You love your dog. You buy him or her good food, toys and a place to lay their head at night and, let’s face it, during the day too! You’ve provided a lovely stuffed dog bed – a place of their own where they can get cozy.
Don’t they look so cute when they’re sleeping, especially if they’re chasing rabbits in their dreams? And who doesn’t love that sleepy dog smell?
But just like you wash your sheets regularly, you should also wash your dog’s bed.
Do I have to wash my dog’s bed?
Your dog could track outside debris into their bed – debris that you may have missed when they came inside, like mud, sand, or twigs. If they have fleas, those fleas may have laid eggs in your dog’s bed. Gross, right?
So now you want to clean your dog’s bed, but the stuffing makes the cleaning process seem more complicated. But fear not…you can do it and it’s not that hard.
What you’ll need
- Stain remover (to battle any stains)
- A bathtub or washing machine (to do the actual washing)
- Unscented laundry detergent or apple cider vinegar or white vinegar (to get the bed clean)
- Dryer or a drying rack (well…you know why!)
Hot tips
- If your dog’s bed has a cover, the first step is to remove it and give it a good shake. You can wash it separately with other laundry.
- Make sure any zippers are closed to protect them from damage.
- Check for any tears in the material and fix before you wash, as loose stuffing could clog drains.
Let’s prep!
The first step is to get rid of loose dirt on the bed. Loose dirt and fur or hair will stick to the fabric when you’re trying to clean it. Use your vacuum cleaner to suck up debris, going over the bed a few times to make sure you get any dirt, hair and dander. Dirt particles can make their way into nooks and crannies, so make sure you get into any edges with the vacuum cleaner.
This is an important step for helping to get rid of fleas and flea eggs. Once I’ve vacuumed my dog’s bed, I empty my vacuum’s canister and take the garbage outside right away so any flea eggs don’t stay in my condo.
After you’ve removed the loose dirt, use a stain remover to get rid of stains on the bed. Follow the instructions on the stain remover, rinsing the bed once the stain remover has worked its magic.
With no more loose dirt and stains, your dog’s bed is probably looking better already! This is the point where you should check the tag on the bed to see any specific washing instructions.
Washing your Dog’s Bed
Hand Washing
If you don’t have a washing machine or your machine isn’t big enough, hand washing is just as effective.
Fill your bathtub with lukewarm water and add detergent. You’ll probably want to make sure it’s not too scented so it doesn’t irritate your pet’s skin. If you want to go more natural, you can use something like apple cider vinegar or white vinegar instead of detergent. Make sure the bed is completely submerged in the water.
Once you’re satisfied with the cleanliness, drain the water from the tub and give the bed a good rinse with warm water. Keep rinsing until all the detergent, if you used it, is gone. Then, squeeze as much water as possible out of the bed.
Machine washing or laundromat
If your washing machine is big enough, you can use it to wash your dog’s bed. Put detergent in your washing machine and use the cold/gentle cycle.
My washing machine is too small for my dog’s bed and I only have a shower stall, so I take his bed to the laundromat. Yes, my dog is a chihuahua but I got him a very large bed so he could do his daily nest-making and get cozy!
Drying your dog’s bed
If you’ve washed the bed by hand, squeeze most of the water out. If you’ve used a washing machine, the machine would have squeezed much of the water out.
Place the bed somewhere to dry. If it’s sunny out, even better! Place it on a drying rack in the sun and let nature take its course. This is my preferred method of drying. The sun makes the clean bed feel fresher and dry quicker, without having to use the dryer.
Otherwise, if your dryer is big enough use it on a low heat.
Fluff it up!
Once your dog’s bed is dry and you’ve put the cover back on (if the bed has a cover), move the stuffing around into spots that may have flattened during the washing process. You want to make sure the stuffing is evenly distributed so that it’s nice and fluffy for your dog.
I look for lumpy spots and smooth them with the heel of my palm and then distribute the filling as evenly as I can. Then I shake the bed out a little until it looks like the stuffing is even.
How often to wash your dog’s bed
The short answer is, it depends. Does your dog have long or short hair? Do they go to the beach or to the woods? A long-haired dog who constantly plays at the beach may get their bed dirtier than a short-haired dog who doesn’t bring a lot of dirt or sand into the house. If your dog is very active outdoors, you’ll want to clean their bed more often, like once or twice a week.
I have a short-haired chihuahua that I take to the beach several times a week. He doesn’t track too much sand into my condo but I still wash his bed once a week because that’s where he sleeps during the day and every night.
Conclusion
By following the steps above, you can keep your dog’s bed clean in a few easy steps. Regularly washing the bed makes your dog happy (who doesn’t love sleeping in a clean bed?) and keeps dirt, fleas and germs out of your house.
