Plastic dog beds can be made very comfortable by adding a fitted liner for your dog.
Having designed, made and sold dog beds here in Scotland for 26 years, we are often asked this question by our customers. Many dog owners have a reasonably-priced plastic bed somewhere, but they really don't look comfortable for a dog. At Tuffies we answered the question by designing and making a plastic bed liner that fits neatly in to the size of plastic bed you may have. These are made from a thick, luxurious fleece material that has a little bit of stretch in it. All you need to do is to put it in the middle of the plastic bed and use one drawstring to fasten the liner tightly to the bed. Washing is as easy as taking the liner off in a matter of seconds and put it in the washing machine. This material dries very quickly despite the thickness of the pile.
Plastic dog beds do have some benefits:
These, cheap dog beds definitely have their place in dog ownership. They can be very useful during the puppy stage where you don't want an expensive dog bed chewed up by puppy teeth. The result of fluff going everywhere and an expensive purchase ruined can be avoided by giving the young puppy a plastic bed. A little blanket can be all you will give puppy if he is a determined bed chewer. As these beds are so cheap it is ok that your puppy make chew marks right round the edges.
They are also extremely easy to clean, which is great when you have the inevitable puppy accidents. You can use the hottest water and bleach to clean the plastic if you wish. After washing you simply dry them with a towel.
However, the disadvantages of plastic dog beds are probably too important to ignore:
As a devoted dog owner of many decades I must say that the plastic bed is a bit too rough and uncomfortable if it is used on it's own without the soft liner mentioned above. It is NOT a warm bed and it has no support whatsoever. Further to that, if a puppy has been gnawing at the edges, these will be sharp and pointy. They will also look unsightly in the house.
The perfect solution:
Once you know that your puppy has grown out of the chewing stage, you can keep using the plastic bed, but now give your young dog a liner inside the bed. This is perfect as the Tuffies liner has FOUR thick layers of Luxury Fleece and vet bedding in the base for support. Once you have fitted the liner with the drawstring your dog can jump in. The drawstring keeps the liner firmly in place even when your dog starts digging in the middle of the bed. With hygiene being so important in dog beds, this liner comes off in seconds and can be laundered at 60 C. The four layers in the base can be separated in to two units so that the washing is more thorough and the drying is very quick.
So keep your unsightly plastic dog bed. Tuffies has the solution to spruce it up and to make your dog perfectly comfortable.
