Dog Beds for Great Danes

Dog beds for Great Danes have to be at the larger end of the spectrum and you'll have to make sure you choose one that won't leave your pet's legs sticking out into the middle of the floor.

As you may know, Great Danes are almost as demanding as cats when it comes to their comfort.

If you have a Great Dane who is in need of a new bed, as I was recently, you'll know that most of the dog beds on the market at the moment are only fit for medium or smaller sized breeds.

Having spent a lot of time hunting around for the best deals in the market place, I thought that I would share the results of my research with my fellow Great Dane owners.

If you've landed on this page, I assume it is because you're looking for a new piece of bedroom furniture for your favorite pooch. Let me help guide you through the ins and outs of selecting just the right bit of kit to keep your best friend warm and cozy all through the night.

The Benefits of Large Dog Beds

If you have a big dog in your house then it may seem obvious that you need a big dog bed. Well, I don't know about you but me and my wife have allowed our Great Dane to fall into the extremely bad habit of sleeping in our bed with us.

This is bad for any dog, but when you have a dog that weighs as much as an adult human, you find that half of the night is spent jostling for position, not only with your spouse but also with a four-legged creature who thinks he's your superior as leader of the "pack".

And it's not always easy to convince him otherwise.

The only way you're going to get him to start using a dog bed is if it's comfortable. Which means that for a larger dog, the bed has to be big.

We chose this dog bed in the end from the hundreds available online. The main reasons were that it had received 62 5-star reviews, with people telling us how their dog "loves this new bed". It seems to be very durable and unfolds right out of the packaging easily enough, so there's no hassle with putting bits together before you can install your pet in it.

Big Barker Dog Beds for Large Dogs

This is one of the other beds for large dogs that me and the wife had on the shortlist.

If I'm honest I think it was because of the memorable name of the company, "Big Barker", just kind of stuck in the brain, but when we started reading all of the reviews, it quickly became apparent that this was a top quality product.

It comes in three, big-sounding sizes.

• Large (48 x 30 x 7)
• Extra Large (52 x 36 x 7) and...wait for it...
• GIANT! (60 x 48 x 7).

A giant bed for crying out loud. If that doesn't seem big enough for your dog then you don't need a dog bed, you need a stable!

Big Dog Beds With Orthopaedic Memory Foam

If your dog is getting on a bit, has problems with aches and pains, or if you simply want the very best in comfort for the old boy, then why not get this superb orthopedic 100% Memory Foam Pad Pet Bed?

It is the height of luxury for your pet, has a waterproof cover, which comes in a very fetching navy blue denim.

The memory foam will match the contours of your dog's body perfectly and provide supreme levels of comfort that will help him get a good night's sleep even if he suffers from the pain of arthritis, or other joint problems or muscle stiffness.

At the time of writing, the vendor also offered a special deal and bonus cover offer, which is what swung it for us. That means that we don't have to worry about where the pooch is going to sleep while we are washing his bed. We just swap the dirty cover for the brand spanking new one and hey presto, we can wash the dirty one at our leisure!

So, whichever option you decide to go for, make sure you check out the latest deals through the links above. That way you can be sure that you've got the best deal available.

And once you've bought it, and tried it for a while, why not leave a comment below this post to tell us what you think of it? Or if you've found some even better dog beds for great danes, let us know all about them, too.

Just Been Trying to Cheer Myself Up - Found this Demanding Cat Video

So, I've been surfing around on YouTube looking for stuff to cheer me up. Given the bad news that I have had recently, I started searching around a cat theme and ended up spending half an hour watching cats doing the silliest stuff. I know the internet is full of cats doing daft stuff, but I couldn't resist sharing a clip with you.

I found this sweet little video of a somewhat demanding cat pestering its owner to have a fuss made over it. The poor guy was trying to get some work done but the cat had other ideas.

I hope it raises a smile for you. It did raise a much needed smile for me.

My Cat Died Today

It is with a lump in my throat that I write this post today.

You see, my dear cat, Jess died this morning. She had been ill for a little while and had difficulty breathing. The vet told us that she either had bronchitis or cancer.

I believe that cancer is quite common in cats and it seems it has claimed yet another victim because the steroid injection and antibiotics did not have any effect whatsoever on her condition.

In fact, after she came back from the vet's following treatment, she seemed to go into a steep decline. We took her to be put to sleep this morning. She was really struggling to breath and could not even get out of her bed to go to the bathroom. It was the kindest, and yet most difficult thing to do.

She was the first pet that me and my wife got together and she had seen our family grow from just husband and wife, to a household of six (just counting the humans!). The kids are a bit too young to fully understand, except for my eldest who was extremely upset by the whole thing.

Jess was a beautiful cat, as you can see from the photo above. She brought us a lot of happiness throughout her life and that is how I want to remember her. One of the funniest things she used to do was steal the dog's bed. Mildly amusing until you realise that the dog was in fact a great dane! The size difference and the fact that this tiny little cat was able to boss around our gigantic dog was an endless source of amusement. Jess will be greatly missed. RIP, Jess (2002-2013).

Is it Common for Cats to Steal Dogs' Beds?

This video really made me laugh. It reminds me so much of the relationship between my Mom's cat, Smokie, and her dog, Ruff. You see, Ruff saw himself as the protector of the household, always barking when the mailman came to the door, seeing off travelling salesmen and generally acting as the leader of the pack.

However, when it really came down to it, Smokie was the boss. I never worked out whether Ruff let Smokie get away with so much out of love or fear, but whatever the reason, this video demonstrates that theirs was not an isolated case.

