Making a dog ramp is really very easy. These directions are for a cairn sized dog, if you have larger dogs, you will obviously need to make it larger.

Before you can start, you need to know where you will put the ramp. I leaned mine off the short side of my deck, others I know have put it down the stairs. Once you know where it is to go, you will know how LONG a board you will need. While you do not need the gentle angles a person in a wheelchair might need, I personally use about a 30 degree angle on mine.

You need one board for the walkway, and two for the rails. I used an 8 inch board for the base and put two 6 inch boards on either side. All are pressure treated wood. My ramp is 10 feet long. You make a U shape (as shown) on either side of the bottom board.. nailing sideways into the base board. I left a small overlap (like the right side of the picture) so that when it sat on my deck, it was not the base hitting the edge of my deck. You could choose to make it flush like the left side. (Whichever you choose, obviously you will do the same on both sides) Once it is complete, you should cover it with outdoor carpeting - I used fake grass. Wood by itself does not give the dogs any grip and is very slippery in the rain and snow. The grass style carpeting gives them something to grip into with their claws.

Here are some more pictures to show you how mine is set up. It has been in place over 10 years. Originally I took it down when my older dog passed, but then I had to remake one later. I also found younger dogs like it when learning stairs. Today, mine play tag running down the ramp and up the stairs in circles. Many times they go half way down and jump off. I do put a cover over it during snow storms or I use a broom to push the snow off.