Make sure you get a waterproof dog bed and not just a "water resistant" dog bed for your dog's health and well-being.
A "Water Resistant" Dog Bed will go Mouldy!
The one thing to learn is that a “Water Resistant” dog bed is absolutely no use. A dog bed MUST be 100% waterproof. A dog that comes in from a long, rainy walk will very quickly make the INSIDE of a water RESISTANT bed damp. This is because the term “water resistant” is the same as describing a jacket as “shower proof”. In other words, the dog bed will eventually allow a slow seepage of water reaching the inside. Once the dog bed is damp inside you have the perfect environment for mould to grow. The fact that your dog is lying on top of it and warming up that environment makes mould growth conditions 100% ideal. Imagine you opened the dog bed up and found a mould-smelling, soggy stuffing. Instinctively you would know that it was an unhealthy place for your dog.
How is Waterproofing measured?
There has to be a way of measuring how waterproof a fabric is. The range goes from “shower proof” to 100% water proof, but in order to compare fabrics, this is measured as the hydrostatic pressure that the fabric can withstand. If you imagine a long drinking -straw full of water which you place with one end at the test fabric and the other end vertically up in the air. The weight of the water in the straw will be more the longer the straw is. The more weight of water a fabric can hold back without it going through to the other side, the more waterproof the fabric is. This is then measured, not in weight, but in length of the straw. A wet dog paw has the same effect: Lots of pressure in a small area (from the wet paw) can force water through the fabric. To make sure the dog bed is truly waterproof for the purpose of being a dog bed, the paws should not be able to push water through the fabric.
Quality Control is Key.
At Tuffies Dog Beds ALL fabrics that are used for the base products (all the waterproof items) are laboratory tested independently. We buy from the mills and the fabrics come with a hydrostatic head measurement, but we like to double check so that we are confident that the dog beds that we send out are exactly as waterproof as we claim.
Waterproof Dog Beds are a Question of Dog Health.
A totally dry dog bed is one of the best ways to prevent early, clinical onset of arthritis in dogs. A dry, orthopaedic dog bed gives warmth and support for all the joints. Cold and damp environments do the opposite, so to get the most out of your happy dog you can pick from a large range of waterproof dog beds here.
