Champagnolle

You may have a nice calm dog, but I'm "blessed" with 8 rowdy animals. This is the curse of living in the country where people dump off unwanted pets. I make beds for them instead of buying them.

I bought a king size memory foam pad from Overstock (king size was the same price as twin) and cut it into the sizes I wanted. I made covers from heavy fabric and added leftover quilt batting to make the bed lumpy. Dogs like to dig a nest in their beds. Then I took old sheets and made covers like pillowcases that can be taken off easily and washed. Since I had plenty of heavy fabric (one piece was an old tablecloth) and old sheets, my only cost for all the beds was the piece of memory foam.

erstan947

Lucky, Lucky Dogs:)

redturtle

they deserve to be spoiled...shows they are still loved
and saving money on the beds means more money for treats lol

darlin121

How thoughtful of you! Its a shame so many people don't treat their pets as family members. Thanks for taking them in.

donnajean

My nephew & his wife live out in the county in Northern IN & in serious financial trouble. I don't see how they will hold onto their house as they live paycheck to paycheck with a very high mortgage payment & electric bill. However, they take in & feed, plus pay vet bills for every dog that is dropped off. Last one - which makes 7 now - showed up on Xmas day.

Sadiemae

Very nice thing to do for your furbabies.
You don't have to live in the country. I am tired of people dropping off cats. I wouldn't mind, but I can't afford to feed other people's animals!

Covered in Threads

I like your idea of using a base shape cut from the memory foam pad and them scraps of batting. They do like to make their own "nests".
In our guild we have the members collect all of their cotton fabric and cotton batting scraps and fill up a pillowcase about 2/3 full. We do this at our retreats, workshops, classes and at home. Then sew the open end up with a number of straight stitched seams or decorative stitches - just so they won't come open easily with numerous washings. We then donate them to our local "Second Chance" shelter for animals that are adopted out. A pillowcase is given to each new adopted animal when it goes home with their new owners. It's surprising how many we have donated to them over the course of the past 2 years and we understand them to be very appreciated by the animals, too!

merry

Thanks for the great idea for dog beds. On my to-do list ;0