Dog Beds on the Floor

Have you tried to sit or lie down on the floor in your house recently? At this time of year we get the slippers and the thicker socks out and the reason is that we are getting closer to winter and we are getting colder. At floor level, where our dogs spend their time in their dog beds, it is surprisingly much colder than you might think. Heat rises, so the cold air, which is heavier, is down at floor level in a gradient with the coldest air right at the floor (unless you have under-floor heating obviously). It is important to remember our creatures on the floor. As you lie on the floor testing the low temperature, imagine if thin dog beds were the only thing that your dogs had to sleep on. Many dog beds look all fluffy and nice, but the quickly go flat. It might look like the dog has a “thick” bed because the fluff has travelled out to the sides, but after closer examination, it usually turns out that the dog is only sleeping on almost just two pieces of fabric and no insulation.

Like this illustration of a pet-shop dog bed cut open.

Furthermore, as most people turn the heating off during the night, the floor-level temperature is even lower as the night progresses.  An automatic heating system that turns on about an hour before you get out of bed will give you a false impression that it is nice and warm during the night, when the temperature has plunged under the dog beds in the kitchen or living room about 5am. Dog beds need to be insulating from that cold floor in order to protect the dogs’ health.

There are two main ways of protecting the dog from the cold floor itself: Either by having a very thick and insulating dog bed or otherwise go for raised dog beds. The thick dog beds, such as a Tuffies Nest, has a 10-15 cm thick mattress in the middle of the nest with a luxury fleece on it for extra supreme comfort. The beds themselves have waterproof covers which ensures that all our dog beds stay dry inside, which means that they insulate better. Soggy dog beds do not insulate.

Here is a mattress bed with a very happy hound in. No matter how cold the floor is, the dog can not feel any chill from it through this thick mattress.

The other way of ensuring that the dog beds solves the problem of a dog being chilled from the cold floor is to have a raised bed. Our raised dog beds offer a unique solution to this. The shape creates a double skin between the bedding space and the floor, creating a void with still air  –  just the formula for insulation. The bedding area only has a modest amount of fleece under the dog as this helps making it easy to wash. With a good, always clean, cover, you have hygienic and comfortable dog beds that are light, long lasting and super easy to clean.