We wanted to build an elevated platform for Emma to sit or lie down on while we are driving.  She really likes to watch the road, and if she had her way she would be sitting in the passenger seat, or even better, on the driver’s lap.  Since we prefer her in the middle and not climbing all over us, we decided to build her an elevated perch that would double up as extra storage, yet sturdy enough so that we can step on it when moving between the cabin and the main room.

Unfortunately, since there are only 2 passenger seats in our van, there is nowhere to buckle her up.  We prefer to know that she is secure so that she doesn’t fly around the cabin if we stop abruptly or worst so we have her secured in a harness. The dog’s restraining system that we use clips into one of the rear seat belts in a regular car, but since the van has only 2 seat belts this isn’t possible.   Once we elevate her seat, we will be able to put the passenger seat belt through the loop attachment.  Here are a link to the harness that we use which worked really well for us.

We had some plywood lying around to complete most of the job, and since we like to re purpose and reuse material, we went with plywood.  It is also the lighter option – always a consideration if we want our fuel consumption to remain reasonably low.   We just needed to buy a bit more plywood.

We started off by cutting the pieces to the sizes that we wanted.

Assembled, squared, glued, reinforced, and manufactured an anchor (modified carriage bolt) to fit in the table leg base that is located between the chairs – the anchor swivels and locks into the table base so that the box doesn’t move around.  If we want to use the table, it will be easy to move the box out of the way.

We welded a handle to the bolt nut so that we can swivel to tighten it in place.

Here is a side view of the bolt and the table base slot.

Assembled the lid so that it fits snugly in the box and added and reinforcement bar to the lid so that we don’t go through it when we step on it

Yes, the finished product looks a bit like a coffin, but we like it!

We decided to put in the box things that will be handy to have near the front, like first aid, emergency kit, and the small vacuum

We thought that a regular bed pillow will work as cushioning, but it made the perch a bit too high, so we are using a quilted horse blanket insert for now until we find something else, or perhaps sew the blanket into something sleeker.  A dog bed will work as well.

The height is fine now, no trouble jumping on or off,  and she seems to like it.

She is all ready to go, and frankly, so are we!

BY THE NUMBERS: 

• Plywood and screws C$29
• Time to manufacture – about 3 hours
• Happy dog – 1

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