Top Rated Dog Beds for the Discerning Canine

When you have a dog who is as fussy as mine, only the best, top rated dog beds will do. You see, you learn after a while how to think like a dog. You learn their preferences because they tell you when they don't like something. Equally, it is obvious when they feel positive about something.

Over the years, me and my fussy pooch have developed a good understanding of each other, what we like and what we don't like. Kind of like a married couple, but without the arguments about who leaves the toilet seat in the wrong position.

So I feel uniquely qualified to tell anyone who wants to listen how to buy a dog bed that your pet will love. So here goes.

Washable Dog Bed

We have a holiday home out in the woods and there is a bed that stays there all the time for fido to use.

The woods are a messy place, so it is important that we are able to wash the dirt off the bed. It can also get pretty cold out there so I like to make sure that the bed is nice and cozy for her to sleep comfortably.

I really like the Brinkman Pet Paw Print bed, which is superbly practical, being washable, and looks cute as well!
I've lost count of the number of times I've machine-washed it, and it still looks great

Cozy Cave Dog Bed

During the harsh winter of 2007 I improvised with extra blankets to make sure that fido kept cozy in her bed at night. If only I had discovered the "Snoozer Luxury Cozy Cave" back then...

After she chewed my human bedding to shreds, I was forced to go out and buy a cave-style bed so that the cold air didn't get to her sensitive ears. How she cries at night if her ears are cold!

The cozy cave dog bed is perfect for keeping warm on those long cold nights of winter. It can sometimes take a little getting used to for the dog, but once she does, you'll find it very difficult to get her back out again. At least not without the aid of a bag of doggie treats!

L L Bean Dog Bed

I you're looking for a stylish yet practical dog bed that will stand the test of time (as well as the test of your favorite family pet), then you should look no further than the premium denim dog bed set from LL Bean.

This beautiful dog bed is so simple in design and looks fantastic on my living room floor. It comes in a fetching blue color, which I really like because it doesn't show up the grime as easily as lighter colours. It also matches the color of my dog's coat (kidding, my dog doesn't really have blue fur)!

But seriously, though, I would recommend any of the three beds mentioned here.

If style is your main concern, go with the LL Bean, for practicality, the washable number above is your best bet, and for pure cozy wrm comfort, the cozy cave is the one to go for.

Click on one of the links to buy yours now!

Amazing Picture of Dog Cleaning up Its Own Mess

OK, this is the last post on the theme of dog dirt and pooper scoopers, I promise! If I don't stop soon, you're going to think I'm some kind of crackpot. Anyway, I saw this picture and just couldn't resist sharing it with you. If only dogs could actually be trained to do this, the world would be a much better place.

Never Touch Dog Droppings Again, Use the Better Pooper Scooper!

So I was doing a bit of random surfing after my last post, which was a bit of a rant (sorry about that), and I came across this video explaining how to use a pooper scooper called the intercept.

It's appropriately named because, as the name suggests, the dog poo never actually reaches the ground but is intercepted by the pooper scooper immediately after it leaves the dog, on its way to the ground.

Ingenious! And it gets my vote because it's about as clean as you can get; no more smears or missed bits left for some unfortunate to step in. This thing gets rid of every last piece.

The great thing about it from an owner's point of view is that it is exceptionally hygienic because the bag is on the end of a special stick which allows you to drip it into a bin without ever touching the bag.

A friend of mine is very unphased by dog mess and happily picks up her dog's droppings in a plastic bag and then puts the bag in her pocket. "Helps keep her hands warm", she says!

I think that's gross, but hey, let's not judge. I do think twice about accepting a stick of gum from her though!

The Pooper Scooper - Please Use it to Pick up Your Dog Poop

I want to share my thoughts with you today about certain irresponsible dog owners who clearly don't own, or at least don't use, a pooper scooper. You see there are some owners who don't seem to consider the impact their pet can have on the world around them, or if they do, they  just don't care.

I'm talking about the dog owners who allow their pet to defecate on public footpaths, pavements, even children's playgrounds. I have even seen dog mess balanced on top of an unfortunate homeowner's front garden wall. Not a pleasant thing the have to deal with when you return home from work.

Dog Poop is Annoying

Like any normal person, I have always thought that dog owners who let their dogs do their business on public thoroughfares were inconsiderate or downright ignorant. However, since I became a father, my level of tolerance for such things has taken a sharp nosedive.

You see, from time to time an adult might accidentally step in a dog turd that was lurking on a pavement. This doesn't happen all that often because grown ups have learned to keep an eye out for such things and generally manage to avoid them.

