How Often do I Need to Wash the Dog’s Dog Beds?

All depends……   of course!  However, it is important to distinguish between different types of “dirty”.

Dried up mud is really not a health problem to your dog, while soggy, damp dog beds are a serious heath problem for your dog. Equally, straw bedding is absolutely perfect till you realise that there is a massive flea infestation in the straw. Here are some pointers to guide you to get the right type of dog bed and keeping it clean and healthy in a natural and relaxed way.

Dog Beds for Kennels.

If you are keeping your dogs in a kennel (either all the time or when you are away from home), you definitely need a heavy duty, waterproof dog bed, especially if the kennel has an outdoor run. With an outdoor run, your dog will get wet feet and perhaps some mud and when he goes in his bed the important thing is that he only makes the very surface damp and NOT the entire bed. With a waterproof mattress dog bed the damp sits on the surface from where it will quickly evaporate. If the bed only has a non-waterproof cover, dampness with be absorbed and once there is water inside the bed, it takes a lot longer to evaporate.

If you have a kennel situation where there is not an outdoor run for your dog, you are still best off with a waterproof dog bed, but you are able to give your dog a fleece cover for the bed. Soft fleece covers for dog beds are available in a huge range of colours and they are simple to take off and wash in the washing machine.

The waterproof dog beds are very easy to wash as you simply take them outside along with a bucket of hot, soapy water and a sponge. Scrub the bed down and then rinse off with clean water. It works well as the bed will dry on a nice, sunny day, in an hour or so.

Straw Bedding in the Kennel or the car?

It looks lovely and in a way it is a great way to bed your dog if you never want to wash the bedding. The only problem is the dust and the bugs that may live in the straw. The other reason why it is not a popular way for bedding dogs is that you end up with straw flying round the garden in windy weather.

Bed with straw in the back of pick-up.

Dog Beds for the Back of the Car.

For the back of your car you can have a made-to-measure dog bed to fit the car boot exactly. This is a good idea because it is important for the dog to have a good, solid base to sleep on without it sliding around when you drive round corners. I once sat in the back of a pick-up with a sick dog and it was a surprisingly rolling experience. I was glad to have a big, fitting dog bed to sit on so it didn’t slide. It was a Durasoft Mattress dog bed with a Luxury Fleece on. Very comfortable indeed.

With dog beds in the car it is unlikely that your dog will be in and out so often that a fleece cover gets too soggy, so we would recommend a fleece cover to go on the bed. In fact the bed itself underneath is unlikely to become dirty with a fleece cover and light use (just travelling to and from work or walks in the woods) and it is a great advantage to have the cover to take off for washing. IF you are out for muddy, rainy walks and put your dog in the car you tend to get that wet-dog-whiff and a quick wash of the fleece cover sorts that out.

Washing the bed itself from time to time is done exactly the same way as above with hot, soapy water.

Dog Beds for the Boot Room.

Many dog owners who are active with their dogs have a little boot room for the dog to dry up before it is allowed in to the house. Here it is also the easiest to have a waterproof mattress bed and simply chuck at towel on top if there is a lot of dampness to be absorbed from the dog’s coat. Once his coat is dry and he is ready to be moved in to the living room, you can either dry the towels or put them in the wash.

Alternatively you could fit one of our absorbing covers to really dry your dog in comfort. Look at t he Dog Dryer cover here.

Dog Beds for the Living Room.

The famous Tuffies Nest Dog Beds are incredibly popular as house dog beds. With the high sides that never collapse, your dog has a real “den” in the living room where he can sleep a relaxed and comfortable sleep. Everyone who has a nest dog bed observes how their dog uses the sides to rest his chin. It seems to be JUST what a dog needs: a chin rest.

On a daily basis the dog beds we have in the lounge are the ones that get the least dirty, but nevertheless they all need a wash in the end. In reality a quick vacuum clean at the same time as you do the floor in the house takes care of excess hair and dried up mud along with all sorts of bits from the dog. For a refreshing, quick cleaning you can take the fleece cover off the cushion in the middle and wash it in the washing machine. This makes a big difference to the feel and cleanliness.

The entire bed can be washed down by hand with hot, soapy water as above, but it is a bit more complicated as you have a lot of seams and intricate bits to get round. The good thing about the Tuffies fabrics is that once you have washed and dried either the Wipe Clean or the Durasoft Nest beds, they are looking brand new and that lasts a great long time, maybe over a year before it is time to wash again.

Dog Beds for the Bed Room.

Yes, some of us love to have our dogs in our bed room. The request here is for two things: we want the dog bed to be quiet, so we don’t wake up every time the dog moves and we don’t want any doggy whiff in the bed room. For those reasons we recommend the complete fleece cover for the nest dog beds. This totally envelops the nest bed making it completely silent and very warm and cosy. It is also the easiest thing to wash. You simply take the whole cover off and wash it at 40 degrees in the washing machine. It comes out looking like new and smelling beautifully.

Washing dog beds is really easy as long as you have the right dog beds for the right job.