had to add — the bowl was driving me crazy sliding all over the back so I have a small bungee cord on the handle that is hooked to the side of the cargo area. No more sliding and it’s right where the dogs need it.

I do still keep a jug of water stored in the SUV in case the dogs empty the bowl and there isn’t any water available, but it doesn’t hardly ever get used anymore.

Depending on where you get it, the Waterboy will cost you $15-20. It’s worth every penny.

I’m not sponsored by anyone so this is just the opinion of me as a dog owner.

Okay, so I had the problem solved for my dog Ellie with her preferred point of entry – the back of my SUV. You can see the DIY for the trailer hitch dog step here. But what would happen when I’m pulling a trailer? An event that was imminent with our move to Florida.

As luck would have it, my Xterra is tall to step into so it has full length running boards on either side of the SUV. It hit me that I might be able to use them to create a side step if there was a way to wedge a board in between the running board and the bottom of the vehicle.

I tried a square piece of board, but the flare out of the body at the back edge wouldn’t let the board fit in. I cut a corner out of a piece of plywood to accommodate the curve in the bottom of the Xterra. In case Ellie stumbled I cut the sharp corner off so she wouldn’t hurt herself. The board fit perfectly.

I was out of carpet scraps to I ran to Lowe’s and bought 1′ of gray carpet runner — it cost about $2.50. I generously stapled the carpet to the plywood to make sure there were no loose edges.

The cool thing about how this worked out is the open door holds the board in place so it can’t spring up — I didn’t want it to act like a diving board when she landed on it and the problem solved itself once I opened the door.

Complete success. I showed Ellie the step and she put her paws on it without my asking. Of course there was a treat sitting up in the truck enticing her. I told her “Up!” the command to get in the truck and she went up without hesitation. You can’t tell by the still picture, but her tail was wagging. Of course, that too had something to do with treats and lots of praise.

The was an incredibly easy project to help a dog get into the side door of an SUV, but it will only work for those of us who have running boards. I’m so glad Ellie has an easy dog step to get in the SUV when I’m pulling a trailer.

Ellie is my dog with the incredible vertical leap. She’s also the dog who accidentally got her rear right leg broken when she was five months old. She’d snagged a dog bone and ran with Nikki chasing when she abruptly screeched to a halt. 45 pound puppy was hit full speed by 75 pound adult dog equaled snapped leg.

After nine years of watching her rocket into the back of my SUV with room to spare I was shocked when she started missing (not quite making it in) and getting progressively more and more frightened of the effort. All the while I’m watching my eleven year old lab, who never had that great of a vertical leap, jump into the vehicle with ease.

For the last year Ellie has been becoming more and more skittish. She’ll be sound asleep and suddenly jump up like someone has poked her with a cattle prod. I’ve seriously wondered if it’s some kind of canine dementia since Nikki’s personality was staying completely the same.

All to say – I don’t know if Ellie can’t jump into my SUV or if she’d gotten spooked and convinced herself she can’t. Bottom line – it doesn’t really matter. She’s scared to death to jump in my vehicle.

Failed efforts

I tried helping her by putting her front paws on the bumper so I could then pick up her rear and help her in. Oh my god – she’s terrified of that and hates it so it’s been a complete disaster.

Figuring both Labs would end up needing one, I built a really nice ramp that Nikki would go up and down. Ellie wouldn’t even consider it. No amount of treats, begging, pleading, cajoling, or ordering was going to make her try it. Great.

I have always kept the back seat folded down so the dogs would have the entire back of my Xterra to move around in. I put up the back seat to see if she’s climb up on the floor and then jump on the seat. Same round of  treats, begging, pleading, cajoling, or ordering. Forget it. She wasn’t having any of that either.

I tried picking her up (questionable I could wrestle a struggling 75 pound dog) but she fought me every inch of the way on that too. Sheesh. I was getting really desperate since she hates being stuck at home and was terrified of jumping in the vehicle.

Step for receiver hitch 

Looking online there were a lot of dog steps in various configurations. I didn’t see her being willing to try any of them because they were so foreign to what she was accustomed to. Most particularly I didn’t want anything that would move and scare her to death.

I then found the Otto Step. Nice dog step, but at $80 and having no way to secure in the receiver hitch (no hole for a pin) I was afraid it would move or even come out and freak Ellie out. I then found the Twist Step. Wow - awesome idea, but $250??? You've got to be kidding me. I was sure I could come up with something for less. I continued my research and found the Bully AS-551 trailer hitch step for people at $39. $40 was more palatable for an experiment that she might turn her nose up at. My plan was to attach a carpet covered board to provide a larger platform for her to use as an interim step into the back of the vehicle. Modifying the Bully AS-551 The Bully AS-551 is a nice step. As you can see in the picture below it has a 2" pivoting bar with a stainless steel platform that is about 9" x 6". You can see the releasing pin so the platform arm can be swung perpendicular to the vehicle and tucked underneath when not in use. It was, however, more problematic than expected to add a larger platform board. I had planned on the screws going in from the top, but the nuts couldn't go on the bottom because the outside row of holes were too close to the steel post. I put the screws through large washers from the bottom and tightened the nuts on the top of the board hoping they wouldn't bother Ellie. [caption id="attachment_2296" align="aligncenter" width="640"] The step shifted on the board because of how close the holes are to the tube. I didn't figure Ellie would care.[/caption] The picture below shows the step inserted into my receiver hitch.

I put her front paws on it one time (which she hates me doing) and she bounded up. She jumped down not using the step, but jumped back into the SUV using it four more times. I took her to the park for a walk. She happily used the step to get back into the vehicle. Success at last. I tried it again today and she’s in and out of the SUV in a heartbeat. She isn't frightened of the step, it's big enough she has room to maneuver, and it makes life easy for her. Hallelujah. FYI - I do not drive with the step in place. I store it in the back of the SUV and put it in place when she needs to jump up. The board isn't weatherproof and I didn't want someone to inadvertently hit it because it kind of blends into the bumper. $39 for the Bully AS-551, $4 for bolts, washers, and nuts. I had a piece of carpet and piece of board here so that was free. I used contact cement to attach the carpet to the board. Great dog step for a lot less than $250. And Ellie likes it :-)