Fear not friends, the weekend is almost here!  For this chilly Thursday morning, I thought I’d share with you an extremely cool idea I just found whilst browsing around the web.  Got an old used suitcase lying around your house and just don’t know what to do with it?  I suppose you have a few choices, you can recycle it, take it to goodwill, throw it away, sell it on eBay, put it in storage, OR…you COULD turn it into an extremely awesome, perfectly fashionable dog bed for your puppy!

As a fan of all things vintage, all things recycled, and all things creative, this idea certainly got me excited.  The process looks extraordinarily easy, just gut it out a bit, add a soft blanket or dog bed material, throw in their favorite toys and bam, you’ve got yourself a cushy, comfy, and hip dog bed for your pup.  The bigger the suitcase, the larger the bed it will make for larger breed dogs.  Have a miniature toy poodle?  Simple, use a day suitcase or small luggage and they’ll stay cozy and warm!  The best part, if you leave the lid on, you can simply pack it up and take it with you when you travel with your pets!

What a great idea!  If any of you have any similar creative projects, feel free to send them in!  If we like what we’ll see, we’ll feature you on the blog!  The ability to make something from nothing is so awesome, and I know your pets will appreciate them.  Not the creative or constructionist type?  You can always buy a dog bed, there are so many unique styles, materials and types out there, your dog could be sitting on a plush throne, or lying on a simple circular bed.  Whatever the case may be, get that dog some padding!

Is your dog getting old? The old saying goes, “Every human year equals 7 dog years”, but science and logic proves this to be wrong. Just take a look at this new chart of dog years. Anywho, if your dog is starting to get a bit rusty, you may want to consider getting him or her a nice comfortable orthopedic dog bed to rest on. These are waterproof (some old dogs have problems retaining water) and very, very comfortable. I would even get this for my young pooch to help keep him off of my bed. There is also an orthopedic dog sofa bed. All types of colors and styles are available for both the dog bed and sofa bed.

After flipping through old photo albums and going through the final year I spent with Stanley II (my Brittany Spaniel before Stanley III), it occurred to me that a post about comfortable bedding for old timer dogs was fitting. The final years are sometimes the most special and emotional with our buddies…I’ll be honest, I shed a few tears amongst my smiles looking through year 16 for Stanley II. Though we never got special bedding for him, I was not surprised to see the variety of options and great coverage in the marketplace.

For the older dogs, it seems to be all about orthopedic bedding. Starting my search at BizRate.com again for orthopedic dog bedding, I was pleased at the variety of merchants, including: Drs. Foster & Smith, PetsMart, PetCo, All Pet Furniture, Orvis, Dog Bed King, Pet Solutions, CritterPetSupplies.com, etc. Prices range from $20 to $200, with the sizes of the bed and the amount of orthopedic material being the main factors in cost.

Of all the sites, I liked drsfostersmith.com the best. Not only was their selection of dog beds nice, but alongside 19 results for my search for “orthopedic dog beds”, they also returned a tab with 17 articles about dog health. The most interesting one to me was an article titled Arthritis Maintenance Care: 7 Steps. The writing discussed topics such as pain relief, proper exercise, proper diet, ideal bedding, and best practices for food and water set ups to minimize problem points. Though each section was commercialized by links to products on the site, it wasn’t pushy at all, but rather fantastic content linked to products that clearly could help the quality of life of a pooch.

Though Stanley II got all of the attention in the world in his closing years, I wish I would have known of some of these smaller tips and specialized bedding to have given him a little bit extra. But then again, he spent quite a bit of his closing year on a king size Sealy Posturepedic (mom and dad’s bed), so life couldn’t have been that ruff. :o)

So the discussion continues…from car dog beds, which seem pretty cute and even comfortable, to now luxury dog beds, which in my opinion seem pretty over the top.

PoochieHeaven.com has a huge selection of luxury bedding options. No, we are not just talking about fluffy beds here, but rather chaises, murphy beds, ottomans, cuddle couches, and yes, even trundle beds and canopy beds. Seriously, canopy beds…I don’t how long the canopy actually remains in tact. Seems like a classic chewing opportunity for Sparky. And a trundle bed or sleigh bed frame, of mahogany wood? Who the heck is buying this stuff?

Well, for $100 to $400, you can find some luxury for your pooch at Poochie Heaven. A few others stores with such options are Precious-Pets-Paradise and Petsmart (I searched on BizRate.com and came across the following beds from Petsmart).

At the end of the day though, who am I to make a call on if such luxury dog beds are ridiculous…let’s have the four legged sleepers call it how they see it…

“Heck, the more expensive the bed, the madder my mom gets when I eat the wood, rip up the fabric, and drag the furniture out onto the balcony…I’ll take two of the canopy beds…charge it on my mom’s card!” — Sadie

“Some knuckle head product designer perhaps forgot that we dogs don’t have thumbs…how can I open up the cupboard for a murphy bed? Sheesh…this stuff is ridiculous.” — Leo

Though the masses haven’t spoken, Leo, I am with you here…

Outside of the tremendous love and happiness dogs bring to our world, they do three things with the majority of their time: eat, sleep, and poop. All three deserve a series of discussions (there is some pretty outrageous stuff out there product wise in all of these areas)…let’s start with sleep, because this by far takes up the majority of any dog’s day.

With dog bedding, you can go for luxury, comfort, and style, not too different from us humans. So let’s kick off the conversation with some style…how about dog beds that are cars?!?!?!?

The website In The Company Of Dogs seems to have a decent selection of these sporty and stylin’ beds, however, be prepared to cough up some bones, since they run about $250. You can find similar beds at Amazon.com as well.

I spoke with both Stanley III and Lola about such sleeping options, and I quote them on the following:

“I dig the Furcedes…it’s served me well pickin’ up the babes at the dog park. Everyone loves going for a ride in style…plus the back seat is spacious.” — Stan Da Ladies Man

“It didn’t get any better than rolling through Malibu in my mom’s FX35, then snoozin’ in the afternoon in my Furrari at the beach condo…I’m beautiful and a fast mover, and my bedding needs to reflect my personality.” — Princess Lola

I couldn’t find a Hummer dog bed, so it appears that Marmaduke will have to wait until GM sells the TM rights for this set up…