[Dailydrool] Fancy dog beds

[Elizabeth Lindsey]

I bought an L. L. Bean therapeutic foam bed for our Elsinore last year after she started having back trouble (later resolved through chiropractic care). This is the link for the bed: http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/66314?feat=134-CL1&page=therapeutic-dog-couch

I chose the medium size because Elsinore and young Charlie are 49 pounds and 42 pounds, respectively. The customer reviews said the beds run a bit large, but I thought, well, but bassets are so long . . . The reviews are right. The beds are large. I should have bought a small. I’ll be happy to send a photo to anyone who’d like to see how just much room the bed has left over when the 42-pound basset is curled up on it. 

I’ve bought L. L. Bean dog beds for years. We’re still using the fiber-filled circular beds we bought for our late Jane Basset back in 1993. They’ve been leaked on, thrown up on, and bled on. The water-resistant inner cover wipes off pretty well if I can get to the accident quickly. They’ve been in the washing machine a few times, even though the label says not to do that, and are on their second set of covers (homemade). They’re lumpy now, but they’re doing a great job serving as pillow-top mattresses for the circular foam beds we got about seven years ago. The dogs like to scratch into shape to settle down on, and I’m not sure they’d like the circular foam beds quite so well on their own. They’d probably want a towel or blanket on them.

It took Elsinore and Charlie several months to even try the therapeutic foam bed. I don’t know what their problem with it was. Maybe it smelled bad to them? The bed comes in air-tight packaging, and you have to let the foam rest and expand for about 24 hours before you stuff it into the cover. Like a Tempurpedic or similar foam mattress, it does have a sort of chemical odor at first. But, for humans at least, it goes away after quickly. However, once they got over their initial dislike for it, they fell in love with it and now it’s considered the best bed in the house. They love their old L. L. Bean beds, too, usually choosing to sleep on them at night. 

The therapeutic foam bed doesn’t have a water-resistant covering between the zippered cover and the foam. So I covered the foam with a thick plastic garbage bag and taped it in place. That way, when someone throws up on the bed, it won’t soil the foam as well as the cover; I can wipe the plastic covering clean. 

The old circular beds have covers that are really easy to take on and off. The therapeutic foam bed’s cover is a struggle. You have to thread three bolsters through smallish openings to make the arms and back. The bolsters have to be inserted with the correct ends up and in, too. It’s not much fun, so to reduce the number of times I have to wash the cover, I’ve thrown an old blanket over the bed and just wash that. I’ve washed the denim cover twice now, and it’s washed pretty well, though Elsinore’s new licking habit seems to have stained the arms. 

All four of the circular beds have held up well over the years, so I’m optimistic this new therapeutic foam bed will do as well as they. The four circular beds were definitely money well spent. I suspect the therapeutic foam bed will be the same. 

Elizabeth