Kids on the other hand seem to seek the damn things out!

The scene is an all to familiar one. We're walking along, having a nice day out when, all of a sudden a dog poo appears on the path in front of us. The younger members of our party fail to notice the hazard and step right in it, making a complete mess of their nice new, otherwise clean, shoes.

Until you've spent three consecutive evenings scraping dog excrement out from between the treads of your children's boots with a small stick, you have no idea just how irritating this social problem is.

My kids have, at different times, managed to walk dog mess all over the inside of my car, across my kitchen floor, and they have even fallen on the ground where a dog had done its business and got it all over their hands and clothes. When you're out for a long walk and nowhere near any toilet facilities where you could at least attempt a cleanup, that really does try your patience, believe me. It's enough to make you wish you hadn't got out of bed that morning.

Dog Poop is a Health Hazard

And it's not just an unhygienic nuisance, this stuff can do some serious damage to your health.

A friend of mine used to play rugby with a guy called "Boggle-eyed Jim". Why was he called "Boggle-eyed" Jim, I hear you cry?

Well, he was playing rugby one day when he landed on a dog pile that someone had left right in the middle of the pitch and Jim was unfortunate to get some of the squidgy brown stuff in his eye. The eye became infected and caused permanent damage, which gave Jim a squint.

So from that day on he became known as "Boggle-eyed Jim".

A sad but true story of the impact a lazy dog owner can have on an innocent member of the public.

What to Do About Dog Poop

I have noticed a few ways that people who are as outraged by the dog poop epidemic as I am have gone about trying to tackle the problem. The first is direct action. I wouldn't recommend this because it can turn nasty, but I have seen people physically attack a dog that was trying to take a dump. This is wrong on two counts. First of all, it's not the dog's fault. The dog is just doing what the dog needs to do. What you really should do is very politely ask the dog owner whether they have noticed that their dog has made a mess. Sometimes this can provoke an angry response, and sometimes it is perfectly clear that the owner saw everything, which makes this approach redundant. When this happens, you can offer the owner a poop bag if you have one. A simple plastic bag will do, it doesn't need to be anything special. If they are a responsible owner, they will at this point say, "Thank you very much". And proceed to clear up the mess. If direct action is not the sort of thing that you feel you should go in for, and I know that in certain neighborhoods you really shouldn't go asking people to pick up dog mess because they might pop a cap in your derriere, then there are other things you could try. I have come across little flags neatly placed in dog turds to mark them out clearly and draw attention to them. I have also seen "sprinkles" that would otherwise be put on top of ice cream adorning dog mess on an urban street. Other options that have crossed my mind include luminous yellow paint to highlight the location of the offending articles, following the offending owner home and posting a plastic bag and a note through their letterbox asking them to go and clean it up, and posting the locations on Google Maps. You can call me obsessive, but I think that all dog owners should be issued with a pooper scooper, and attend a training course in how to use it before being allowed to take a dog home from the store.

Self Warming Dog Bed

Well, I don't know about you but until recently I had never heard of a self warming dog bed. In fact, if you had mentioned this to me a year or so ago, I probably would have assumed it was one of those online meme jokes, or dismissed it as the sort of thing that only crazy celebrities with unlimited budgets to pamper their pooches would buy.

How wrong I would have been...

You see, now that winter has gripped us with her icy fingers, I need to scrape the ice off the car windscreen every morning before I drive into work.

I have to wear a hat to stop my ears from hurting when I go out for a walk. I even decided to buy myself a pocket warmer so that my fingers don't freeze whilst waiting for my sons' rugby matches to finish as I stand on the touchline freezing half to death.

It occurred to me the other day while I was out on a walk with my pet dog that she probably feels the cold just as much as I do. I know that she has a furry coat that insulates her from the worst of the icy winds, but I am pretty well wrapped up when I venture outside these days and I still feel the wind's bite.

That wasn't what made me decide to investigate the wonderful world of the self-heating dog bed, though. After all, while she's out and about, running around in the park, she's actually generating a lot of heat and feels toasty warm to the touch.

No, it was actually one frosty morning when I walked across to the outhouse where our dog sleeps and found her shivering in her bed, whimpering and barking. We have provided her with a nice cozy bed with a padded base and furry sides, but this obviously was not adequate for the severe winter we are currently experiencing.

It was there and then that I decided to look online at what kinds of luxury pet beds are available.

Luxury Dog Bed

The world of the luxury dog bed was a real eye-opener for me! You can get everything from blankets, something called a cuddle cup, to bunk beds, thermo-heated beds, you name it and it's available.

