Does my dog really need a dog bed?
Question:
What would you recommend when shopping for dog beds? My wife just spoils our little Whinny to death and I can’t believe what she wants to pay for a #$%@’ing dog bed! I love spoiling her too but I was raised with the dogs outside and I think it’s enough that she gets to be inside let alone up on all the furniture like she is. Now if she stayed in her own bed and out of ours that would be worth it. I’m worried that she wouldn’t even use it once we buy it. As far as my wife is concerned nothing is to good for our gal but I don’t know what would work. Thanks for your ideas.
ANSWER:
You are treading on a delicate path, my friend – be careful! Handled incorrectly it could be you that is looking for a more comfortable doghouse.
How does Whinny like to sleep? Does she stay curled up in a little ball or is she a splayer? Does she like a pillow under her head or does she put her whole body on the pillow? Does she make a nest with her blankets or just lay down on whatever is under her?
I know, at this point you are wondering if I am losing what marbles I have left but the best way to guarantee a dog will use the bed you buy them is to match their sleeping style to the bed.
Oh, that is after you kick them off the bed and do not let them back up but I will get to that in a minute.
If Whinny stays curled up in a ball all night, have a look at some of the donut beds or the fancy dog couches on the market. These dog beds offer back or ‘curl support’ that she will prefer. When sizing these beds, make sure they are big enough that she can still stretch out even if she does not do it all that often.
Large dogs tend to prefer to stretch out or hang out on their backs with all four legs splayed every which way. If this is the case with Whinny, she may prefer an oversized pillow or a rectangle shaped dog bed. Dog beds come in all shapes, sizes and colors to match every décor and doggy style. Watch out for cheap versions of these however as the padding will soon flatten and you will be forced to either restuff the pillow or purchase a whole new bed.
If she likes pillows or blankets, add these to her bed on the floor. One of my dogs has to make a nest out of her blankets before laying down and if there is no blanket, she digs at the bed trying to make it conform to what she wants. This is cute at bedtime but annoying at 3 am when she wants to find a different sleeping position.
Most dogs prefer a soft or cuddly surface to lay on and I personally find fake sheepskin (also called Sherpa fabric) keeps any shed fur from floating through the house and it is easy to vacuum.
As for how to make her sleep on her own bed, persistence is the key. Do not allow her on your bed anymore and reward her when she finally settles on her own with a treat or a pet. I would keep her bed beside your own so she does not feel isolate and so you can monitor her if she tries to sneak up with you during the night. Eventually she will learn her new sleeping quarters and will not mind the bed one bit.
As for convincing your wife that this is a good thing, well, I will leave that up to you. Good luck!
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What I think you should do is get a simpe dog cage with a bed inside. Get a roomy one so your dog can grow. Put a towel over the cage to let him/ her feel safe and enclosed. If you have a smart dog, tie the cage lock down so he/she won’ t lick thier way to freedom.
i picked up an amazing dog couch with cedar smel and washable liner and everything (picture on my dogster page)
and it was under 25.00
for taht price you wont break the bank and you dog will love you for it,our lil girl love ..let me repeat that
LOVES HER NEW COUCH BED.
costco,giev it a look ,,it is amazing quality without breaking the bank like the ones they listed in this article, my goodness they are over priced
dogster blog you should list that quality and affordabilty can be found ,… for our fur babies ..and taht money taht you save can go on pet insurance for when they are sick,,believe me taht is way more important than a $200.00 bed..
comfort affordability and durability equals
costco
I keep a dog bed next to my bed, and my dog gets to choose which he sleeps on – my bed or his. He often chooses his own.
My dog actually has a bed in every room :)
They sell cheap dog beds at Costco for only about $16.99. I got one for my Aussie and she loves it. That is if you have a Costco membership =]
Is this about giving your dog a bed or allowing him to sleep inside?
Maybe you could compromise: a dog can tell cold from warm while he can’t tell a fancy new bed from a nice clean old blanket!
