Let me state right up front: This is NOT a Chewy review. No, it's a review written out of sheer exasperation and frustration on the part of a dog owner who buys A LOT of dog beds!
WHERE are all the good dog beds?? Seriously, I want to know! If you know, please tell me!
There are about a dozen dog beds in my house. I work in every room. My dog wants to be with me and pardon me if I think she should have somewhere comfortable to hang out! That being said, I still have the first two dog beds I ever bought some 21 years ago!
I happened on my first great dog bed by accident. I had been looking for a bed for Milly but they were pricey back then - over $130 for the model I had seen most often. Cut to: I'm shopping in the JC Penney Outlet, helping a guy friend decorate his apartment when I see the same bed for $25... I bought it tossed it in the car and after making 6 trips back to the car with my friend's stuff throughout the day, I only noticed why it was so cheap on the final trip! It had a name embroidered one it! "Maggie" ... I thought of returning it...but Milly couldn't read, so I turned the name to the wall. When I got Maggie, I named her after the bed!
Maggie May
I bought a second of the same brand when I found them on sale for $30 at a discount store that same year. Here's Mabel Lou on the same bed. (Mother cut out Maggie's name and patched the bed when Maggie died.)
Mabel Lou on the most excellent dog bed
HOW have these beds held up for 20 years? They probably weren't made in China... or maybe they were but the companies that put their name on them had better standards??? I don't know... they were well made. The covers were heavy cotton with a plain side and a warm fuzzy side. I would flip them over as the temps and dogs demanded. The inner liner was a thinner cotton and had a inner zipper; inside that was fiber fill and cedar shavings.
Care and Handling of a Most Excellent Dog Bed: To make them last 20 + years, I remove the outer cover and toss it in the washer. If it is shedding season, I run it through the dryer on no heat to remove some hair BEFORE washing. I dry them in the sun.
That cotton inner liner is just fabulous. The zipper allows easy access so if the filling is stained, I remove some and replace it. I addmore cedar shavings from time to time. Every time I wash the outer cover, I take the innards outside, spray it with
Pure Cedarwood Oil (Juniperus Virginiana)
(Link provided cause it's hard to find the real deal that's not half alcohol these days!) This is a natural deodorizer and flea / tick repellant. I sun the inner bed 1/2 a day, flip it, spray that side down the second side and sun it. Replace the cover at the end of the day.
The result is a clean, fresh dog bed for 20 + years! Never had any kind of insect issue or stain issue... the sun will bleach the inner cover and the pure cedar oil takes care of the rest. And it's not overly smelly from cedar either!
The Problem with Modern Dog Beds...circa 2015
Again, my snarky opinion has something to do with not finding one made anywhere but China. But after spending several DAYS looking for one, the biggest issue is the inner liner...It's not made of cotton any more... it's made of this ..... I'm struggling to not curse... cacca!
Crappy Dog Bed by Cynthia Rowley
Yes, that's a hole in it where my finger is. I can't tell you what it's made of... diaphanous gauze would be the best description. No one tells you what it's made of cause it's not supposed to come in contact with the dog.
I first came in contact with this crap when I bought Macy a bed. I like to buy a new dog her very own sleeping bed so that her primary bed smells like her. A month later, I go to wash the cover and the fiber fill and cedar is all over the carpet! That gauze cacca had DRY ROTTED! In only a MONTH! GRRRRR!
I was pressed for time so I just stuffed it back into the outer cover and forgot about it for another month. I've made many attempts at finding a new one... to no avail and then spent a solid weekend driving anywhere I could think off looking at dog beds.
That one up there with the hole in it??? It's a Cynthia Rowley Dog Bed. The outer fabric was some of the best, thickest sueded canvas I've ever seen in a dog bed. I wanted it to be "the one" based on that alone... but I opened the zipper and found... gauze cacca...that already had a HOLE in it. If you have any slight length to your fingernails, it will tear the gauze cacca when picked up the outer bed! GRRR
I kept looking... I found one at PetSmart with a label... "the only one strong enough to be called a Kong." MY TAIL FEATHERS! Inside...you guessed it! Gauze Cacca. Strong enough to be called a Kong??? Yeah, until it dry rots in a month!
So we still have no bed. After every single bed I found had this inner liner, I terrified to buy one online. I don't want to pay shipping to return the thing!
JUST IN CASE THERE ARE ANY DOG BED DESIGNERS PAYING ATTENTION
Here are my gripes:
- NO gauze caca inner liner! Cotton please! With a zipper or good velcro!
- Inside should either be poly fill + cedar or memory foam. Nothing else is acceptable.
- And by the way... Memory foam PIECES is NOT the same as a memory foam bed! My baby's bed is not a way for you to get rid of your manufacturing garbage! SOLID memory foam only!
- Outside liner should be thick and washable. Natural fabric please! It should be reversible.
- NO rubber feet on the bottom!
Pet owners, we need to start a revolt! Until they start making better beds... please stop buying them!
.JPG)
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