Dog Bed Drama, Part 3

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Best big dog bed: The only bed my Great Dane didn't destroy!

After a few quiet nights sleeping on old blankets, my Great Dane Princeton woke up in the middle of the night crying again.

I opened the door to let him out to “go potty” -- and he ran past the open door and out into the living room. He plopped right down on the top-quality dog bed that we keep there -- where we can guard it. That bed belonged to our old Dane (who died last year) and it’s made of bean hulls and organic cotton. Princeton loves that bed, but that hasn’t stopped him from chewing it. We have to scold him almost every night for gnawing on the corners, then spray the corners with bitter apple. We got a new denim cover for it, and that is helping a lot. It weighs 15 pounds and he likes to swing it around and attack it. He lost his first baby tooth while biting it. We thought that someday maybe we would be able to move it into his crate.

Well, that day came. Princeton refused to get off of that bed and growled at me when I first tried to pull him off. Finally we pushed him off and dragged the bed into his crate. He has been sleeping happily there for the last two nights. He chewed on the old sheets, but treated his bed with the respect it deserves.

Maybe we’ll all be getting better sleep now.

Click the following link for info on the organic pet beds. They really are worth the money:

http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Organic-Pet-Beds/213000.aspx

Dane likes sleeping on old blankets (bed drama, part 2)

Princeton looks proud to be sleeping on real blankets and towels -- not a "doggy" bed

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Best big dog bed: The only bed my Great Dane didn't destroy!

Thanks to all the comments on my last post, I set up a new, simpler bed for my 11-month-old Great Dane Princeton. He’s sleeping on old blankets and towels -- and he loves it.

He lifted his head high and looked proud and happy when he first lay down on the blankets and towels. I ran for the camera and took a photo (above). While he thought the supposedly tear-resistant doggy bed was one big chew toy and attacked it immediately, he had a totally different reaction to the old blankets etc. He recognized right away that it was a bed -- with the same kind of good stuff that humans sleep on. He settled right down and fell asleep.

It did take some adjustment before Princeton completely accepted the new bed, however. The first night he woke up at 3:30 a.m. whimpering, crying, then howling. I thought at first that he had diarrhea and needed to go out, as happened when he was a puppy. But no. He didn’t want to go out. I made him go out and he came back in and cried for another half hour. I think he missed his ratty old shredded bed with its green fluff and cedar chip mess. (Princeton gets very attached to routines and likes everything to stay the same.)

I kind of missed the fresh scent of cedar chips, too. The old blankets smelled kind of musty. Finally I got in the crate with him and snuggled him. He fell asleep within a few minutes -- but woke up crying again one more time before morning.

The next day I got some of his favorite smells onto one of the old blankets (swampy mud from the dog park, my old socks). He’s completely happy sleeping on the blankets and towels now.

Thanks, everybody, for telling me about this simple solution.

Help! Dane dog bed advice needed! (bed drama, part 1)

“Tear resistant” dog bed -- after 5 minutes with my Dane pup!

Tonight our 11-month-old Dane Princeton ripped apart his brand-new “Tuff n Ruff” Dura-Ruff bed. It’s advertised as “tear resistant -- withstands rough treatment.” Ha!

Within 5 minutes, Princeton had ripped a HUGE hole in it. (See photo.) Fortunately the store has agreed to refund the $65.

But what is Princeton going to sleep on now in his crate??? I send out a plea to others who have lived with Great Danes and other “determined chewers,” please tell me what kind of beds your dogs use!

I know, some of you share your own bed with your dog or give him a couch of his own. There has to be another way.

I don’t want to use a piece of carpet because I have finally succeeded in teaching him not to chew on our carpets. However, if he had his own carpet piece in his crate, I’m sure he would get back into that bad habit.

Sleeping on the hard, bare floor of the crate will give him calluses and “proud flesh” on his elbows, etc. I’d rather avoid that. It took him several months to rip apart his old bed, which was much flimsier than the new one. It seemed like it took all morning to clean up the scattered cedar chips.

Yes, I do put chew toys in the crate with Princeton. He ignores them and chews his bed. (Maybe because he knows that he’s not supposed to? Or he just likes tearing something soft? I took away all his soft toys on the advice of a dog trainer in order to teach him not to chew the carpet.

He’s definitely not ready to sleep outside the crate (still chewing on anything available -- but now he’s a good boy and stops when we say no).

For now, I guess he’ll have to sleep on a few blankets.

***
P.S. Thanks for all the advice about leashes and collars. Princeton’s leash training is going well. He pulls on the leash a lot less and has learned to walk politely next to another dog on leash. It seems like a miracle compared to how wild he used to be.

***
Update in April 2016:

We hardly ever put Princeton in the crate anymore, but when we do we remove everything to prevent him from chewing and swallowing his bed.

He has TWO beds around the house now, and he loves them both. One is a canvas dog bed with soft plush and poly fill fiber similar to the Armarkat Pet Bed. And the other is an organic dog bed filled with buckwheat hulls. These are expensive but worth it for the support and durability. This bed was used by our previous dog for many years before Princeton.

The "Big Barker" orthodpedic pet bed for giant dogs looks good too.

Update in Dec 2016: Now that he is 8 years old, he is getting stiff and needs a firmer bed. We just bought him the Big Barker 7" Pillow Top Orthopedic Dog Bed for Large and Extra Large Breed Dogs (Sleek Edition).

I wish I bought it for him when he was younger because the foam has a 10-year guarantee. They even have a bigger "giant size" Big Barker Orthopedic Dog Bed -- with a headrest.

Sharkey Dane pup bites his own lips

Princeton inherited his lips from his grandpa Xander Moloseum, (courtesy of Great Plans Danes and Shabrea Great Danes)

Our puppy Princeton has gotten sores from biting his classic Dane lips. Great Danes have handsome overhanging upper lips that hang down to make their muzzle look square.

Princeton’s grandsire, the Polish champion Xander Moloseum, has truly amazing lips as you can see in his photo. It looks like our puppy has inherited these impressive lips.

Princeton had cuts on both sides of his upper lips when he came to us. At first we thought his littermates bit him, but at his first check-up, the vet figured out that Princeton bites his own lips! We're treating the sores with ointments and trying to keep them clean, but they still haven't healed. Even if he isn't biting at his lip, it gets irritated when he chews things, which is whenever he is awake.

The vet says that this problem solves itself when the adult teeth come in because they're not so sharp -- or he said we might want to pull his puppy teeth! (Seems too drastic -- we don't want to!)

The breeder and her circle of expert were all dumbfounded. They figured it must be Princeton’s Euro lips. And I couldn’t find any info on the Internet about this problem -- zero! -- so it must be rare. The breeder’s vet said tooth removal would be an absolute last resort, and it will all change as he gets older, outgrows the teething stage, and his lips grow.

Princeton’s breeder added, “He must be a aggressive chewer when he chews.”

Ha! We laughed at that comment. That’s an understatement! Trying to get him to stop chewing is like trying to get him to stop breathing. He loves to bite so much that we started calling him Sharkey.

Request to readers: Let me know if you have any good ideas about how to handle the lip issue!