Now then doggy owners

The Freely is quite high up and my dog seems to land a bit heavy when I let her jump out of the back. I obviously don't want her to injure herself, so do any of you use a ramp ot lift your dogs or just let them get on with it.
I see ramps on the market but don't know how practical they are to both store in the car and to use, any ideas

I have to lift my dog in, he's a Retriever and could manage it himself, but hates the car so much he has to be lifted in. He jumps out quite happily, and sort of steps off the back step area, so he doesn't seem to jar on landing much. I always try to reverse up to soft ground if I can as well.

My neighbour uses a ramp as both he and his Labrador are getting on a bit and lifting her is out of the question. His is light aluminium and folds up quite neatly to fit in the car. Weighs about 2kg and folds down to about 3' long, he and his wife seem to manage it fine and they're both in their 70s.

I have a cover for the back seat and use one of them dog seat belts, has he's a biggish dog and find the FL2 boot a bit on the small side for him, plus we don't loose boot space when we go away as it's only me and the miss now.

I have seen a ramp used on the back of a Defender 90, the only reason for this was that the dogs were all getting on a bit and the owner was well into her 80's and she couldn't lift them out. All she used was some ply about two foot wide and just rested it on the bumper. Don't know where you would store one in the Freelander unless you put on the back seats

Thanks for the feedback so far, she's quite young and fit at under 3 years old and medium build (in my gallery). The ramps on the market are bi-fold or tri-fold and pack away to a length of about 70 cm, I also haven't a problem lifting her if need be but just thinking out loud if she's all wet and mucky

The lifting would be the quickest and less time consuming but a compact folding ramp could well be the cleanest (for me), still undecided

we have a 14 year old chocolate lab ( sadly lost his brother just last week), we have a fabric boot liner bag with a flap that can be droppped over to protect the rear bumper, on a bad day front paws on the bumper top , and a gentle shove with a hand under his bum, on a good day a 3 step run up and straight in like a pup ! 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

If lifting is not a problem, carry on old blanket with you, drop the blanket over the dog, lift the lot in the back, wash the blanket when you get back home. It will also take the worst of the wet and muck off saving the interior.

Sam our 8 year old Welsh Springer is quite small and needs lifting in but Toby who is a 4 year old English Springer and built like a tank will happily jump in.

I have turned the boot floor over before to the plastic side for easier cleaning but the dogs tend to slide a little so I gave up on that idea. We do have a Dyson Animal with that turbo brush attachment which is great at removing pet hairs though

Perhaps a ramp will be needed when the dogs get elderly. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

ramps are a good idea as is the towel that AD suggests but one point I would like to make is that the "boot" area is a crumple zone but if need to keep them in the back use a heavy duty kennel cage and lift it in and out in that and it will also give some protection should you ever get hit from behind but NEVER use a cage when people are using the back seat, the seats are good but not that good, I keep all my dogs on the back seat (some times up to six) with safety harnesses on and I use a rubber backed picnic blanket to cover the seat as its water proof and sticks to the seats on its own.

Ghyllie oo! Shiney!
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55 Nissan Navara SE Black - My Toy.
08 Freelander 2 XS Santorini Black - Her Majesty's Toy.