The other day, the puppy walker messaged me and she said that she noticed Sparky was walking with a slight limp. I haven't noticed a limp at all when I took him out that morning, and I said that maybe he's still tired from Daycare the previous day. She said that maybe it will be good to get him a nice orthopedic type bed and maybe it was from him lying on the hard floor in his pen. So here's the dilemma. Everytime I have introduced a bed in his pen or his crate he has managed to chew or rip them to shreds. I went to Wallyworld today and bought a kitchen runner type and he destroyed it in a few hours. I have been looking at the "chew proof" beds, but they range from $100-$200 for a Large or XL. I don't want to spend that much money and he'll just rip him up anyway? So are beds even necessary? The only soft thing he would sleep on is the ottoman, but I have trained that to be his "place." When I did get home that day, I did not notice a limp at all. I was getting paranoid that he might have hip dysplasia or whatever. I also read from the site that most labs really don't stop chewing stuff up until two years ago... maybe. So maybe I should continue waiting until he completely outgrows the chewing phase.
I don't think a cushy bed is necessary. But a soft surface is probably appreciated by most doggies. It's hard when he just rips stuff up though... Maybe people will have suggestions for specific things that are hard to destroy? As long as he is warm enough and can move and change his position whenever he wants then I wouldn't expect that sleeping on the floor of the pen would cause any kind of problem.
None of mine have beds until they stop chewing so usually around 2. I use fleece or nothing until they loose the urge to destroy.
I always just used old beach towels (of which I seemed to have an endless supply) until past the chew phase. Good Will or other charity shops are great for getting super cheap beach towels. But also most of my dogs slept on my bed from a very young age as well. I've seen the UK members recommend a thing called Vetbed: http://www.petlifeonline.co.uk/product/dogs/dog-beds-and-bedding/vet-bed-original-dog-and-cat-bedding/ I'd not seen in it before in the US, but it sounds fairly indestructible, cheap, washable and pretty good as padding. I filed it away for myself for my next puppy. Maybe you can find it or something similar in the US? And while it's likely not the case for Sparky, there are some dogs who just prefer hard over soft, especially if they "run hot". For the last year of his life, my old boy Brogan didn't want to sleep on my bed anymore and always preferred hard tile. It drove me nuts as I was worried about his old bones. I tried several different solutions, some rather expensive, and when I work up in the morning, there he would be, splayed out on the hard tile again. So some dogs do indeed prefer no bedding at all, even though for us humans that seems counterintuitive.
I had the same issue and was totally counter initutive not having my puppy on a warm comfy cozy bed. But he either chewed it to bits, or now with the vet bedding i lay it all out on the base of his crate so it covers the whole bottom and I wake up an hes moved it out the way to lay on the hard base
We've been very lucky as Holly is not a chewer. We've not made much use of crates either. Holly ( and all our dogs before her) had beds and made good use of them. In our view the important things is that the dog has somewhere safe, whether it's a bed, cage or piece of furniture. Holly now has two beds, one in the living room and a sleeping mat in the kitchen. She loves lying on bed 2 on sunny days, so we call it her sun bed. One of the early things we teach is "go to bed". It means "go to your safe place and we'll give you a treat" which is very useful for all sorts of situations.
Stanley destroyed all his soft beds, he got through 3 in one week. So we bought him a huge hard plastic one instead and just put loads of blankets in. He's had it for ages now and it's still intact, he just drags his blankets out sometimes
I have one of these for Hattie with a piece of vetbed for warmth. He would be hard pushed to chew this!! Maybe they sell them in the US. I also have large plastic beds with thick fleece liners for downstairs. In the meantime I would give up buying soft beds until he stops chewing them. xx http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311732711...49&var=610619501945&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I guess I'll try the beach towels once in a while, but it looks like i'm waiting one more year until he stops completely chewing.
No they are not. Oban seemed to find them too hot and most often ended up on the cool, hardwood or linoleum floor. Limping could easily be from play, a slight twist, a wrong step - OR - TOO LONG cramped up in the pen. My Vet believes too much, too long crate time is not good for joints, urinary health or mental health. How big is your crate/pen? To me a crate and a pen are different things, a pen being quite a bit larger, so sorry if I have misunderstood.
He has a 42 inch crate and a 4 ft x4 ft pen. We haven't used the crate in a while now since he has proven not to soil the pen area now. It's pretty roomy for him.
