Cleaning my Friend’s Dirty Dog beds

My dog enthusiastic friend, Anne, has got Tuffies Dog Beds absolutely everywhere. In the kennels, in the house (kitchen and conservatory) and in both cars. She has never paid us for one because she has six dogs and is the perfect place for us to test durability, likability and cleanability.  Her dogs will give the dog beds a good old wear and tear and we have every access to see how the beds and prospective products get on. When we first brought out our Durasoft we needed to know how well they would keep clean and, if dirty, how easy they would be to wash. One of Anne’s Labradors has mouth cancer and although not suffering from it, there is a big tumour on her lower jaw, which means she SLOBBERS like mad. She is also of the greasy variety of Labradors that leave a greasy shine inside the nest, so there was everything to go for in terms of getting her dog beds super dirty. Her Durasoft Tuffies Nest looked terrible after about six months, so I said I would love to clean it.I have to say that even I had my doubts that I would be able to do that well enough.

 It really was not bad. I timed my efforts and it took two minutes to take the cushion out and put the fleece in the washing machine. Then I turned the surround inside-out and with a bucket of hot water and a washing up sponge I rubbed the nest thoroughly all over. This took seven minutes. I found the hose and hosed it all down, three more minutes.

 I now let the nest hang outside to dry in the wind and sun. With all the seams and nooks and crannies it didn’t feel completely dry even after a few hours, so I took it inside and put it up to dry in a nice, warm place. To be honest, it did take till the following day before I wanted to give it back to Anne because it needed to be 100% dry. She has lots of dog beds for her working dogs and would not be left without anything for the dogs to sleep on.

 As I wasn’t going up in her directions any time soon, I just sent the washed nest on the courier to her address. She called me when it had arrived and she was utterly delighted. She could not believe it was the same nest!!! Looking so good after looking so dirty.

 It’s fair to say that she was quite embarrassed that I had washed her dog beds, but of course I just did it as a part of the research. She will no doubt do it herself next time.