Dog Baskets for Large Dogs

Posted on March 17, 2026

A Thin Dog Basket is not Healthy for Large Dogs

As your puppy or young dog is bouncing around you may not be imagining him as a 10 year old dog. However, this is the age where you need to prepare your dog for a healthy late life. One very common life limiting illness in older dogs is arthritis. The clinical onset of arthritis can often be delayed with good care of the young dog. Your dog may carry genes that predispose him for arthritis at some point in life, but you can still play a role in postponing this. Firstly it is actually extremely important to limit his exercise in the first year of life. Young dogs seem to have endless energy and they are keen to run forever. Walks are never long enough for a young dog, but you must limit the exercise. The second thing is where he sleeps.

Choose the Right Basket for your Large Dog.

This is absolutely crucial!! Please do not go and pick the first, fluffy dog basket that you find in a shop for £20. There is no physical way that such a dog basket, for a large sized dog, can be insulating and supportive. To get the perfect dog basket for your dog’s health, you need to pay for it. This is an investment you have to make or there will be regrets later in your dog’s life. Go for a dog basket that has a mattress inside and NOT loose filling. This is because loose filling will just move around and end up in the corners with practically nothing in the middle. A mattress filling should also be orthopaedic so it not only insulates from the cold floor, but also supports the heavy dog. Often, when Tuffies dog beds exhibit at Crufts or other dog shows expert dog owners do the “knee test”. They kneel down on the bed to check if they can feel the floor through the Tuffies dog basket. We always pass with a look from the customer of excitement. At last a great dog bed you can trust.

Get the Best Covers for Large Dog Baskets.

When you are the proud owner of large or very large dogs you will find that washing the beds is a challenge. The best type of cover is a waterproof cover that you can wash with a sponge and hot water and dry off quickly. Very large dog baskets will never go in the washing machine, but hosing down is great. If you have a Tuffies dog bed you can always get a machine washable cover. The dog basket will still be waterproof underneath, but the soft cover comes of in seconds to go in the wash. This is a great combination because even while the cover is in the wash, the dog basket is still usable for the dogs. This system greatly reduces smell problems.