A friend of mine had recently bought a brand new sofa for his living room which was big enough for him and his wife to stretch out on and relax. There was just one problem... their dog, who had developed the habit of sitting on their old sofa but who they wanted to keep off their brand new fancy couch. Their solution was to buy such an amazingly comfortable and warm dog bed that he would prefer to sit in the dog bed rather than join them on the sofa.

They eventually chose the above pictured bed from Snoozer Pet Products. This was ideal because they knew that their dog loved to lie under blankets and the "Snoozer Luxury Cozy Cave Pet Bed" (snappy name, eh?) comes with a cover that the dog can easily crawl under by himself.

It's also big enough for him to stretch out in and it only took a day or so for him to learn to get inside it.

Their household is now extremely contented because the humans get their nice new sofa all to themselves and the dog is perfectly happy with his new bed. Great result for all concerned.

I seriously considered this cozy design of bed for my own dog but worried it wouldn't be quite warm enough for our outhouse where the dog sleeps.

So I had to broaden my search. I focussed in on a few likely candidates that came in the right sizes and which I thought would be suitable.

It turns out that there are some nice options for keeping your pet's bed extra snuggly warm, even if they sleep outside in the depths of winter. You can either warm the bed, or buy a bed with an integrated warmer.

Here's what I discovered about these two options.

Dog Bed Warmer

There are several options for warming up your pet's bed before they get into it. My favorite one from the ones that I researched is this microwaveable one.

It's nice and squishy once it's been warmed up and provides up to twelve snuggly hours of cozy warmth after it's been microwaved, which means you just nuke it before your pet goes to bed and you can relax, safe in the knowledge that your pet will remain warm all night.

It's even comes in a durable neoprene cover, which makes it very easy to clean as well as being tough and able to stand up too some pretty heavy use.

It is also provided with a one year warranty, which gives great peace of mind.

That's great, but what if you're like me and like to really spoil your pet and / or your pet sleeps in a very cold environment at night?

Well that's where my top choice comes in.

Treat Your Pet to a Self Heating Dog Bed

This really is the best of the best in my opinion. I had seen it advertised and immediately thought of my pooch and how warm and cozy he would be curled up warm and snug in this deluxe pet bed.

The way it worked surprised me a little. Its name suggests that it is heated by electricity or some other technology, but actually it makes use of the body heat of the occupant to radiate the heat back into the animal's body.

It consists of a unique two-layer fabric which serves to radiate the warmth from your pet's body back into her. The first layer is a microfleece which I would like to curl up in, nevermind my dog!

The second layer is a metalized insulating material to radiate your pet's own body heat back into them.

It is even eco-friendly, being made from recycled plastic bottles.

I decided to go for the belt and braces and ordered both the bed warmer and the self heating bed. And let me tell you, this is a combination that keeps my dog as warm as toast all night long. He often can't wait to get to bed and snuggle up.

So, if you live somewhere cold, or even if you just want to take extra special care of your pet so they don't get a bit chilly when the house cools down at night, I would highly recommend that you purchase one of the items described above.

They are cheap at the price and you can be sure to get the best deal on your next self warming dog bed by clicking on one of the links above, so click on one now and get your credit card ready because you won't be disappointed, and neither will your pet.

The Barking Dog

Every morning whilst taking my children to school we have to walk past a particular house. This particular house is home to two large, excitable and highly territorial Labrador dogs.

Most dogs are somewhat territorial and will want to let others know that the piece of garden ground that they occupy belongs to them and their family. They generally do this by barking and running around in circles. This behavior is even more pronounced when the people walking past their garden gate have a dog or two with them.

You see, all dogs relate to each other in accordance with their perception of the hierarchical system that would, in the wild, form the basis of all interaction between the different members of the pack. However, in modern times, this can be a little annoying to the humans who are present.

The two dogs who I have to walk past on the way to school with my kids are clearly used to having their garden to themselves and, although we don't actually walk inside their garden, our very proximity to their "turf" sets off a chain reaction that ends with the Labs seeing my dogs as interlopers and as a result start barking their heads off in order to put them in their place and make quite sure they do not set foot across the threshold.

Many dogs would defer to the two whose garden it is, with strength coming from the fact that they are on home ground. Unfortunately for me, though, my dogs are extremely argumentative and see any challenge as something that must be met with equal, or greater, voracity.

What this invariably means is that I jump out of my skin at the incredibly loud rumpus, which always seem to start suddenly, without warning. No matter how many times it happens, and no matter how many times I tell myself that next time I will remember the hazard and either avoid it altogether, or at the very least be prepared for it and not allow myself to be startled by it, it always seems to catch me off guard.

