How a Folding Dog Car Ramp Let My Old Dog Keep Riding Shotgun in the Truck

Boone stood at the open rear door of my 2019 Ram 1500 and didn't jump. He put his front paws on the running board, the way he has for six years, and then he stopped. My nine-year-old yellow Lab mix, 74 pounds and greying at the muzzle, looked up at me like he was asking permission to quit. In six years on I-80 there was never a morning he hesitated at that door.

So I did what any tired man does at the end of a haul. I picked him up and loaded him into the back seat like a sack of feed. He let me, which should have told me something, because Boone has never liked being lifted. He's a dog that wants to do things for himself. My back complained for a week, and that week got me serious about finding a better answer.

So I started looking at dog ramps, and the first several I found were not encouraging. Too short, too flimsy, or so overbuilt they cost more than the tires on the truck. The Pawaboo was different. It is 74 inches long, which is the number that matters, and 20 inches wide, so Boone has room to place his feet. It folds in half, lives behind the front seat when we're rolling, and takes about four seconds to set up. Carrying a 74 pound dog is not a long-term plan, and I knew it.

The first morning, I hooked the top of the ramp over the edge of the truck floor and let the bottom rest on the gravel. Boone walked around it once, gave it a good sniff, and then walked straight up it like he'd been using a ramp his whole life. No coaxing. No treats. No nervous feet. He turned around at the top, sat down on the back seat, and looked at me like I was the one being slow.

It has held up to the way I actually live with it. It gets dragged out at every stop, parked behind the front seat on every stretch of road, and dropped on the pavement more times than I can count. The surface gives his feet something to grip even when it's wet, and the lip hooks over the truck floor so the ramp doesn't slide when he steps on it. That was my biggest worry, and it's the one it handles best.

The morning his hips were stiffest, Boone still walked up that ramp on his own and settled in before I finished my coffee.

The moment that made it worth it came in a cold snap about a month in. Boone's hips were stiff, the kind of morning where he walks slow for the first half hour and I don't push him. He still went to the door, walked up the ramp, and got himself settled before I finished my coffee. A dog that can get into the truck on his own is a dog that still gets to go. That's the whole deal. Nothing else about that morning was special, and that's exactly the point.

We've put close to six thousand miles on since the Pawaboo came along. It's been rained on, covered in gravel dust, and stepped on by a 74 pound dog a few hundred times. It folds flat, it doesn't rattle against the seat, and on most days I don't think about it until I need it. That's the highest compliment I can pay any piece of gear in that cab. I've had plenty of truck accessories that made me work for them. This one just does its job.

If you go looking at ramps, the first thing to ignore is the photos. What matters is the length, plain and simple. A ramp that's too short makes a dog climb a hill, and a stiff dog won't do that for long. At 74 inches, the Pawaboo reaches the floor of my crew cab at an angle Boone handles without thinking, and the 20 inch width gives him room to place his feet without stepping off the edge.

The other thing I noticed is that Boone uses it more than I expected. On long trips where we stop every couple of hours, he rides down the ramp and up it again at every stop, instead of waiting for me to decide whether he can make the jump. He's not a young dog anymore, but he acts like one at a rest area now, because getting out of the truck doesn't cost him anything.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

Here's the plain version, with no sales pitch attached. If your dog hesitates before getting into the truck, or if you've started lifting him more than you should, don't wait until you throw your back out like I did. Measure the height from the ground to your truck floor, and get a ramp that reaches it without turning into a climbing wall. The Pawaboo does that, it has taken daily abuse without complaint, and it folds small enough to live in the cab. My only regret is the two months I spent hauling Boone in and out before I ordered it. I'd have bought it the first time he hesitated.