[Dailydrool] How can I make an Igloo more comfortable?

[Elizabeth]

Please allow this non-basset post to go through. You’re the only ones I can think of who will be able to advise me on this.

I’m in south-central Arkansas helping my father-in-law settle in after a move from a country house to a house in town. He has a Chesapeake Bay Retriever/Aussie mix who’ll be ten sometime this fall. She’s a delightful, smart, friendly dog who really wants to be someone’s darling. He, however, doesn't believe in having dogs in the house or doing much of anything with them. He keeps a dog to serve, basically, as a doorbell. At least she has an Igloo for shelter. Because my dogs have always been inside dogs and an integral part of the family, I don't know anything about how to make an Igloo comfortable for a dog.

Any advice on what I can put inside it to make its bottom softer, but still cool in the summer, and what should go inside it during the winter to keep her warm would be much appreciated. Website advice has been all over the place. I've read that one shouldn't put blankets inside because they'll get wet, making a dog colder in the winter. I've read that straw can carry whatever it is that gives dogs mange. I've read the cedar chips can prevent fleas but also be hard on a dog's nose. What should I do?

And yes, I judge him harshly for the way he treats his dogs. But he's 87, has been steeped in the under-the-porch-dog way of owning dogs, and I'm not going to change him. All I can do is try to make his dog’s life as comfortable as possible when I'm here to visit him and from a 600-mile distance when I'm not here. 

Any ideas for what I can put inside the Igloo to make this dog's Igloo a little nicer for her? My apologies in advance for not responding to individual e-mails. It’s been pretty hectic here getting him unpacked while also trying to keep him from overdoing things and wearing himself out.

Thanks!

Elizabeth (whose bassets would all have asked from their orthopedic beds scattered throughout the house, “What’s an Igloo?”)
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