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Every dog deserves an awesome place to eat their meals! If you are currently using something you’re unhappy with, perhaps an upgrade to this simple raised dog bone stand is what you need. I built this dog bowl stand for my dog years ago when she was just a young pup and she has been using it now for most of her life (15 years and counting). We have rotated it out between other feeders over the years but she has gotten a lot of usage out of it over the years.
It’s simple to build and you can finish it however you wish to match your home decor. It can be cut out using a jigsaw, band saw, or scroll saw. Assembly only requires some glue or you can make it even stronger by using dowels or screws if you wish.
It’s also easy to customize by adding height or reducing height on the legs. My dog weighs about 18 pounds and the pattern is perfect for her size.
Building The Stand
First, you can download the pattern I have created for this dog bowl stand by clicking on the button below.
The pattern is designed to be printed on standard 8.5″ x 11″ paper and will need to be pieced together once printed.
The dimensions of this dog bowl stand are 18″ x 9 1/2″ and stands about 3 3/4 inches tall. You can customize the height of the stand by cutting the legs at a different size if you wish.
For mine, I used 1-inch thick common pine wood. You’ll need to purchase a plank that is 12 inches wide to accommodate the size of the top of the stand.
Step 1 – Place Pattern Onto Wood
Once you have the pattern downloaded and printed on standard 8 1/2″ x 11″ paper, you can piece together the pattern and tape it together. You can do this by lining each page of the pattern up and then using clear tape to hold it together. Once all lines match up, you can then attach the template in its entirety to the wood.
You can attach the pattern using glue and painter’s tape. Begin by placing the painter’s tape directly onto the wood where the pattern will sit and then glue the pattern to the painter’s tape. I used wood glue and just brushed it on the back of the pattern and placed it firmly onto the painter’s tape.
Give it 30 minutes and then you’ll be ready to cut out the pattern and it will be held into place as you cut.
Try to place the pattern on your wood so that knots and bad spots in the wood will NOT be included in the finished product. I avoided three knots in the wood by placing my pattern so that the knots were inside the bowl cutouts.
Once you are finished cutting everything out, you can simply remove the painter’s tape from the wood and not have to worry about residue being left behind from the glue.
Step 2 – Cut Out The Top & Legs
There are several ways that you can cut the pattern depending on the tools you have on hand. Among the most obvious choices include a bandsaw, a scroll saw, or a jigsaw. Either of these will work and allow you to get a clean cut all the way around and turn the tighter curves accurately.
I used a scroll saw to cut mine out as this is the saw that I prefer the most. It’s simple to turn corners and get into any tight spot needed. There really aren’t any tight spots in this template so it’s just a matter of following the curved lines as well as the straight lines to end up with a finished cutout that can then be sanded smooth and finished to your liking.
Step 3 – Sand And Finish
Once you are finished cutting out the pattern, you will have a basic shape of a dog bowl stand. You can either sand off the sides of the stand to give it a smooth finish or you can go one step further and route a decorative finish onto the side all the way around.
This will be your preference and will probably depend on what tools you have available. Either way will look great but routing a decorative feature onto the sides will give it a more professional look.
I have created both as you can see in the picture above and while I do prefer the routed edition, the sanded and simple edition works just the same. No matter which you choose, you will still need to sand the wood smoothly before assembling and putting the finishing touches on it.
I used 220 and 320-grit sandpaper to get a very smooth finish all around. Sanding it before you have assembled anything will give you the best result as you will be able to sand all pieces on their own and make it easier to get into areas that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach once assembled.
Step 4 – Assemble The Stand
Once your cutouts are finished, sanded, and ready to assemble, you have a few options for assembling the legs to the base. Since this is something that will only be sitting on the floor with bowls on it, wood glue will be sufficient in keeping the legs held firmly to the body.
As a simple way of attaching the legs, you can use Tite Bond III and then attach the legs to the base and either clamp them overnight or place something heavy onto the base as the glue dries.
For an extra tight assembly, you can also add dowels. This will add a little more complexity to the assembly but will give you extra confidence that the stand will be extremely sturdy.
Another great option is to use a combination of glue and pocket screws. Pocket screws will allow you to hide the screws and holes underneath the stand while giving you a super tight and sturdy fit. This is easy to do with a Kreg jig and 1-inch Kreg screws.
A small jig can be purchased if you don’t already have one that can do the trick for you. You can even choose to close the holes up but it’s likely not needed since they will be hidden underneath.
Step 5 – Paint, Stain or Finish
Once the stand is assembled, you are ready to put the final touches on it. I put a red color on ours to match the decor in our house and then I added a couple of layers of polyurethane on top of that. I would suggest using a satin or semi-gloss finish so that it will be easy to clean as your dog spills food and water on it during their meals.
Step 6 – Add Bowls
The bowl cutouts are designed to hold 6-inch dog bowls. These should fit with no problem but may be a little looser than you want. This is something you’ll need to adjust depending on your bowl size. You’ll need to measure your bowls before you cut the circles. A standard dog bowl will be around 6-inches at the lip so this pattern should cover almost any dog bowl that you come across.
If your hole is a little larger than you’d like, a solution is to add some weatherstripping around the interior of the hole so that the bowl will fit more snuggly. This will make for a quieter feeding time as the bowl will not be sliding around, bumping up against the edges, and will sit tightly into a padded area.
Step 7 – Add Feet Protection
The last thing that you want to do is to add a little protection onto the feet of the dog bowl stand. This will help to protect your floor and make the bowl less apt to slide around as your dog is eating. Of course, this depends on where your bowl will be sitting and on what type of floor it will be on.
Ours is on hardwood flooring so we put some rubber feet protectors on the bottom of it which helps to protect our floor and keeps the bowl stand nice and sturdy as our dog enjoys her meal.
Conclusion
This dog bowl stand is a simple project and made even simpler with the free pattern that you can download. Simply attach it to your wood, cut it out and assemble the pieces and voila, you have a dog bowl that you can finish in any way that you wish. Rather than just a standard feeding station, your pet will enjoy their custom bowl stand that has been built with love and designed to look great in your home!
