Does your pooch need a dog bed?

Another item that often falls in the “luxury” category for dog owners is the dog bed. For most people, this is a completely unnecessary thing that some dog owners buy just to spice up their home. After all, a dog can sleep anywhere, right? On the floor, on the couch, on the carpet, in your own bed, and so on. Dogs don’t share our feeling for aesthetics, so they don’t care if they have a dog bed, right?

Wrong.

Not only do dogs share our feelings of possessiveness and enjoy having their own stuff, but dog beds have other benefits as well. For example:

• Dog beds offer a great deal of insulation. Even if you’re heating your home well enough during the winter months, sleeping on the floor is just too cold.
• Smaller dog breeds or older dogs can easily injure themselves from constantly jumping on and off the couch or your bed. Giving them their own dog bed that’s easy to climb on and off of is a great way to keep their joints healthy.
• Sleeping on the floor can hurt your dog’s bones and joints as well. A dog doesn’t need to constantly jump to develop bone problems. Especially sighthound breeds such as the Greyhound or the Saluki bruise very easily if they have to sit or sleep on hard surfaces.
• Reducing the amount of dog hair from your furniture. Especially for dog breeds with longer hair, constantly cleaning your couch can be tiring. If your dog has a dog bed that he loves, however, he’ll spend most of his rest time there and cover that with hair.
• Privacy is as much of a canine issue as it is ours. Just as we like to have our own place to lie down to and not be bothered, so do dogs. It’s one thing to sleep on the couch that everyone uses, it’s another thing to have a nap in your very own bed. That’s especially true if you have multiple dogs.

  

• Giving your dog its own dog bed will free your bed just for yourself! We all love to cuddle with our canine pals from time to time, but there’s no arguing that one bed is often not enough.
• Having their own beds makes dogs more guest-friendly. Especially for less social dogs, having guests over that are walking around, talking, laughing, etc., can be a lot of stress. Especially if they are sitting on the couch, which the dog views as his own sleeping place. If your dog has his own dog bed, however, this will give him his own personal space. After all, no human guest will ever think to sit in it.