Wheelchair Trailer Attachment for Dogs and Shopping
The client is a wheelchair user and has a dog that is recovering from surgery. She wishes to take him to the local park for exercise. She has a suitable carrier for the dog but no way of linking it to the wheelchair. She asked us to create something that would allow her to safely transport the dog and provide her with independence. She also recently acquired a new trailer and wanted a solution that could work with both trailers.
The solution
Since both trailers have front wheels, I thought we could haul them like we would a car. This also has the advantage to avoid loading the wheelchair with any additional weight, which should result in easier manoeuvring.
Based on this idea, I built an attachment by using:
- Up-down hinges, semi-permanently attached to the front of each trailer via bent metal plates.
- An easily removable tow bar with a threaded insert on one end and a hook on the other.
- A towing eye loop, semi-permanently secured to the wheelchair axle via pipe and connectors.
With 1 and 3 permanently secured, the client only needs to connect part 2 to complete the attachment. This operation consists of three steps that she can accomplish without any help: a) The inner pipe is screwed onto the hinge attached to the trolley. b) The hook is attached to the eye loop and secured. c) The inner pipe is inserted into the outer pipe and secured via a pin, achieving the desired length (60 cm or 70 cm).
Here are some pictures of the finished solution. Please click on the images to enlarge them (then hit “back” to return to this page).
Trolley #1:
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Shared wheelchair attachment:
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Trolley #2:
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The benefit
The client was very happy with this solution, something she can assemble without help from other people, and that will allow her to be more independent in taking her dog out to the nearby park or carrying home her groceries. Working with the client on this project was a great experience for me, and I’d like to thank her for her availability with trying different solutions and for being so flexible with the design.
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How do I go about getting trailer for dog or shopping for my wheelchair
Hi Kerrie, please complete our referral form with a bit more information, so we can see if we’re able to help you: http://www.remap.org.uk/help
Where can I buy one of these for my husband
Hi Gill, all of our items are custom made free of charge, so they’re not for sale. However, you can complete our referral form to see if we can help your husband with something similar: http://www.remap.org.uk/help
Working with Paolo on this project was a great experience. I want to thank him for his time and the gift of his engineering skills in making my idea a reality. Already I have used both carts with success but I need to practice reversing and going round corners a little more.