When I first got my mini I was looking for some information on how to modify it to be more dog friendly. Specifically I was looking for a divider and option to make the hatchback area into a dog cargo hold. After not finding much I went out on my own and here are the results. Hope someone can find it useful.

1) Pic of new sub floor with hinged piece to fill gap between floor and seats (when folded down).



2) Pic of new sub floor folded down.


3) Pic of new sub floor covered with black blanket and cargo divider from ebay.

 

Nice work! Is the gate enough to keep slobber off of your neck?

 

So Where's The Dog? !!!

 

My lab likes the boot area to sleep and sit in,even though the back seats are always down,she rarely sits on the seat backs as she hits her head on the ceiling,but she sometimes lays down on them. She never jumps into the front seats.

 

Love it! Could you list the materials you used and the dimensions so I don't have to re-invent the wheel so to speak? My dogs are used to riding in the back of an Explorer (my husband's) and keep falling into the boot when I take them in my MINI.

 

I will get you the measurements later this week. To start, the cargo gate is from Ebay by a seller named "idyllwildwild". It is of decent quality and perfect size for the mini.

 

Nice work with the rear floor! I did something similar (without the hinge) and it worked great on the 10 hour drive from Indy to NY I did a few weeks ago. My 2 dogs love to ride in the back, but Spencer jumps into the driver's seat as soon as I step out of the car. I found this divider at PetSmart the other day. It's not perfect, but it reduces their ability to join me in the front seat when stopping short. Unfortunately, Spencer really likes to hang out there...



The divider has a flap that zips on that extends it about half-way up the headrest. I'm *hoping* that's enough of a deterrent to keep them in the back, but I'm not real confident that'll work. The real solution for me will to be to buy a cheap, used SUV (*gasp*). Should solve the camping/dog/snow dilemma nicely.

I wanted a barrier like you've shown, coopersport02, but I didn't see a way to make it work with the sunroof. You don't have one, do you?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pet-Tubular-Carg...QQcmdZViewItem

Is this the kind you bought??!?!

This one seems to say for van/SUV....so i'm not sure....I don't really know how to look anything up on ebay by seller so posting the link would be wonderful....THANX!!!!!!!!

The boot cover looks like a pretty simple design and looks like it would work excellently!!!! GREAT JOB!!!!

 

Nevermind found it :

http://cgi.ebay.com/Universal-Dog-Pe...QQcmdZViewItem

Now if I could just get those dimensions....................Hehe.

 

My pup is still small enough to sit (even sleep) on the front passenger seat. As she grows, I'll be looking for a solution like that.

 

that could be very bad for your puppy if you stop short and he/she goes flying, or worse if the airbag goes off.....I like that arrangement with the flooring and carpeting, but is there anything to fill up the space behind the back of the front seats?

 

Suggest you use a dog harness made for open trucks and attach it to one of the tie down points in the boot, or use ae dog harness that snaps into the female seatbelt assembly. Otherwise umberto is correct - your dog could go flying around the inside of your MINI in the event of a hard stop or cornering maneuver.

 

Hey great design. And if you don't have any dogs you could still use the are as a MINI delivery service.