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  1. #1
    Real Retriever PinkDragon14's Avatar
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    Crate bed ideas?

    Here's a little background:

    When Murphy first came home, we had him sleeping on a small "rug" looking pad from Petsmart. It worked for a while, and then he decided to use a pillow he found by the couch. He was on that for a good month and a half until he started falling off of it due to growing (nothing like seeing a big lab puppy on top of a small pillow!). We were at the pet store a few weeks ago and found a really nice bed for him that was about $35. Wasn't too expensive, was warm and plush and seemed perfect. We brought it home, put it in his bed, and he loved it. On Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, I woke up to find a big hole in it. The bottom was made of a felt material and that's where his chewing adventure started. He ate about a 5in x 5in piece of the felt material. Of course, I was freaking out because he could easily have a blockage from that. Luckily he didn't ingest the stuffing, but it was all over his crate and the surrounding floor (the stuffing wasn't foam, it was like a hair/hay mixture - I can't remember the name right now). Good news is he did pass the piece of material that he ate. He was acting fine all day and I was working on getting him to "release" it. I stood there cheering as it came out LOL. He was quite confused as to why it was "taking so long", but I was happy as long as it was all gone.

    Now, he's sleeping on the plastic pan of the crate. Not only do I think he's uncomfortable, but at 1am, he starts digging on the plastic (which of course is not fun for someone trying to sleep).

    I did read the thread here and tried to get some ideas, but nothing seemed to "click" for me (yes, ironically I did post on it). One poster mentioned a Primo pad, but before we spend anything on a bed/pad, I wanted a little feedback on what works best. I am going to Walmart in about a half hour or so to do some shopping and was just going to pick up a cheap, "durable" bed/pad there for the time being.

    Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

    (Note: He does get a few of his toys in his crate, along with his kong at night or whenever he's being crated)
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  2. #2
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    At 3 months of age, Murphy is pretty young still, so he may still be in the stage of wanting to tear or chew up anything you put in his crate. I couldn't leave anything in a crate with my older boy until he was over 2 years old. My younger puppy was OK with beds by 6 months of age but she wasn't nearly as destructive in general as Chase was. I'd be very careful about putting any bedding in his crate for now, since he has already demonstrated that he might tear stuff up and eat it. Next time, the stuffing might be eaten as well. I agree that the digging at night is noisy and annoying but I'd work on shushing him and wait a while on the bedding myself.
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  4. #3
    Real Retriever PinkDragon14's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by smartrock View Post
    At 3 months of age, Murphy is pretty young still, so he may still be in the stage of wanting to tear or chew up anything you put in his crate. I couldn't leave anything in a crate with my older boy until he was over 2 years old. My younger puppy was OK with beds by 6 months of age but she wasn't nearly as destructive in general as Chase was. I'd be very careful about putting any bedding in his crate for now, since he has already demonstrated that he might tear stuff up and eat it. Next time, the stuffing might be eaten as well. I agree that the digging at night is noisy and annoying but I'd work on shushing him and wait a while on the bedding myself.
    Ok, that's what I was thinking. It may just be best to wait it out, but do you think a piece of fleece or something would help? I think he's digging because he's uncomfortable (but I may be wrong on that). I've been working on quiet in general (barking, etc.) so I'll see how applying it to the crate situation goes. The problem is, he sleeps in the laundry room which is a few rooms away from any of the bedrooms, so no one can really "yell" to be quiet
    ~Alyssa
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  5. #4
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    In their night-time crates, my puppies (3 months yesterday) have memory foam bath mats from Sam’s Club. I think they were $10 each? Give a tiny bit of padding, definite sound proofing but is nice and flat (fits the crate exactly at 36X24) so doesn’t give them much to get a grip on for chewing. So far so good. They’ll graduate to real beds eventually, but while they’re not the most destructive puppies in the world, they are puppies so I don’t trust them completely yet.

    Edited to add that in the crates downstairs that we use during the day they have just the bare metal pan and seem fine with it. They aren’t in those for long stretches though as someone is usually home.
    Last edited by Annette47; 09-05-2015 at 11:40 AM.
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  7. #5
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    No bed for us either. I was afraid of chewing, swallowing, blockage. Oban preferred the cool of the aluminum tray anyway.

    We have a bed now. But we don't use a crate.

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  9. #6
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    duplicate post, sorry

  10. #7
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PinkDragon14 View Post
    I think he's digging because he's uncomfortable (but I may be wrong on that).
    My Chase just likes digging, whether it's on the bare liner of the crate or whether there's a bed in there and sometimes he also digs at the beds we have around the house that are not in the crate. And these are thick, comfortable memory foam beds- lots of padding. He digs at the floor of our travel crates. I occasionally will hear him starting to scrape at the carpets but I've pretty much gotten him to stop doing that. For him, it's something other than trying to get comfortable. He's 9 years old this month and he's been doing this since he was a puppy. Putting a bath mat or something under the pan, between the liner and the wire crate, might help muffle the noise a little.

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  12. #8
    House Broken ArchieSit's Avatar
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    We got a Primo Pad for Archie's crate when he was around 3 months old. He's over two now, and it looks brand new. I take it out and spray it and hose it down every now and then. For the first year we used the tie-downs, but we don't have to anymore.
    Vinyl dog floor protection pads- Primo Pads

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  14. #9
    Real Retriever PinkDragon14's Avatar
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    Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

    I stopped by Marshalls on the way home and looked at their beds. I found a waterproof crate bed that is a little big in his crate, but it also is a little snug since the divider is still in. He tried chewing it before and wasn't able to (it's like a canvas material - I'll post a pic later) so that's good. There's a bit of stuffing in it but it isn't enough for him to eat (it's spread out)

  15. #10
    Real Retriever PinkDragon14's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ArchieSit View Post
    We got a Primo Pad for Archie's crate when he was around 3 months old. He's over two now, and it looks brand new. I take it out and spray it and hose it down every now and then. For the first year we used the tie-downs, but we don't have to anymore.
    Vinyl dog floor protection pads- Primo Pads
    I was looking into these but I was considering waiting until he was a bit older. I may buy one after he destroys/trashes/etc the bed we just bought for him today. Are they comfortable for the dog?


    Here's a pic of him on his new bed. The bed is too big for his crate, but that's fine right now, as we won't be keeping this forever. (plus it was only $25 so it was a win-win)


    ~Alyssa
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