Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by cathy brown

My bed has one of those high mattresses, and up until now, Lucy stayed put once I got her up there. Little adventurer that she is, she recently discovered she can leap off the bed to the floor. This has become her favorite late night activity. Unfortunately, once down, she can't get back up so her mommy gets awakened a few times a night to her pitiful "help me up mom" crying. I tried a rubbermaid step stool (the kind with wide treads) thinking she could use that, but it isn't quite high enough to work and she won't get on it anyhow. Does anyone have any suggestions--those don't don't cost an arm and a leg to implement? Also any suggestions about how to interest Luce in using it (I've tried treats, which is how I taught her to use the real stairs, and tried lying on the bed and coaxing her up) Any and all thoughts are welcome-- I would like to get a whole night's sleep before long!.

DISCUSSION:

Cathy, I have seen in Dog World magazine a really neat ramp setup for the foot of the bed. My friend who has yorkies uses one for her little ones to get in to the bed and out to get to their papers. Hope this helps with those sleepless nights.
-Cherie Eno

I was visiting a beauitful home in Las Vegas last fall where a few maltese live and noticed a big over sized easy chair that had a little carpeted ramp that had been made out of a thin plywood and then covered w/left over carpeting. It was great! Of course their favorite dad had built this for them and had it placed against the chairs foot rest.
-CHERYL /BABYDOLL MALTESE

We use a box with a towel wrapped around it. If your mattress is really high, you could use two boxes (one higher than the other) This is very inexpensive and you could use towels that match the color of your room decor!
-Chuck Norman

I have a very high bed also. However, I have one of those settees at the bottom of my bed and my Maltese uses it to jump on and off the bed as it is also very low to the ground. It is covered in fabric and very pretty also. I paid $79.00 for it.
-Terri

I had the same problem. I stacked pillows to form stairs at the foot of my bed and Lily wouldn't use them. I think it was because that's not where she goes to be lifted up to the bed. When I stacked them on the floor in the same spot she goes to get my attention,(right where my head is) she used them. Basically she had to climb on them to get my attention and in doing so realized "Hey, this is neat! I'm up on the bed" Good luck and hope this helps.
-Cindy

I have the same problem. What is irritating, is that during the day, if he gets a running start he jumps up by himself, but in the middle of the night, he comes to the side, and has to be lifted into bed. I have been trying to think of a solution for this also, that won't be in the way during the day. -Patti
-Patti

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I think I'll start with the less expensive (boxes) and move upward until we get to the "thing" that Lucy will use. Or, maybe if I'm lucky, the novelty of jumping off the bed at midnight will wear off! Thanks a million!
-cathy brown

Hi, Cathy I'm glad to see that someone else has this problem! I'm laughing as I read this, because my husband and I ordered a new bed a couple of weeks ago. While at the furniture store, we had to explain that we wouldn't be able to order the bed we wanted, because our dog would not be able to jump that high! This was a new one for the decorator! Of course, Touquet was with us in his Sherpa bag at the time. We solved the problem by having the furniture store agree to replace our boxspring with a 1 inch piece of plywood which will fit on the bedframe. Our matress will sit directly on the plywood. We have seen the bed done this way in a picture and it is lovely. Another option they offered was a "low profile" four inch boxspring which makes the bed lower. We decided this would be easier than a stepping stool. Best of luck!
-Barbara

Clancy uses a pile of throw pillows. This has always been very convienent for me, because I love decorative pillows and I have always dropped a stack of them next to the bed before climbing in for the night. Clancy decided right away that they were there for her convienence. Cloud has never had any trouble jumping up on my bed (he's nearly three pounds bigger than her with much longer legs). But when I was staying at my grandmother's house with him he couldn't get up on the bed and I didn't understand why since it was actually lower than "our" bed at home. Then I realized it was the floor. He jumps better off carpet. He can't get a steady lift off from slick surfaces. So I put a mat down and that worked.
-Carina