Our boy is now coming up for 14 months - well behaved and we still use crate in kitchen but door is left open all the time and we wish to remove crate as is in the way in kitchen. Our last lab simply has plastic oval bed with bit of padding/vetbed and seemed OK. Looking around I see you can spend several hundred pounds on dog beds. I am prepared to do this if worth it. He isn't very large but he wouldn't be able to fully stretch out in a plastic bed as he does when he with us in living areas. We are planning to keep him in the kitchen, hard floor, overnight. Would welcome opinions on ideal dog bed for labs - if there is such a thing - if it was his choice, he would choose a sofa!-could be an option but don't really want to go down that route. We all seem to have got softer nowadays and wouldn't have dreamt of all this luxury years ago. thanks
Tons of different beds out there. We have a few for different rooms/times. Lilly still prefers our bed If he likes to spread out maybe just a memory foam pad with a cover? Lilly mostly likes to curl up - a beanbag covered in vet bed, or soft sided bed to curl against works for us. There are a few bed recommendations in the products section.... http://thelabradorforum.com/forums/products-for-dogs-their-owners.44/
Our (BIG) lab had a mattress-style bed. No raised edges so he could stretch and hang off if he felt like. He ALSO had a doughnut bed, which he would curl up in....or squash the sides & hang out of. Coco has inherited these beds - he LOVES the mattress style, but doesn't touch the doughnut. I'm afraid it's a case of "try it" and see.
We have two mattress style in the bedroom and one mattress style and one crate in the kitchen. The crate is never closed, and the sides are covered so it is dark. Cooper likes it some of the time. Both dogs sleep (together) on the big dog bed in the kitchen some of the time. In the bedroom Tilly often sleeps on one of them, and Cooper sometimes sleeps on the other, but she prefers sleeping with us on the queen sized bed. As big as she is we really need a king.
Yes, so save forking out for an Orvis bed until you know what TYPE suits, and that he won't chew it to bits
We got a small square inexpensive bed with walls for her crate when we first brought her home, and it is her favourite even though she is way too big now and still curls into it. She chooses that baby bed over the couch most days and well over her big circle no sides bed, though she sleeps there too. She will sleep on pretty much anything, including just a blanket on the floor. The baby bed is her favourite though, so we can't get rid of it!
Meg Beds from Overhill Kennels, you can buy fleecy fitted covers to go over them and they last for years!
I brought a memory foam mattress for Harley over 2 years ago. It's still in really good condition, very comfy (I've slept on it a few times!), covers wash nicely and it's a good size. It cost us £30. http://www.treelineproductsuk.co.uk/www.treelineproductsuk.co.uk/info.php?p=12 I have looked at really nice beds, but I know Harley will always choose the sofa / our bed over her own bed.