Good luck with this,
Weeze
We have a brand new “rescue” Sprocker that we adopted only
2 1/2 weeks ago. She had been sleeping ON THE FOSTER
MOM’S BED with three (3) other dogs. I don’t believe in
having a dog on the bed no matter how big it is. Our last
Springer weighed 55 lbs. and would have taken up MOST of the
bed. NOT an option!!! This dog is small (only 25 lbs.), but I still
prefer her to sleep on her own bed. She has made the transition beautifully…if I do say so myself. She’s attempted to come up on the bed, but I just tell her to get down and she has minded me.
When I look over to see if she is still on HER bed around 4:00 a.m., she is still there and fast asleep. This IS working for us. I believe you just have to be consistent.
Audrey – the difference between a $25 bed and a $100+ bed comes down to the quality of the materials and the amount of fill.
A $25 bed can be perfectly nice looking. The issue is that the cover is usually made with a lower grade cotton (which fades & retains odor) and will normally be light on the fill (which can result in tufting & lack of support).
A good $100 bed will have a sturdy microvelvet or sherpa fleece cover. Or maybe a heavy nylon if it’s a “chew resistant” bed. The cover should be “furniture grade” – which means that the material is good enough to be used on a couch, chair, or other piece of living room furniture. If it’s furniture grade, it’ll not only look awesome in your house, but it’ll also be strong enough to survive through plenty of wear & tear.
On the inside of a good dog bed, there’s two options. Either an overstuffed polyfill (same thing that’s inside your own pillows) or an orthopedic foam. If it’s polyfill, it should be packed in tight enough that it’ll bounce back if you press on it with both hands. If you can feel the floor, there’s not enough fill. Or if your hands are leaving big imprints, there’s not enough fill. If it’s an orthopedic bed, you want either high density egg crate foam, or a memory foam. If you lay on it, you should be thinking “wow, this is just as good as my own mattress.”
So, anyway, there’s nothing wrong with a $25 dog bed. Petco sells millions of them, so there’s a big market for them. And some people prefer the more expensive ones because they feel they look nicer & last much longer.
Different strokes for different folks.
And, btw, you’re right – if you have to choose between pet insurance & a $200 dog bed, the insurance is the smarter buy!
I’ve tried a LOT of beds for my 2 destructive pups and the best by far is Kuranda (www.kurandabeds.com). And no, I don’t work for them. I am however a huge believer in them as they allow the dog to be up off the floor (warmth in the winter, cool in the summer) and can be wiped down and/or washed if you get the fabric kind. I got the most durable 40oz vinyl. I also opted for the crate beds and the dogs will lay in there when I’m in the room with them.
Upstairs (and only after we have walked and played and are not in blanket chewing mode) I give them an old comforter to lay on, which they happily fix to their comfort.
I can’t attest for the cheaper versions of this platform style bed, but can attest that I did need a replacement vinyl and Kuranda shipped me a new one without hassle since I was within my 1 year warranty. (Yes, Orvis does this too with their “chewproof”, but my monsters still managed to chew through this and the beds stunk to high heaven!)
Good luck!
We have a German Shepherd and she sleeps next to my bed. I took a single bed egg shell, folded in half and cover it with a sheet that can be washed easily.
It is nice and soft and she loves it.
Connie
Sabrina – yup, Kuranda beds are VERY durable. That’s the brand they use in many shelters/rescues.
Not the prettiest beds, but probably the most durable I’ve worked with.
I bought a regular round , not too expensive bed for my 90 lb yellow lab and he loves it. When I bought a really big, king size one for him, he avoided it altogether (now my two little cats have a huge dog bed to share). My opinion…never spend big $$ on dog stuff.
Both my dogs sleep in the bedroom with us, one on either side of the bed. But instead of buying expensive doggie beds, i bought regular pillows, like what we use to sleep on, and covered them with a nice clean blanket that they can “nest” in. Both my Aussie/German Shephard, and my Cattle dog/Lab love their beds :) This works great for us as both of them are right around 50 pounds, dogs bigger than that might benefit from a bigger pillow though.
