Does a young puppy who is crate training need a dog bed?

[Tina McNerthney]

Hi,

We're excited to welcome Baxter to our home on April 14th. I have been reading various posts on good dog beds to purchase, but I am wondering if a puppy who we are crate training and potty training needs a dog bed. 

Seems like we might want to get a little further in potty training before we provide a soft/absorbent bed for Baxter?

Any recommendations on incorporating a dog bed into his arsenal of puppy amenities?

Thanks!

[Amy N]

Congrats on your new fur baby! 

We brought Archie home two weeks ago, and I did buy a dog bed, but he's able to sleep on it very sparingly. During the day, he's too fired up and rides it or chews it, so I quickly put it away. I do bring it out at night when he's tired and is willing to simply sleep. My thinking is that he'll eventually learn to use it for sleeping and not teething for longer stretches. In his crate, we've put old towels and that seems to work just fine. 

Good luck. Eager to see baby pics!

[Tina McNerthney]

Thank you! Archie is so adorable. I will wait before getting a bed to see if Bax is a chewer. It does seem like it won't be too useful early on.

I will definitely post some photos of Baxter after we get him.

[Kelly & Zoe]

We had both a bed and a crate, but never put the bed in the crate.  We just put down a thin bolster pad and some old blankets in the crate.  When we were still crate training, we had the bed in the living room and that, instead of her crate, was Zoe's go to place most of the time.  Never had a problem with Zoe chewing or ripping her bedding at any age.

If you do buy a bed, I highly recommend one that has a removable/washable cover - makes cleaning so much easier!

[Tina McNerthney]

Thank you, Kelly, and everyone else for the tips. Kelly, what bed did you get for Zoe. There are plenty of recommendations I've seen on beds, but I thought I'd ask what you use. Orvis sells an expensive but durable bed. Costco and LL Bean also seem to have nice beds. I will go ahead and get one for our living room and will remove it if Baxter turns out to be a monster chewer.

[Kelly & Zoe]

I *love* Orvis, but they can be expensive. I bought a 'nesting' bed from PetCo when she was just a pup (the picture I have of her as my avatar, she is in that bed) - its' removable cover is in 2 pieces - a sort of ring of material and the bottom of the bed. The brand was actually PetCo - it was similar to this bed: http://www.petco.com/product/114764/Petco-Oval-Tan-and-Cream-Lounge...

It's sort of a pain to put back together, but she really likes it. I bought another bed on sale at PetSmart for around 50 bucks - it's made with memory foam and is also a 'nesting' bed, or one that has sides - the manufacturer was Top Paw (I cannot find a link for you :-( ). Both are oval. We keep one upstairs and one downstairs, but before I purchased the second bed, I just moved the other bed from room to room. The Top Paw bed is high quality for the price, I would recommend that brand. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't bring myself to splash down 150 bucks or more for the Orvis beds.

Speaking of Orivs, We bought the personalized collars - 2 for 30 (they print the dogs name, and a phone number). We ended up buying a small and a large one for when she got bigger. One day recently we were practicing off leash trail walking, and she ran to meet a neighbor dog on the trail - I had 5 minutes of sheer of panic as I could not locate her. My neighbor had her with her and her dog, and called my number which on the collar as soon as she couldn't find me. What a relief! We also have her micro chipped and she has dog tags, but the collar was an expedient way for my neighbor to get in touch with me. So worth it!!! I highly recommend them!

[Tina McNerthney]

Thank you, Kelly, for the recommendations. I forgot about the dog tags. I need to get on that. It sounds like the Orvis collars are a good deal and I'll check into that and the Top Paw bed.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

We didn't get Luna a dog bed until she was over a year old.  About a year ago she graduated from her dog bed to sharing ours, but I don't necessarily recommend that ;)

[Kelly & Zoe]

ha - us too - the beds are rarely used at night anymore and Zoe sleeps in our bed or on the tile floor - silly dogs!

[Tina McNerthney]

Oh, my, J! I don't plan on letting our puppy on the bed because our cat kind of owns that territory and I know the puppy will one day get too big for the bed! But, in theory, it sounds like fun.