I have taken two steps to improve matters.

1. I now make sure that my dogs are on their leashes. For some reason, perhaps because they are seen as less of a threat, the two Labradors do not subject my dogs to such vitriolic treatment when they are restrained by their leashes.
2. And this is fairly new, I have taken steps to befriend the owner of the two dogs in question. I have a theory that if the dogs see their owners (pack leaders) getting on well together socially, then they will copy this behavior and not indulge in the noisy posturing that they currently get involved with whenever they meet.

It's early days on this "lead by example" approach, but I'll try to remember to update this blog with the outcome once I've had a chance to assess the tactic.

If nothing else, I will have made a new friend in the process! Perhaps I could take them a present, too; maybe a new dog bed.

Dog Beds for Less

A friend of mine is in the market for a new dog bed at the moment (for his Great Dane) and was asking me yesterday where he would be able to pick up dog beds for less money than they cost in a typical high street store.

I had found myself in a similar situation a couple of years earlier when I had been made redundant from my job at the car plant where I specialized in custom paint jobs, mainly for the overseas market. I was needing to cut back my expenses as much as possible but still needed to buy life's essentials, which in my household includes basic supplies for my dogs.

I found three tips very useful in sourcing my new dog beds. I used them to get the best possible deal for my own dogs and mentioned them to my friend yesterday who is in the process of applying them to his own situation.

I thought a few people might just find these tips helpful in their own search for reasonably priced dog beds, so I'll share them here today in this short post.

Cheap Dog Beds Don't Have to be Poor Quality

The first thing that I would emphasize is that you really don't need to spend a lot of money on a bed for your dog in order to get a good quality piece of furniture. Sure, you don't want it to fall to bits within a month, and that can be a problem when shopping at the very low end of the market. But there's no need to go overboard with your wallet either.

A lot of people think that they have to buy a particular brand of bed for their dog because of the marketing hype that has been generated. You know what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the "designer brands". I don't want to name any of them because they are generally very good quality and they often look great as well. However, you must remember that the bed is first and foremost for the benefit of your pet and he really doesn't care whether his bed has the latest designer label on it or not.

So take my advice and go for something that is relatively basic. That does not mean it should be low quality, just don't pay the premium for the designer name tag.

Dog Beds on Sale in the Showroom or Online?

The second tip that I have is something that a number of people think is a bit underhand. It even has a name these days because so many people are taking advantage of this particular tactic.

I'm talking about showrooming. If you don't know what showrooming is, there is a good explanation of it here, but basically it is the act of popping down to the high street stores to get a good look at all of the products that are available, chatting to the salesman about the benefits, maybe even trying a few items out to make sure they are a good fit for you. Then you say, "thank you very much", to the salesman, walk out of the store, drive home and make the purchase at a discounted rate from an online retailer.

This means that you get the best of both worlds, having tried out the goods you intend to purchase and then taking advantage of the often discounted rates that online stores are able to offer due to their lower operating overheads.

It's up to you if you are comfortable doing this or not. But, personally, I don't see any problem with it whatsoever. It's all about getting the best deal for you. All you are doing is seeking the best information about the product, which the bricks and mortar store is perfectly happy to provide, because after all they could convert you into a sale there and then (and this has been the case for me from time to time).

It's a cut throat world and the customer is king, so dust off that crown and get showrooming for the best deals, safe in the knowledge that you are buying the product that is best for you (and your dog).

Discount Dog Beds from Other Pet Owners

This last tip is probably the biggest one in terms of saving cash. Everyone knows that you can save money by purchasing goods second hand. The retailers refer to these goods as "used", or pre-owned, but I prefer the terms "pre-loved".

Corny I know, but I use this term because actually a lot of the goods that fall into this category are in excellent condition. You might be forgiven for thinking that these items will be a little damaged and show other signs of use.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. What many people don't realise is that Amazon only permits items in the pet category to be sold if they are brand new. However, if you do a search for "used", you will find that many products are displayed, such as the one above. I don't understand how this works but it does seem as though these products are available at a lower price and yet they are still new.

This little trick might not work for long, but it is working as of the date of this post, so I reckon you could grab yourself a bargain if you act quickly!

So there you have it, a few little tips that will hopefully point you in the right direction for getting what you want at a reasonable price.

Click on one of the links on this page to grab yourself a bargain today!

If these tips helped you buy your latest dog beds for less money, I would love to know, so please leave a comment below and tell me all about it.