Heated Pet Beds - Montana Owners Club

eeoski · 01-09-2009, 04:16 AM

Piccola and Lupo are "desert dogs" and are not used to the cold nor do they have any interest in acclimatizing to temperatures below 72 (Actually, they'd probably like it a bit warmer but "Mom" and "Dad" like cooler over hotter (though not COLD)!)

We are contemptemplating getting a heated bed (or beds) for them. I am looking at personal experiences, recommendations (pro and con), and anything else related to heated pet beds you might be able to share.

As always, look forward to your input!

Robin

H. John Kohl · 01-09-2009, 06:02 AM

Robin,
I feel heated beds only warm the fur that is next to the heater. If you do not have a cover over the dog the top side is still at air temperature. We bought a pet bed and our dog likes it when it gets down to 60. We cover her and some times she stays that way most the night. I feel the body heat next to the bed warms them similar to a heater.
Good luck.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 01-09-2009, 06:36 AM

I am a bit nervous about putting one of the fur kids on a heated bed. That said, of my 3, the boys rarely want under the covers, but, Tilly ALWAYS does. She digs herself under any blanket she can. In the bed, on the couch, in the office, where ever she can find a blanket to dig under, summer, spring, fall, winter, she will do so in a heartbeat. She always has. So,I guess, I figure if they need the extra warmth, they will find it, errr, dig it.

Abby would lay right in front of an electric heater, so close it would concern me, but, she never caught fire

and she rarely would move. Tilly has taken to laying in front of the forced air furnace ducts, her hair will be a blowing, and she is happy.

The yorks love those donut beds, we have them around, ok, a lot of them around! Sometimes Mr. G will just BEG to be put in a crate if there is a donut bed in there. Sometimes in the trailer I will put a donut bed on a kitchen chair, and he really whines till I put him up there in it, then he will lay in there for a LONG time!

exav8tr · 01-09-2009, 07:24 AM

Have you given any thought to a twin size electric blanket? This way they could lay on top or get under if they so desire...

Waynem · 01-09-2009, 08:29 AM

I would be fearful of any type of heater around an animal. It just takes on little chew to spoil a lot of things.

eeoski · 01-09-2009, 11:16 AM

Thanks for the input!

They both start off in their bed(s)...if it is really cold they both elect to get into one bed on their own and they ALWAYS wait until I lift the "covers" (I use heavy towels) to get in. BUT as best as I can tell they KNOW when we hit REM sleep and/or the ambient temperature lowers enough that they aren't warm enough anymore so they then invite themselves up (we have doggy stairs as don't want to chance injury as they'll jump up/down regardless) and "burrow" which means if I am on my side one is in the back of my knees and the other is in the small of my back. So I am kind of in that "pseudo" sleep mode so when I want to move/roll over I can be sure not to turn them into little doggy pancakes. I was thinking/hoping that a heated bed might be a means to keep them in one place through the night so we could all get a good, uninterrupted night's sleep. There is one bed I saw that turns on/off based upon weight being sensed in the bed (kinda like the sensors for seatbelt warning lights in cars).

I am not too worried about chewing on cords as they don't do that (any more as the baby teeth are LONG gone), but it is a good point. I am also concerned about "spontaneous combustion" if I place a space heater on the floor and they decide to sleep too close to it.

As far as "regualar" beds are concerned, in the stick house there are three main rooms we frequent (family room, bed room, and computer room) all of which have beds in them...the lady who comes to clean the house was amused/impressed by the fact they had beds all over the house, but thought it was a great idea as well...this way they always have "their" space.

With Piccola and Lupo weighing 7 and 10 pounds respectively and having VERY fine long fur (when they get wet they really do look like drowned rats and are VERY skinny...though healthy weights for their frames) they just don't really generate enough heat to keep themselve warm without some type of supplement. Neither will tolerate any kind of shirt/sweater and my experience with my schnauzers is that they get oily/smelly in a just a day to a day and a half of wearing them. Gosh, such drama! LOL

Guess it will likely be sharing the bed for the winter months!

Robin

Mrs. CountryGuy · 01-09-2009, 12:31 PM

SNICKER,

Now, Robin, Robin, Robin,

you know, once they sleep in mom and dad's bed, nothing else will do!

anyone that has owned a yorkie will tell you, they are born to sleep in YOUR bed!

sounds like your kids were too!

OKKK, gotta tell the story, our first yorkie, we figured, well, if the little tyke is used to his crate and we leave him in there EVERY night, and he never gets to the bed,

yaaaa, right, it worked for a few nights till our first campout.

Crate right beside the bed, I could reach it. little brat started howling as soon as we went to bed and he was not there with us. howling contiued.

in my infinate wisdom, assisted by exhaustion, I decided to put him, crate and all in the bathroom.

DUHHH, the howling continued, we could almost stand it, when we realized that the people parked in the trailer next to us, did not know us and were hearing the howling at least as much as we were.

York won that battle, he ended up in the bed in no time at all, where he remained every night all of his 15.5 years.

I never tried to keep another out of the bed. Now, when it is cold and I say I am having a 3 dog night, I really mean it! Cappy is the bestest neck warmer in the world!

Waynem · 01-09-2009, 12:40 PM

That is absolutely ridiculous, having a Yorkie in bed with you.

You can borrow Miya and have 68 pounds in bed with you, then you become the pancake!!!

