X5 E53 and the dog

[Monty84]

Hi all, I have carried out a quick search but not had much look.

My query is to the dog owners, I have a labrador who is quite tall 68 cm body and roughly 77 cm to the top of his head and heavy at 60kg.
I was blinkered when buying my X5 and forgot to take account of the boot height.
The dog has jumped in once so far successfully but struggles to get his bum end in without help.

For jumping out, originally we had a phobia of height and it took a lot of work to get him out,

I'm concerned that maybe it's too high for him to jump in and out, I'm thinking of the repeated jumping in and out and the shock on his legs and joints. 

How do other owners with labrador and similar sized dogs get on?

[graemeX5]

Hi

my brother in law has a range rover and 2 dogs,  a French bulldog he picks up an puts her in the boot and a Sharpei which can jump a bit but helps lift him in.

His girlfriend says you can get dog ramps for them to walk up and I think she intends get one to make it easier

Hth

[Monty84]

Hi, cheers for the reply, as embarrassing as it sounds, I may look in to the dog ramps,
Can't get rid of the car or dog so something has to give... He's a bit big to be lifting, especially if the wife's taking him out.

[AW8]

E53 and Labdador owner here.

The floor is quite high. I didn't allow the dog to jump up until he was about 15 months due to bone joint damage risk. All seemed well until once he caught back legs on lower tailgate which caused if to flip up as be entered. After that I held it down before allowing him to jump in. He can do it but he can do it but I have noticed he can be a bit jittery doing so. More recently I have been lifting him in - not to reduce injury risk due to height of jump in itself but rather because be is more likely to panic and hurt himself. He is 2.5 years old and I know from outdoor activiy that he can jump that height without issue. I am aware of potential lab joint issues and would not allow a youngster. an older dog or a dog with known issues to jump a significant height up or down... Exit is a not a physical issue but he is keen to launch and I need to make sure it's safe when I open his side of the car crate.

I have a partitioned custom fit crate in the back as we have 2 dogs in the household. The other dog is far smaller and needs lifting in and out. Bought it off a member on here a couple of months ago. In past never really given car crates much thought. My crate is not a solid steel framed chassis but more like a normal dog crate. Weight is an advantage to it but I suppose it could cause dog to be injured in a bad crash. I don't believe rear glass is laminated and I prefer to crate in cars as I have heard of dogs escaping from motorway car crashes where the rear window shatters.

I have considered a ramp in past but the crate takes up all the boot space thus it would need to be kept in rear passenger compartment. If it was foldable then only an issue if we have 5 people in the car plus the dogs.

I hope you find some of the above useful.

[Greydog]

We have working 5 Pointers (4 Weimaraner's and a GSP yes they all fit in the back of an X5 comfortably) I brought the X5 to pull the Horse Box so like you didn't give the tail gate height a thought. Our dogs are all bitches so a little smaller than your boy about 66cm tall and all around 30kgs in weight but I wouldn't fancy heaving that lot in and out!!! Fortunately they all hop in and out with no problems so far (even the 13 year old). My wife still has her estate so if the old girl starts to struggle (dog not wife) I will take that.
I have a friend with 2 Retrievers who has a ramp for his RR it folds away really tidily and stows against the side of the boot. His old boy just sits and waits for him to set it up, if he doesn't or he's to slow the dog turns around and goes back indoors.

[squeaky2]

Hi Monty……..and to think one of my boys was big at 35kgs.  Ive got one yellow and one chocolate late.  The chic one is 7 years old and still happily jumps in and out.  They yellow one has had bad hips for a number of year but he still jumps out.  We occasionally have to lift him in but usually we can just get him to put his front paws up on the flip down and then grab him at the back and lever him in.

Admittedly we are going to get to the point where he can't jump in and may have to think of what to do. 

I wonder if there is a way of building a false floor where a ramp can live under.

[Monty84]

Thanks for all your replies, well today he decided he was jumping in and I was ready to lever the back end in but he made it. I think he may be coming round to it, we had a 307 station wagon previously and the boot is a good foot lower, think he just needs to get used to it.  The poor lad gets the wobbles on jumping out, I had to lift him down earlier today, he's quite heavy so I hope the wife doesn't have the same problem with him.

[AW8]

I strongly advise holding the lower tailgate down as he jumps up and in... If his legs catch underneath same it can flip up before he fully enters the car and if it drops a leg/paw could become temporarily caught  between tailgate and bumper or outer lamp cluster.....might sound random but it can happen.

[Monty84]

AW8, point noted, will do.

[AW8]

[Smeeagain]

Labradors are prone to hip issues at some point. Jumping in/out without assistance does accelerate that. A vet can advise on they call 'hip score'. I've worked in a training capacity for an assistance dog charity and their advice would be not to allow jumping in/out unassisted

[MrCam]

My Labrador has trouble getting in my E53, I bought a fold away dog ramp which is excellent but he's bloody scared of it and basically have to force him up it.
The answer is always try and reverse up to a large curb or grassy mound and he hops in and out all day long, the ramp is just there for emergency's.
I can lift him in but worry about hurting him and he's twice as heavy when wet !!!!