Shhhh Don't wake Dudley!

Kind of pitiful, isn't it? Dudley couldn't find any of his stuffies! Not his Barney, not his monkey, not even the Elvis cat. (That's because his mean dog mom threw all those stinky things in the washer!) So he settled for a nap with Dean's old shoe.

Now, for you large-breed dog lovers out there, take a closer look at what Dudley is laying on. It it's a therapeutic dog mattress, which costs hundreds of dollars in pet supply catalogs. But I am NOT about to spend hundreds of dollars for those things! Not when all they are is crib mattresses!!!! HA! 

Instead, I go to the thrift store and buy them used for anywhere from $5-$10. They're vinyl covered, so they wipe clean and are easily sanitized, and they can stand up to all kinds of abuse. Most thrift stores, like Savers, have lots of them so you can pick through and find one that is like new! 

Now, there are different support levels to crib mattresses. I find my dogs like the squishier ones, and will totally ignore the "firm" ones. 

When I have a litter of puppies? THEY don't care one bit, and will climb all over anything! Now, I really don't NEED to give my puppies a mattress, but they really do like to climb on stuff, which is good for them, and they do end up sleeping on it. Also, I have found that for the puppies, the softer mattresses are more likely to be chewed up, but the firm mattresses are apparently not quite as tempting until they're a little older. So I buy the softer ones for the big dogs, and the the firm ones for the puppies. Even so, no matter what I get them, a litter of puppies will destroy a mattress by the time they go home at 8-9 weeks, but for $5 who cares, right? 

Here's another hint. When you buy your used crib mattress (aka high priced therapeutic dog bed) buy a used crib sheet to use for dog bedding too! Your dog will thank you for it, and your friends will think you've gone crazy and spent hundreds of dollars on your dogs and are now spoiling them. ;-)