Choose A Dog Bed Sized To Suit Your Dog
| Are You Sick & Tired of Do you wish that there was a simple way of house training a puppy quickly and easily? |
I got a very excited call from my friends the other day with big news. They just got a new puppy. They were at the mall at the pet store when they called, buying all the new stuff necessary for any new puppy owner – little collars, little leashes, puppy food, puppy treats, puppy vitamins, lots of toys, some puppy clothing. You know how new puppy owners are. What they wanted to ask me, since I have gone through the puppy stage with my dog, is whether they should buy a puppy-sized bed for their new puppy.
My advice to them was that if they are using a crate for puppy training, then buying a bed at this point really isn’t necessary. When the puppy is up, he will be playing and sitting with them. When it is nap time or bed time, then he really should be in his crate, so a puppy bed wouldn’t be used all that much, and might even be confusing for her. I said that I expected they should wait until the puppy has grown up to their final size – usually 12 to 18 months, although larger breeds will keep growing for a little longer.
Once the puppy has grown up and you’ve made the decision to let your dog choose a different sleeping spot away from the crate, this is the time to choose a dog bed. Getting rid of the crate isn’t a necessity – if you and your dog both like the crate, keeping a routine that is working is probably better than introducing new things. A crate actually provides a lot of security for dogs, and functions as their own little condo where they can feel like they have their own safe space.
But you’ve decided that it’s time to get a bed for your dog, so you need to know how to go about choosing the proper bed size. Before figuring out how big to get your bed, you want to choose whether your dog would be more comfortable in a curl up bed, or a stretch out bed. Dogs are typically one or the other when it comes to sleeping, so watch the shape your dog takes over the next few days, both during the day and at night time. There are sorts of different dog bed shapes – cushions and beds which let the dog spill over the edges, or basket type beds where they are tightly enclosed and supported.
After figuring out the style of bed that would suit your dog best, now you have to figure out the best size. Too big and your dog will feel lost and uncomfortable. Too small and they simply won’t fit. Sneak up on your dog during nap time and measure the length and width of floor space that they take up. You could trace a chalk outline around your dog and measure it after they’ve woken up if you don’t want to disturb her. Again, make sure you check during a number of different naps, to make sure you get a good representation of their sleeping size. Add a couple of inches to both dimensions, and now you will have a good size to base your purchase on.
Now that you have determined a proper size for your dogs new bed, you will suddenly be faced with a number of new decisions, such as style, shape, material and quality. These factors warrant their own article in themselves, but be happy in the fact that once you find a bed that looks like the perfect fit for your dog, you will know that you really are getting the perfect sized dog bed.
Find out more about choosing a dog bed for your dog, as well as other great dog information such as natural flea remedies and crate training.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:14 am
A tip in buying dog bed is that give an extra allowance on the size. Most dogs move a lot and most of the time ,if your bed is just the right size, they just come out of their bed. So it’s a good thing to give them some allowance.