The lift into the boot stops being yours to do.
The Steps. An aluminium folding staircase for cars, vans and sofas, rated to two hundred and fifty pounds, that collapses into a carry bag.
Ships from a US warehouse. Three to eight days to your door, handling included. Nothing is pre-ticked on this page.
A ramp asks a dog to commit. Steps do not.
A ramp is one continuous slope, which means a nervous or arthritic dog has to trust the whole length of it before the first foot goes down. Steps break that into four decisions, and a dog that stops halfway can simply stand there.
That is the trade in the other direction too. A dog that genuinely cannot bend its hips will do better on a ramp, and a very long car may need more rise than four treads give. This is the right tool for a stiff dog, not for a dog that cannot climb at all.
The supplier shows it set at two angles, one shallower than the other, and does not publish which cars each suits. Measure your boot lip before you order.
And the word on the box that is wrong.
The supplier calls this a ramp in its own product title. It is not a ramp. It is a flight of steps, and every photograph on their listing shows steps.
| What it is | Four treads on a folding aluminium frame. The supplier’s title says ramp. Their own photographs say steps, and so do we |
|---|---|
| Load rating | 250 lb, stated by the supplier. We have not tested it |
| Frame | Aluminium alloy |
| Treads | Green artificial turf over the step plates, for grip |
| Colour | Black and green, per the supplier’s colour field |
| Angles | Shown set two ways, shallower and steeper. Which vehicles each suits is not published, so measure the height of your boot lip first |
| Folded size | Their drawing marks a folded bag around 5.5 by 16.5 in and the carton is 351 × 440 × 160 mm. We have not reconciled those two, so treat the carton as the honest number |
| Weight | 4,604 g, which is about 10.1 lb to carry |
| Carry bag | Included, with a padded handle |
| Assembly | None. It unfolds |
| Country of origin | China |
| Ships from | United States warehouse |
| Delivery | 3 to 8 business days, handling included |
| Stock today | 99 units, read from the warehouse as this page loaded |
Four reasons not to buy this.
If one of these is a dealbreaker, we would rather you found out here than after the box arrives.
The treads are green turf.
Bright green artificial grass, which is the category norm because it grips, and which is nobody’s idea of a quiet interior object. It lives in a boot or a garage. If you wanted something to leave beside the sofa all week, this is not it.
Ten pounds is not nothing.
It folds and it has a handle, but you are lifting ten pounds of aluminium in and out of the car every time. If the reason you are buying steps is that lifting has become hard, be honest with yourself about that number.
We have not tested the rating.
Two hundred and fifty pounds is the supplier’s figure and we are repeating it, not confirming it. It is a long way above any dog, which is reassuring, but it is still their number rather than ours.
A dog that cannot climb needs a ramp.
Steps still ask for four lifts of the hip. For advanced arthritis, a hind limb injury or a dog recovering from surgery, a continuous ramp is the kinder object and your vet will say the same. We do not sell one yet, and we would rather tell you that than sell you the wrong thing.