What are beds good for?

  • First Basenji's

    In another thread, I mentioned that Cody's bed serves several purposes:
    1. Something soft to lay on only while crated.
    2. Something to defluff while he's bored and waiting for me to come home.
    3. A toy to toss around, defluff, and play with when he's not crated.

    Obviously, Cody's dog bed is not really for sleeping. Why should it be when he has a queen sized human bed to sleep in, with me teetering off the edge most nights?
    After buying numerous dog beds, I finally started restuffing them and sewing them back together. (BTW my sewing skills are horrible, but getting better now that over the past year and a half I have had to patch up beds, harnesses, jeans, jackets, sheets… you get the picture. It's not pretty, but it works!)
    True to form, last night, Cody got bored with his toys and pulled out the franken-bed for a good thrashing/defluffing session.

    On the top, you can see where it's been sewn back together a few times, but it's definitely in need of some repair after last night's antics:

    This was from last year, I had left the room for just a few minutes, and found a trail of fluff leading from his crate in the living room out into the back yard.


  • Yeah, looks like he had fun! That last pic reminds me of my boxer Busya when she was little…. I am SOOOO lucky that Lana doesn't do that! One destructive dog is plenty ;)

  • Houston

    oh..so reminds me of our Doxie…he can not stand the fluff..it has to die..why I don't know.


  • Looks painfully familiar. I have 2 that have to destuff and destroy their beds. My other 2 are perfect with dog beds so they get the pretty and expensive beds!

    For the 2 that destuff and destroy their beds I purchased Kuranda dog beds for their crates - supposedly indestructible. Notice I used the word supposedly. On one of the Kuranda beds which I have in their play area in the house, Liyah managed to work on a corner and now has chewed a good size hole in the canvas on that corner. Thankfully the canvas insert is cheap to replace. I bought what was described as washable and durable. Should have know that I should have gone up to the ballistic level with her, which is what she has in her crate and is still untouched. I should add that it is entirely possible that I didn't assemble the damaged bed as well as the others, because the others I have that are made of the same material have been ok with my other chewer/destroyer.

    You might check out kuranda.com. I will say that since I added Kuranda beds to their crates, their are times that Liyah does not want to come out of her crate as she is so comfy…I have to lure her out with food. :D

  • First Basenji's

    I'll check it out, thanks!
    It is about time to get him a new one anyway since it's getting harder to patch up now, and I've been on the look out for a more durable bed.


  • I hade a puppy when I was little that did the same thing. He was a mix with pointer, hunting beardog and border collie.

    I understand the feeling when it happens over and over but see it on the bright side - It is not the wall ;)

  • First Basenji's

    @BaiBee:

    I hade a puppy when I was little that did the same thing. He was a mix with pointer, hunting beardog and border collie.

    I understand the feeling when it happens over and over but see it on the bright side - It is not the wall ;)

    Oh, I agree! Luckily Cody only usually destroys his own stuff now, mostly because I've been trained to pick up my stuff. Although recently, I forgot to put up a pair of jeans, and he shredded an entire pants leg. There's just something about jean material that he loves to chew. He was also sniffing under the grill, then got stuck under the cover, freaked out, and shredded his way out before I could rescue him from the evil tarp-monster. Needless to say, I am replacing my roommate's plastic grill cover with a heavy canvas cover that ties at the bottom so he can't investigate the grill anymore!


  • looks like suki's former bed. also, my comforter on my bed is beginning to slowly be de-stuffed. if i disturb the princess's slumber by having my reading light on when she wants to sleep, the chewing begins. oh well, i need a new one anyway, right?


  • When mine went through their bedding chewing phases, or if I know Callie is going to be a pain in the butt & get angry & shred bedding in protest, I use/d cheap fleece. I pick up cheap fleece blankets on clearance or in those cheapie bins in the front of Target when you first walk in the door, $5 or less. Or you can go to the fabric store or just the fabric section of a store & find end sections of the bolts for cheap, or clearance fleece for cheap. The fleece doesn't unravel, and I've heard its much safer if they swallow it. Its easier to just throw in the washing machine periodically, and if its cold or you need more fluffy softeness, just throw several of them in the crate. I keep a stack of fleecies on hand. Plus, its much easier to see a $3 piece of fleece go into the garbage than an expensive bed.
    If they tear up the bed they have now, tough cookies. They ain't gettin another one!


  • Two previous males I had did that sort of thing to their stuffed toys. As soon as a new toy showed up, it would instantly be attacked and the stuffing torn out before the night was over.

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