Come to Bed
February 26th, 2009
Filed in: Uncategorized
Does your dog have a bed?
We have four bolster beds in our house; there’s one in the family room, one in the kitchen, one in the work room and one in my office. Sumner and Zeke happily shared all of the beds in the house, no matter how tight the squeeze. (Sometimes they truly looked uncomfortable, but they wanted to sleep together.)
For weeks after we lost Zeke, Sumner continued to curl up on the various beds in the tiniest ball possible, as if leaving room for his beloved friend. (Yes, it made me sad.) For the past five months, Sumner has also been choosing to sleep in the kitchen bed instead of in the bed next to my desk, pictured in the above video. I realize now that Zeke “claimed” that bed as the end approached. Sumner rarely tried to share it with him, but I was too busy worrying about Zeke to notice Sum’s absence.
Was Sum now avoiding the old bed because it had too many memories? Because it was still “Zeke’s bed”?
I missed having Sumner in the room with me, so I decided it was time to get a new bed that didn’t have any baggage for him.
There are a ton of pet beds out there, but after over 10 years of dog bed trial and error, I knew exactly what type would work for him. My considerations?
1. The bed had to have a bolster, or something to lean against. Preferably a doughnut-type bed. (Given a choice, most dogs prefer a bolster bed over those flat “LL Orvis” catalog beds. Trust me on this one.)
2. It had to be stylish. That means faux-sheepskin chain pet store beds need not apply. Think about it – a dog bed is essentially a piece of furniture!
3. It had to have dark fabric. As much as I love light patterns, the reality is that big dirty paws make big dirty paw prints. Dark fabric hides the evidence between washings.
It took me a while (too many choices!), but I selected this bed in the “chocolate bones” pattern. (Check out the fabric swatches- awesome options.)
The new bed arrived last week.
Does Sum like it? You tell me:
He did an elaborate “spin, dig, sniff, spin” dance in it before he settled down, but once he found his “perfect spot” he didn’t leave it for the entire night. As in, he spent the night in the new bed in my office instead of moving to his regular nighttime bed.
The old bed? I’m going to donate it to a local shelter and hope that the warm history conveys to the next dog who gets it.
