How a dog chooses a dog bed

We've been doing some serious thinking at DogsDogsDogs today about how to choose the right dog bed for your pup. The conclusion appears to be there are a few mitigating factors and it has nothing to do with cost, size or even postage. We are of course talking from the viewpoint of the dogs themselves. If you're wondering how we know what they are thinking then just check out the photographs. Over the last year we have been testing out lots of dog beds, with lots of our dog friends and here are their thoughts. 

1. Is it warm? - When you present a dog with a selection of dog beds, it won't necessaruly go for the most expensive one or even the most comfortable. We tested this on several of our four legged friends and the overwhelming factor was the temperature of the dog bed. Had it been slept in recently or was it next to a radiator? These are the things that most concerned our contestants. Of particular note was, has the bed been recently occupied by a larger dog or one of the opposite sex. Suprisingly most Jack Russels would rather occupy a bed that has recently been vacated by a larger dog. Go figure.

 2. Does Size Matter - We used several dog beds in this test including the Pets and Leisure Premium Heavy Duty Dog Bed to support our findings. What we discovered was that if their dog bed was occupied by a smaller dog, bigger dogs tended to just settle for a smaller replacement bed. As you can see from the photo, Berry who is a quiet and very unagressive dog snuggly fits into a bed meant for her business partner Holly. To be certain, Berry doesn;t often have her dog bed in the office so happily jumps into Holly's bed without even asking.

3. High Sides and good fit - Some dogs are more pretentiousthat others, especially the minature whippets that surround us these days. Yes, we are talking about those princesses with very little fur. Even when big dog beds are on offer they will always pick one that is a snug fit to keep them warm. The snugger the fit of the dog bed the better for these guys.