Do you need a "Lilly Pad"?

If you're like we are, you want to take your dog everywhere you go.  Great Pyrenees are LARGE dogs and our Lilly loves to travel in our truck (or mama's car).  Being a big pooch means that she needs a lot of room to turn around or just lay down and stretch out.  Some states prohibit dogs from riding in the open bed of a truck and although our state has no law against such behavior, we don't let our dog ride in the bed. To include her in our outings around town, I built a "Lilly Pad", a platform that rests across the back seat's floor.

Lilly's pad with a few of her favorite toys.

(1) Illustrates the platform resting on the storage shelves common to many pick-ups.

(2) Points to the side rails  that help keep toys and dog chews from rolling onto the floor or wedging themselves into the cracks behind the seats.  These rails also provide a place to brace her feet while the truck is navigating road curves and turns.

Our Lilly Pad was constructed using plywood for the base, and pine boards for the rails and step. We used exterior grade plywood and covered it with indoor-outdoor carpet that we found in a remnant bin at the local Home Depot for $12.00.  The carpeting was glued with carpet cement and folded under the pad and stapled.

Deciding on indoor-outdoor carpet and exterior plywood was a deliberate choice so that we could clean the Lilly Pad with a bucket of suds and a hose when necessary.  On the following page we'll show you how we built the step to access the truck's back seat area.

• Don't miss our other project of walking Lilly with the ATV

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