ArmyofOne

Does anyone have any input on these:

http://www.autoanything.com/hitch-be...A4695A0A0.aspx

Any experience, or any insight to add? What I am looking for is something I can cover my truck bed with, that is easy to remove, and store, but that will also give my dog the freedom of riding in the truckbed...without getting rained on. Tonneau Cover's wont work because, well, he cant stand up, and hard shells are $$$$ and a pain in the *** to take off and to store. We take alot of road trips (my 2009 Ram has 62,000 miles on it already), and having a 110lb Chesapeake Bay Retriever riding in the back seat of a 4 door pickup is just not fair to him. This is MUCH cheaper than trading in the truck an a Lexus GX which is the only other vehicle I would consider to replace the Ram. Thoughts?

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Never seen that before. Looks promising. I've used AutoAnything.com in the past and had a good experience

caddyowner

That's quite military looking. How appropriate. What do you use to secure the dog in the bed?

ArmyofOne

I have a Cable clipped to a cargo loop. If I go in a store or something I would put him into the cab with a cracked window.

Not much more you can do I suppose. As it is he only rides back there on sunny days, and short trips. Not to many of the former in Western WA. LOL

mmarshall

Why not just buy (or build) a portable dog-house of water-resistant materials big enough for him, slip the dog-house in and out of the bed as needed for long trips, and let the dog just step inside of it and lie down when it is raining? You'd have to design the door-opening, of course, so a flap or cover above it wouldn't allow rain and wind to blow into the opening and get him wet.

Depending on how big and heavy the dog-house is, though, getting it in and out of the bed may take more than one person. It would have to be secured tightly to keep it from moving around. You'd also, of course, have to keep insects, mice, and other pests out of it.

caddyowner

^^^
Mike, it's a dog. If left on his own, there's no way he'd be inside of a dog house while the vehicle was moving - no matter what the weather. He doesn't care if he arrives at his destination soaked and covered in road grime.

Josh, what you need is one of those slide-in bed campers. That way the dog can have a nice bed to sleep on, a TV to watch, and a fridge.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

seems like a good a idea. Shop around because IMO auto anything seems more on the expensive end then other auto sites. At least everytime i looked for stuff.

KillaIS250

iTrader: (1)

Trade in for the Lexus GX

Nah j/k! In your situation, sounds like the item in the link you posted is a pretty effective situation. Haven't seen one like that before, but sounds promising!

Big Andy

If you'd trained the dog properly you'd let him do the driving and you could get some sleep in the passenger seat...

ArmyofOne

LOL @ Slide in bed campers. While I do agree it would work...one of the problems I have with that is fuel economy, and the need to tow a boat. I can do both with the camper, while getting 4mpg. I am not rediculously concerned with fuel economy, but on the why, 15mpg is about the lowest I ever want to go without feeling like I am burning my wallet. I had a slide-in (11 foot) Camper on the truck that I rented for July 4th weekend right before I left. Truck did great with the 1500lb+ load in the bed, even without helper airbags to supplement the rear coil springs. hauled it just fine too, plenty of power...but at a vicious cost.

That whole road trip, some 750 miles round trip...I never got over 8mpg. Not once. And this is normally a 21-23 mpg hwy pickup truck. I was filling up about every 235-240 miles...and I have a 32 gallon tank. No thanks LOL, at over $100 to fill from E, its cheaper to stay in hotels.

Damn, I knew I wasnt doing something right.

NEW IDEA:


Put dog in front seat with me, put wife on cable in truck bed. Problem solved.

FrankReynoldsCPA

I sometimes miss our cap that we had on our F350 for years, we finally took it off in favor of a ladder rack. It had been on the truck without ever being removed for 11 years. It's nice to be able to get into the bed from the sides now, and to be able to stand up all the way, but it sucks having tools and stuff in plain sight and exposed to the weather, plus having to tie a tarp on everytime I haul garbage to the dump.

I'd go with a cap, but that's my personal preference.

Lil4X

He wants to stick his head around the cab, let the breeze tickle his ears, snort and blow at the wind up his nose, and drool. It may not appeal to you and I, but to a dog, that's heaven!

Now, if you can convince your wife that it's for the dog, you get a camper without the hassle. See? Ol' Marv is good for more than blaming unintended gas escapes on!

BAD DOG!



Who, ME??

ArmyofOne

LOL, Fiberglass caps are expensive,. painted they want over $2000.