At around 1min 20seconds one of the dogs just gives up and starts tucking the cat into the bed with a blanket, obviously finally coming to the conclusion that the cat is indeed the boss and, as such, should be treated with respect!

Enjoy... P.S. In a bizarre coincidence, I've also discovered that another internet dog shares more of Ruff's life experiences. This dog enjoys listening to music almost as much as Ruff did.

Do Dogs Enjoy Listening to Guitar?

I had an interesting debate with a close friend of mine who plays the guitar the other day about whether animals, and dogs in particular, enjoy listening to music.

He was utterly convinced that all dogs enjoy music and that when he plays his guitar to his sister's dog, it shows its appreciation by nodding along to the music. Well, naturally I was somewhat sceptical, and told him he was off his rocker.

"Next you'll be telling me that dogs prefer to sleep in bunk beds", I said!

There was no way that he could prove his theory there and then because, although we had a couple guitars in the room at the time, we didn't have any dogs - or any other animals to experiment on.

Luckily for him, YouTube came to the rescue with an amazing video of a Labrador nodding and smiling as his owner plays the guitar to him.

Watch the video, you will be amazed!

Bunk Beds for Dogs

The best piece of furniture I have bought in quite a while was actually not for use by the humans of the household, but a pair of bunk beds for dogs.

My wife and I have a lovely little Jack Russell Terrier called Mitch. We bought him as a puppy shortly before our first son was born, which makes him all the more special to us (and doesn't he just know it)!

When he was tiny, we couldn't bear to leave him in the kitchen at night, whining and scratching around. He was awfully lonely and seemed to have trouble sleeping. Very soon, he was spending every night curled up at the foot of our bed, nice and cosy between our feet.

Over the years, we have been very soft with him and have allowed him to sleep with us without any problems. Recently however, probably because he is now getting to the ripe old age of eleven and developing "grumpy old dog" tendencies, he has begun to see us as an inconvenience and taking up space in his bed.

At first we thought this was amusing, having our little pet dog trying to boss us around and thinking that he was doing us the favor by allowing us to sleep in his bed. But after a while this became somewhat tiresome and we decided that enough was enough. It was time to reclaim our bed!

The only problem was how.

What made matters worse was that we had just bought a second dog, another little Jack Russell Terrier called Sam. We needed to get a bed for the pup and thought we'd look around at options that could cater for both our canines. Our own bed was getting too crowded and putting the dogs in their own bed was the only answer.

That was when one of our friends mentioned the doggy bunk bed. Neither me nor my wife had ever seen these before, but they present quite a nice space-saving option for households with two pets and one which our dogs are very happy with also.

What Are the Benefits of Raised Beds for Your Dogs?

The main benefit for us of having a raised bed for our dog is that it allows the dog to be up at the same level as our own bed whilst not actually being in the bed with us. Mitch loves his new bed, which we have installed right next to ours and it allows him to feel safe and secure, sleeping next to us.

More importantly though, it allows us to get a good night's sleep because Mitch isn't kicking us and complaining that we aren't giving him enough room. We must sound like a couple of big softies, but it is hard to break the habits of a lifetime, especially when you love your dog and can't bring yourself to be too hard on him.

We've even bought little raised beds for Mitch and Sam for when we go camping. As well as being portable, they are relatively cheap, too. We camp out at various times of the year and when it's very hot the raised beds are ideal for keeping them cool because it lets the air flow underneath them.

Likewise, when the weather is cooler and wetter, the elevated dog bed keeps them off the cold wet ground. Either way, it increases his level of comfort considerably. In fact I wish we'd bought one years ago.

If you're not sure whether your pooch will take to a raised dog bed, you could always try this one for a bit because it is pretty cheap and won't be an expensive mistake if he doesn't use it much.

Dog Beds for Two Dogs - When Space is at a Premium

But what about our new puppy, Sam, did we get him a nice new bed, too? We actually bought a set of bunk beds for dogs.

This was an ideal solution for us because our bedroom is rather small and having two raised dog beds next to our bed would have been too much. It also didn't seem fair to have Sam sleeping on our bed but Mitch sleeping separately - that would certainly have put his nose out of joint.

Making Sam sleep in the kitchen whilst Mitch was cozied up with us in our bedroom would also have been unfair. So we went for the perfect solution - bunk beds.

Sam has never slept on our bed and seems quite content to snuggle up on the lower bunk beneath Mitch. We are all getting a good night's sleep and the bunks don't take up much space at all.

If you think your dogs would enjoy bunk beds, click on this link to get the best price on Amazon.

Are Elevated Dog Beds Just for Small Dogs?

The short answer to the question of whether only small dogs can use bunk beds is an emphatic "no"!

Some friends of ours have two huge greyhounds. They used to be racing dogs but have been retired for some time. They are very placid and have a lovely temperament, but boy oh boy are they big! They take up practically the whole of the kitchen floorspace in their small down town apartment.

When our friends saw the bunk beds we had bought for Mitch and Sam, they decided to have a look around for a larger version for their two pooches. At about the same time David, the owner of the said greyhounds, landed a new job as a teacher across town, which came with a huge house.

They went ahead and bought two of these fantastic raised beds for their two dogs. They are awesome and the dogs love them. If you have a big dog, then I think this might be a good option for you.

My wife and I are very glad that we made the switch to bunk beds for our dogs. It has increased both our comfort levels as well as our dogs', and because we no longer have to fight for space in our own bed with the dogs, we sleep much better and have got rid of those bags under our eyes.

It was partly this experience that made us decide to set up the dog blogger blog to share our experiences in the hope of helping other people in a similar situation.

If you think you and your dogs could benefit from bunk beds, check our one of the options in the links above.