Oh! And she has to have some of the pillow.

eeoski · 01-10-2009, 05:22 AM

Piccola needs ALL of the pillow! Have YET to figure out how she does it. Though, I must also say that she does a GREAT job "combing" my hair in the morning. (Literally, she uses her paws and combs out my hair when the alarm goes off...Lupo just drapes himself over my side and "air kisses" me...at least they don't lick my ear at 3:00 to tell me they are back from being outside (when at the stick house with a doggy door) as they do Doug...poor man NEVER gets back to sleep and moves to the recliner for the rest of the night!)

They both wound up in the bed due to their crying in the kennel and/or the pen when they first came home...their tenacity outlasted my nerves! I think I had already resigned myself to the fact that EVEN with a heated bed, they would still wind up with us, but I figured I'd take advantage of the feedback here on the off chance I MIGHT be wrong. Yeah, RIGHT!

Wayne, weight REALLY doesn't seem to matter as much as how "big" they sleep and I am telling you they sleep like great danes in that bed! LOL

Robin

H. John Kohl · 01-10-2009, 05:31 AM

I heard you can put a wind up clock in a puppies bed to fool them into thinking it is their mothers heart beating.
I wonder who has whom trained?
Cheers,

CountryGuy · 01-10-2009, 07:30 AM

Now, John,

you just know, ole Carol is OWNED by her yorkies. No doubt about it!

Honestly until you have been owned by a yorkie, it is hard to fatham the term

YOU HAVE BEEN YORKED!!

(Right Patty??)

EDITED: Mrs.Countryguy (Carol) from Al's user!

eeoski · 01-10-2009, 12:02 PM

Clock story is a MYTH...tried it with five dogs (three were miniature schnauzers)! ;-P

In this household it is patently obvious as to who is in charge and, trust me, it is NOT the two-legged inhabitants! That being said, can't say I would have it any other way as these two (also know as the "terrorist terriers" like Mr. and Mrs. Countryguy's children...must be a common thread there) are great at the unconditional love thing. Can't really have a bad day when you have these two greeting you at the door (whether you've been out of the house for 8 hours or 8 seconds) like the long lost relatives.

Most definitely have been "YORKED" which is infinitely better and nicer than being "ROOKED!"

Robin

Driftwoodgal · 01-10-2009, 03:57 PM

Heck the yorkies don't have anything on my cat. He owns the King size bed and takes up his full third of the bed.

Carol, Alex is as large as your yorkies......he isn't fat, just big. Some of our best friends have two yorkies. Alex loves for them to come over to our RV to play. He was raised with three chows when we owned the kennel. My manager would bring her dogs into our house every day at lunch time.

Got to love those warm fuzzy bodies in the winter time.

Colleen

Trailer Trash 2 · 01-10-2009, 06:38 PM

Put them in a crate with a nice cozy blanket in there to keep them off the floor of the crate, and when there in there cover the crate with a blanket leaving a small opening at the bottom for fentilation. they will be worm.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 01-11-2009, 02:09 AM

Bit off subject, MOC pet lovers, please a prayer for Patty and Dick's little Kody, he is very sick. Heard last night. He is a precious and, cute as a bug, little thing, not even a year old. Hang in there Patty.

eeoski · 01-11-2009, 09:43 AM

Still VERY important! Kody is in my prayers as well as Patty and Dick.

Robin (Piccola and Lupo too!)

PartyCrashers · 01-15-2009, 04:14 PM

Sorry to hear about Kody.....fingers and paws crossed here.

I have two miniature poodles....age 4 and 2. And yes they also take over the bed...

When we got each dpg as a pup, they too were crate trained....when they each got around 6 months of age, we were able to trust them to roam around the house freely as they both were completely house broken and did not chew on objects

Well this is the time we ended up sharing our bed with the dogs....

I myself did not want to, but husband thought they were sooooooo cute.....

Funny thing the four year old "Nikki" will only sleep by the my legs and only on top of the covers....yet she is lean/skinny at 8lbs. You'd think she'd get cold....but no she has to be on top of the cover, yet right next to me.

Now Paige is two years old....a little stockier then Nikki, but she weighs 7.5 lbs. Paige will hop on the foot of the bed for about 10 minutes then she gets down and hops in her dog bed and gets under her covers. They both are so different in their likes of sleeping.

As far as the heated beds.....why not try one. Or maybe before you spend the $'s on a heated bed, use a heating pad....on low and put it under their bed blanket they have now.

If interested, I know of a website for animal/dog lovers...if interested I could give you the site address.

Your question of heated dog beds would get a lot of replys....but like any other forum....opinions very.

Denise

eeoski · 01-15-2009, 06:02 PM

Denise,

I have been thinking of going ahead and trying one out (I'll get one a little bigger that both will fit it...we have a large basket style bed in the family room that they share so I know they'll both sleep in the same dog bed...no question about sharing mom and dad's bed!

Would love the website...any and all resources are appreciated!

Robin

PartyCrashers · 01-16-2009, 03:53 PM

Robin-

Web site is www.furkids.net

It is a fun website....I am mostly on the Poodle forum, which you do not need to have a Poodle, many actually don't, but it just seems to be the one that stay very active.

Let us know if you try out the bed and like it....I seen a bed like what you are talking about
and I was actually thinking of getting one for Paige....she's the one that sleep alone and right now each night after she hops in her bed I cover her up and she stays that way all night long.

Later, Denise

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