Pet Shop Haven

While your pet may seem to be in overall good health, there could be underlying issues developing that you are not aware of. These issues may actually stem from the abuse your pet’s muscles and joints suffer on a daily basis.

Many pet owners allow their dog to jump onto and off of furniture such as beds, couches, chairs, etc. These heights may seem insignificant to us, however for a dog, they can incur grave damage over time or immediately through a fall from one of these surfaces.

While small and large dogs are at a particular risk of sustaining bone or joint injury, any size or breed of dog is susceptible to harm through a fall or as a result of prolonged impact over time. Large dogs, like Great Danes, Golden Retrievers, and Labradors, are inclined to developing arthritis later in life, and condoning a large dog to jump onto and off of furniture everyday could cause arthritis to crop up earlier in the dog’s life. As for small dogs, they are more likely to break a bone in a fall or by attempting to leap down from too great a height.

While you could prohibit your pet from getting onto the furniture, this is a drastic measure. It’s natural for a dog to want to be near his owner, and if you don’t mind having him on the furniture, it’s best not to change his routine. The best way to preserve your dog’s health is to obtain a set of pet stairs that will allow him to safety navigate onto and off of furniture.

Carpeted pet steps are very popular as they not only provide cushioning for impact, but they also offer a non-slip surface. Most pet stairs can be categorized into three sizes: small, medium, and large. There are two things that you must consider when purchasing pet steps. The first is the height of the object you want your dog to get onto. For instance, if your primary use for the steps will be to allow your dog to get onto the couch, you will need to make sure that the set of stairs you purchase is tall enough to reach your couch. The second item to consider is the size of your dog. You can follow the guide below to determine what size of steps would be appropriate for your pet.

Small dogs = steps no wider than 12 inches

Medium dogs = 14 inch-wide steps

Large dogs = steps at least 16 inches wide

For more information about choosing and purchasing a set of pet steps, please visit Help Your Pets – Here.

The effort you put into choosing the right set of pet stairs doesn’t have to feel like a burden; it could really be seen as an investment of sorts. To continuously reap the health benefits and sheer convenience that dog stairs offer, it’s wise to make sure that your purchase is well thought out and thoroughly researched. Luckily, technology has ensured that we are no longer limited to the wares offered in local retail shops—though that’s not to say that they should be excluded from your consideration altogether. There are pros and cons to both shopping experiences, which we’re going to discuss in this article.

Your Budget

The amount that you have to spend will ultimately determine where you make your dog stair purchase. Unless you have a pet furniture store in your hometown, you might be surprised that any pet stairs you run across in a local shop will probably cost a bit more than you were expecting to spend. This is because traditional retail stores--especially those that aren’t of the “chain” variety--can only afford to keep stock of the things that their local consumers purchase regularly. Unfortunately, pet stairs haven’t become quite that popular yet. Thank goodness for the Internet, which allows businesses to offer a niche product and still make money because their “local customer base” include every continent with Internet access. You can browse online and compare prices of several stores in minutes. Not bad!

Decisions, Decisions…

The beauty of shopping online for your pet stairs is that you have a large selection right at your fingertips. This is especially helpful if you are looking for something out of the ordinary--a particular finish, color, weight capacity, etc. You can use a search query on most sites to instantly weed out the steps that don’t meet your needs. If you’re looking for large dog stairs, your search for such will pull up only the products that match that criteria. You might not be in the market for cherry wood steps with a weight capacity of 300 pounds, but the option is likely out there on the Internet somewhere. The variety offered in your local pet shops is likely to be very limited, unless you’re lucky enough to find a shop that takes custom orders--which is not unheard of.

Assembly?

Assembling something--with or without instructions--is not a very fun process. Unfortunately, both online and traditional stores are more likely to sell their steps in an “assembly required” state. For local shops, it saves on warehouse and sales floor space if they don’t have a massive amount of pre-built steps lying around. For Internet-based businesses, it costs a great deal more in packaging and shipping to send a full-sized pet stair through the mail, so many online retailers also ship their pet steps flat-packed. Don’t feel as though you have to resign to the idea of spending hours on assembly for the sake of your pet. There are still online pet stair websites that ship their items pre-assembled, such as HelpYourPets.com, you just have to look around and even send an enquiry to see if it’s possible to have them built before shipment. One perk of ordering online and having the steps delivered, though is that home delivery means you can bypass having to load and unload the stairs from your car!

Budget, availability, and assembly requirements aren’t the only factors to keep in mind when searching for a pet stair supplier, but it’s definitely a start. Don’t be afraid to browse a bit before making your purchase—and good luck!