Hello
Im looking to treat my dog to a new bed ir two for Christmas. He's a large 2yo retriever who chews padded beds. I'd love to get him an enormous luxury soft warm padded bed. But he really does have form for chewing / shredding all matress type beds. I've had to throw about a dozen beds away after well under a week"s usage. So I don't think matress type beds are an option right now.
He sleeps overnight right outside my closed bedroom door. So I can't always supervise what he does with bed. Vetbeds, old blankets and one types of crate mat (no longer available) seem to be the only things so far he hasn't destroyed. It's not just the cost of constantly replacing beds, more importantly, it's the health risk to him too as some beds have long strong threads yhat if swallowed eould be extremely harmful and he sometimes ingests little bits of fabric from padded beds.
My thoughts are...
- A new vetbed with wool. These cost twice as much as standard vetbed but I want him to sleep well and be super-comfy so its worth it (if it does that) and that sounds like good safe hygenic (machine washable) compromise.
PLUS 2) A raised canvas or mesh bed by HiK9 with one of their vetbed look-a-like toppers for the livingroom as his 'day-bed' (i WFH). Where he sleeps overnight outside my bedroom door couldn't accommodate this type as I'd be tripping over it and him everytime I got up at night.
Y concerns with those are that I'm really keen to give him a supportive bed to prevent back problems later in life. He seems to have a relatively long back (maybe too long) for a retriever and regularly does 'downward dog' stretches on awakening. (Vet saw him a few weeks ago and no medical issues).
Have you found anything that works for large breed chewers? Any thoughts / experiences on either of these bed types? E.g. would HiK9 raised bed be prone to tipping for large dog getting on it? Are the wool vet beds worth double the price of standard vet beds? Have you found any better, perhaps more supportive alternatives. Must be washable of course, his beds get unhygienic quickly!