I am so happy I splurged and went with this dock. I was a little hesitant because of the price, but it was worth every penny. I was so worried from looking at pics that the material wouldn't hold up very well to my dogs nails, but let me tell you, that stuff is THICK! It was crazy easy to inflate and deflate. The little hand pump it comes with is awesome and I used it to inflate some of our other floats too.I purchased this to take my dog with me when I float the river. He enjoys swimming, attempting to chase ducks and geese while we float, and getting off to investigate rocks that I guess he thinks aren't rocks lol.I had one of those big pull-behind-the-boat fabric covered floats that I would share with him but it's very difficult to get him back on it. We've flipped a few times in the past in the process. I also am not a fan of having to sit on that float the whole time, it's not very comfy on a long float since it's made to be laid on. I wanted to sit up. So I bought this dock and my own fabric covered float that is more like a chair and the pull behind is now officially his.I attached the dock to the pull behind float and he had zero problem getting off an on. The only problem was that when I would recall him he came straight for ME and I had to grab him by the harness and guide him to the dock. This was our first float with the dock so I'm sure he will eventually understand its purpose. But for now I am covered in claw marks and bruises from his attempts to get in my lap.We went on a 7 hour float today and I'm pleased to report that the dock performed wonderfully. Like I said, the material it's made out of is incredibly thick. No chance of it getting a hole from a rock or claw. It withstood everything we put it through today like a champ. I had no issues with the ramp getting hung up on anything either. My nephew (7) even had a blast using it lol. So I could definitely see this being handy if you had little ones that need to get back on a float easily.I was hoping the dock would be big enough to double as his float, and if he were smaller it probably could have. I think he would have been uncomfortable if he didn't have the pull behind float and would have wound up in my lap. He's a bit too big to be a lap dog, but he certainly doesn't see it that way. For it's purpose as a dock, it's the perfect size. He had plenty of room to get his footing and make it up onto the float with very little effort. Just for reference he is 65lbs.I also learned a few valuable lessons like leaving enough rope between my float and his so that when he swims back I can position the dock in front of him. I had his float tied tightly to me for the first part of the day and that was a bad idea. I eventually tied us together with the full length of rope and just held him close vs tying him close. That way I could position the dock for him to climb up when he came back to me. He really enjoyed the trip and is currently sawing some serious logs after a long day of swimming and "chasing" ducks and geese (and rocks). Bless his heart, he really thought he could catch some lol. He is pooped. I'm so glad I bought this dock so he could come with us.Next time we go out I'll be much better prepared and maybe we can take it down to the river and do some training so that he understands its function a bit better. It was worth every penny and made our float trip awesome!