need some design help

[michelle]

i need some help with ideas for a floating dog dock. i adopted a new dog after having to put coco down last month. this dog is part golden retreiver and part chow. i wasn't sure if she was going to be a water dog or not. i took her down to the pier to feed the ducks just to see what her reaction would be. well...... she jumped right in the water and proceeded to swim after the ducks up and down the canal. the ducks even took to flight to try to get away. anyway, she's a water dog and i need to build some type of floating dock/ramp so she can get out of the water should she jump in and i'm not around. i was thinking some type of hinge attatched to the pier for adjustments of water levels. what would you use for floatation and what type of material would you use? lumber w/ 1 x 2 slats for traction? if anybody has any ideas i'd appreciate the input. here's a pic of ms tillie. she's a rescue dog from houston. 2 to 3 year old female. she's not coco but she's getting there.

[Ibtsoom]

When I was at the fishing show there were some guys selling floating docks that snap together as big as you want. Been thinking about it for behind my house. EZDock is the name of the company and the web site is www.ez-dock.com. The local dealer is in Baytown -- Gene's Power Sports. www.GenesPowerSports.com.

Haven't done any research about them but they seem really convenient.

Good Luck!

[reeltime]

Good for you Michelle........nice looking water dog.

[sfef84]

My fam had the same dilemma when we had our black lab "gunner"... we decided to build a stair with two steps. Each step was about 4ft by 1.5ft of wood with a non-slip surface that was cross braced for support. The steps were so big just so he wouldn't have a problem climbing up in a strong current and gave him a big target to look for in the water. The frame was metal painted with anti-foulant. Imagine a step-up for a boat bolted to the side of the dock and that is what ours was.
The dock floated and we didn't have to worry about the fluctuations so you may have to build a step-up system with a couple more steps... just make sure they are braced well.