The 36 inch high dog walk conforms to AKC standards when all of the sections are 8 feet long. My 36 inch dogwalk comes with only one height, 36 inches. The blue and yellow dog walk shown here is the standard 8 foot walk with a custom contact area that is only 36 inches long. The recommended contact area is 42 inches long. My early designs used planks that were 2 by 12s and weigh anywhere from 25 to 30 pounds each. The new design uses 19/32 inch CDX plywood that is reinforced at the edges with 2 x 2's. This creates a stiff, strong, and light plank that is really 12 inches wide (not 11 ¼ like the solid 2 by 12 plank). The supports for the dog walk are constructed of saw horses.

The up and down ramps are attached to the horizontal plank with ordinary door hinges. The normal door hinge pins are replaced with a quarter inch steel rod which easily slides in and out of the hinges. The hinges are aligned so that there is no A side or B side. You can attach either ramp to any side of the horizontal plank.

Using door hinges is a very stable and sturdy method to attach the planks to the walk. However, this creates a gap between these two sections as you see in the picture on the right.
	This problem is remedied by an insert that eliminates the gap and any possible injury to the dog. The insert is painted blue and the outside surface has sand in the paint.
	One customer requested some type of attachment to secure the walk to the supports. A spring with some chain and hooks provide the solution.

The pictures above use a solid wood plank - 2 by 12 by 8 feet - that is heavy and subject to warping and splitting. My new design uses 5/8 inch thick plywood supported with 2 by 2s on the edges. This creates a light, but sturdy plank for the walk and the up/down planks. The solid wood plank is really 11.25 inches wide. However, the plywood is really 12.00 inches wide, the width recommended by the AKC.

A 3 inch wide piece of plywood is glued on to the ends where the hinges are located. This reinforces the hinge points.

The dog walk shown in the next few pictures was a custom design for the Colorado Learning Center in Fort Collins, CO. It has the standard height of 36 inches and also a training height of 24 inches.
 

The supports for the dog walk are constructed of saw horses. All planks are 2 by 12s. The 36 inch height is obtained when a 2 by 4, which I shall refer to as the high cross brace, is placed into the jaws of the saw horses. To obtain the 24 inch height, the high cross brace is removed, and the jaws of the saw horses are completely closed. Additional 2 by 4s are attached to the legs of the saw horse frame and cut at the right angle so that their surface is parallel to the ground when the saw horses are closed. The attached braces create a support that places the plank at 24 inches. The picture below shows the plank at the 24 inch height before it was painted.

Note the chains in the top picture on the right. These are part of the custom design and become tight when the jaws of the saw horses are completely closed for the 24 inch position. The up and down ramps are attached to the horizontal plank with ordinary door hinges. The hinge pins are replaced with a quarter inch steel rod which easily slides in and out of the hinges. The hinges are aligned so that there is no A side or B side. You can attach either ramp to any side of the horizontal plank.
To prevent any movement of the horizontal plank on the supports, 2 by 2s are attached to the bottom of the main plank. These 2 by 2s fit securely between the two supports for the 24 inch height. You can see in the picture below, how all pieces mesh so that no or very little movement occurs.

Also note in the picture, there is a third 2 by 2 that creates a narrow slot on the right. When the dog walk is set up for the 36 inch height, the high cross brace fits firmly into this slot. There are no pins to push in or pull out to secure the plank to the supports. The picture below and the picture at the top of this page, shows how the plank sits on the high cross brace for the 36 inch height.


The two pictures below show the nude [i.e. unpainted] dogwalk with and without the up and down ramps at the 24 inch level.