My 80 lb yellow lab likes to sleep on the carpet next to my bed. He has a large soft round bed, a rectangular firm bed, and a down comforter that he will lay on occasionally, but always ends up on the carpet, no matter where I place his beds. The carpet is not super plush and is over a regular pad on a concrete slab so I worry about him developing joint problems. I may try an egg crate with a blanket.
A dog is a member of the family, just like a child, and they deserve every comfort. You should ask yourself what’s wrong with you, that you don’t want the dog sleeping in the bed with you. They are just like stuffed animals, only more cuddly.
I think you should sleep on the floor and let the dog sleep in the bed with your wife. Learn to be more touchy-feely.
I just had to jump in on this topic because we have a very unusual sleeping situation with our 85-pound Goldendoodle. Mazie is a pampered pup, of course, so naturally I make sure she has every comfort she could possibly need, including beds of varying sizes and styles. She is allowed on our bed, but is not allowed to spend the night there. Despite the plethora of sleeping options she has had over her 15-month lifetime, and the nice, soft carpet of our bedroom, she chooses to sleep on a hard surface. Specifically, she sleeps on the tray from her old crate. I am not kidding. She basically sleeps on the dog-sized equivalent of a cafeteria tray. I guess this makes sense (at least to her) since she spends much of her time sprawled on the cold, hard tile floor of the bathrooms and on the hardwood floor of the rest of the house. Oh, and the bed she does have? She uses it as her base of operations – she runs there whenever she gets a treat or a new toy – but she NEVER sleeps in it. She also has an blanket, handknit by my late grandmother (only the best for Mazie) that we leave on the floor near her tray so she can curl up with it if she wants. Mostly, though, it’s her “lunch tray” that she likes best. Go figure.
Oh, and before people start reprimanding me for allowing my dog to lay on the hard surfaces she loves so much, she does have her own chair in the living room. It is, ironically, the nicest (read: most expensive) piece of furniture in my entire house and has now been given over completely to Miss Mazie.
I had 3 Doberman’s, and all 3 of them slept on the bed with us. Nice and warm in the winter! I now only have 1 Doberman, and she still sleeps with me, or she sleeps right next to the bed, on my side of course. She sleeps on her bed off and on all day and all night. She likes to be covered up too. So
she has her own sheet for summer and her own blanket for winter.
Dogs are human too!!
I have two Shih Tzu’s. One I got from the shelter on her kill day. The other one came from three rescues after spending 3 years in a puppy mill. My rescue dog never had anything but a small cage. She spent her first few months under the bed after I got her. She went for three years with no human contact. I put three beds in my living room and one in my bedroom. My shelter dog always sleeps with me. Now both of them sleep with me but my rescue dog sometimes would rather sleep in the bedroom in her own bed. Both dogs rotate all day among the three beds in the living room. If they aren’t on their beds, they’re on the couch like now! Both have had rough lives but now they love everything especially comfort! This way they have a choice.
After having six schnauzera the best thing you can invest in is a crate.Our dogs went in there by themselves when it was to warm or the kids were really bothering them.Number seven is an adorable little black gut and I did buy a little bed for him to sleep in when we are watching tv.Do not like dogs in my bed so that has never been an option.This new one really has a mind of his own so I have my work cut out for me,he is only three months old so have time to train Buddy
Have had sx schnauzers and they all slept in crates at night.They were all happy well behaved dogs.Number seven has a mind of his own but he is so cute we can’t help laughing at him and his antics.He is a black male and a little to smart for his own good. He has a crate and it is in the laundry room and a bed that he sleeps in whie we watch tv,He has been in the crate at night since we brought him home at nine weeks.My dogs are not allowed in the bedrooms and they certainly don’t miss it and are well loved by his two mates