[Dailydrool] FURniture - Some observations and other stuff

[oakrydgebh at q.com]

I'm chiming in on this because of traveling  far and wide for dog shows and staying in the homes of many dog owner friends. Some with leather and others with cloth upholstered furniture. 



In most homes where the dogs were allowed on the furniture, they had leather furniture . Having slept on some of those leather sofas, I don't recommend them as guest beds for humans. Especially  if you are some one  who moves around in your sleep. It squeaks and squeals when you change positions and it's slippery if it' s the smooth type of leather. It' s also cold if you move off the area where your body has warmed it up. This  may be why the hounds stay curled up or lie on the same spot when on the  leather upholstered furniture than they do on fabric upholstery. L ess moving around could also mean less scratches on the leather. 



In homes where the hounds were not allowed on the furniture, I saw  a mix of cloth and leather furniture depending on  the human occupants  preferences. Dadperson's recliner or the den/family room  furniture was often leather. There were  more dog beds throughout the homes with cloth upholstery.  Most dog beds  were covered with some type of fabric. Most of  the covers were removable and washable. Some people   mentioned on the excessive cost of quality leather furniture as compared to cloth upholstery and the fact that all leather is not created equal and some leather doesn't hold up as well as they thought it should for the price. Color and style selection can also be more limited than with fabric .  I never saw any dog beds made covered in leather but one home had couch cushions with leather upholstery being used as dog beds. It was obvious that not all their dogs like them but some preferred them. 



Personally, I don't allow my dogs on the furniture nor do they sle ep in bed with us so we primarily have fabric upholstered furniture. My BUV came with  leather upholstery. I was skeptical about it at first then  I realized that it' s easier to cleanup after a trip with the dogs and it doesn't hold odors like cloth upholstery would. As a result, I think I would prefer to have leather if I allowed my dogs on the furniture. 



Everyone has their own preferences and what works best for them. My basset s are all crate trained from puppyhood. They  sleep in their crates at night and eat their meals there . They will voluntarily seek out their crate for naps and when they want privacy. This became the routine due to owning and traveling with  multiple dogs  to dog shows and other places  where they needed to be crate d for their safety and during showing ringside . I found it was much easier fo r them to accept this on the road if they had the same routine at home. In addition, it also avoids conflicts during mealtime when everyone eats in their crate. 



We  have numerous dogs beds of various shapes and sizes in the rooms where the dogs hang out . N o dog beds in any of the bedrooms. If I have someone that needs to sleep in the bedroom with me, I bring a crate in for them. All the dog beds have fabric covers that are remov able and machine washable. Some I bought and others I made. On our covered deck we have two huge dog beds and an upholstered bench seat out of my Dodge Grand Caravan for the dogs to use  when they are out in the front yard. There's also a swinging lounge that our weima raner loves to sleep on. Only one of the bassets has ever figured out how to get up there since it moves when they try to get on it. 



Jacqie Marvich 

Oakrydge Bassets
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