You must be doing it wrong, Johann. I regularly take the shelf in and out with the seats up and farthest back.

 

Of course its possible Graham and I can do it without dropping the seats, but its FAR easier if you do drop two seats. It's a stupid design full stop. It should have had a hinge in the middle at the very least so the thing could be folded in half. 

 

The Travall is great quality, well made, easy to fit, looks good...  I can totally recommend it. And especially over the silly OE one that needs the dealer to drill into the car. No thanks. The silly parcel shelf's limitations are due to its design and as such, limits how it can interact with dog guards.

.... I'd swap it for a roller shelf any day.....

 

My previous X-Trail had a roller blind instead of a shelf.  It was one of the few features that I really wasn't happy with.  It was mounted into a business-like steel beam that notched into fittings on either window sill - and weighed a ton.  Difficult to install and remove, because of the weight and limited clearances.  Use in conjunction with a dog guard might result in such a design having other attributes but for me, overall, the Yeti's light and rigid shelf is a happier feature.