Kmart Hack: How to make a dog booster car seat
Poppy and Soda love car trips. Whether it’s a trip to the beach or just to a friend’s house 10 mins down the road, the girls can’t get enough of travelling in the car. I’m lucky neither of them get car sick, however Soda does get anxious when I leave them alone in the car for a few minutes, like when I get petrol. She will bark and scratch the door continuously. Thankfully I’ve invested in car door protectors which have been a lifesaver.
The girls prefer different types of car seats. Soda prefers to lie down when she’s in the car, so she has a car seat that looks just like a dog bed, it’s large so she can stretch out and nap. Poppy on the other hand wants to sit up the whole car ride and either look out her window or the front windscreen. I knew I needed to get her a booster seat, however they can be quite expensive, so I thought I’d try making one myself – a fun covid lockdown activity to keep busy! So one day I was wondering around Kmart killing time (which of course was the highlight of the week) and I came across these cute kids flip out sofas, and that’s when I got the idea for my Kmart Hack!
How to make a DIY dog booster car seat
This Kmart kids flip out sofa is the perfect size car seat for Poppy. Poppy’s a medium size cavoodle, she weight 9.6kgs and easily has enough room to curl up on this kids sofa - but she won’t because she’ll only sits in the car, she never sleeps or she’ll miss out on all the action – haha! And better yet, this flip out sofa fits perfectly in the backseat of my car – win, win. Oh and did I mention, this sofa was on clearance so I only paid $15 instead of $27 – what a bargain! I love the rainbow pattern. Kmart has some really cute designs at the moment, check them out here.
Turning this kids flip out sofa into a dog booster car seat is really easy. You don’t need a sowing machine – I’m sure if you have one it would speed up the process a great deal, however I just used a needle and tread and hand sewed the pieces together.
What you’ll need
Velcro (optional)
Needle and tread
Scissors
Instructions
Ok here we go. I’ve created a few diagrams to help explain how I turned the flip out sofa into a dog car seat. It looks a bit complicated, but once you start cutting the sofa into sections, the pieces become part of a jigsaw puzzle, and you just need to work out which piece goes where to create the car seat. Let’s do it.
[1] Unfold the flip out sofa. Cut through the fabric where the first piece of foam meets the sofa. You’ll only need half of the second piece of foam, so cut that in half. Discard the left over foam and cut through the fabric where the second piece of foam meets the first. Sew all the cuts you made in the fabric to cover each piece of foam.
[2] This step is optional. If you’d like to make a dog seat that isn’t fully enclosed, like in picture 4, you’ll need to secure the first piece of foam to the sofa. I recommend sewing a strip of velcro on the back of the sofa, the bottom of the sofa and on the top and side of the first piece of foam.
[3] Flip the foam piece over so the strips of velcro stick together (if you’re using velcro).
[4] The sofa should now look like this, with the piece of foam sloping downwards.
[5] Position the last piece of foam on the top cushion so the two sloped edges fit together.
[6] Sew the final piece of foam to the rest of the sofa.
And there you have it, a dog booster car seat to help your pooch see out the window! Poppy gives hers a big paws up ☺
If DIY isn’t your thing…
You might like to road test one of these dog car seats;
More Kmart Hacks?
If your dog gets anxious when you cut their nails, a dog grooming hammock can help keep them still and relaxed. Check out my $15 Weekender Bag Kmart Hack.
Disclosure: Healthy Happy Paws is a reader supported website. If you purchase products through links on this website we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.