Good Advice for Cleaning the Doggie Bed

  Posted on September 6, 2013  by Joy of Living  No comments

Bolt, Yorkie-Poo guest blogger: I am in shock!  Yesterday afternoon my human received a text from her son who is a freshman in college. He actually sent her a picture of his dorm room bed…with fresh, clean sheets on it!  He told her that he had just washed his sheets! Now, my question is this:  What 18-year-old college boy washes his sheets AND makes the bed within the first few weeks of college? That got me to thinking about MY bedding and where I rest my weary head at night.  Fortunately, I have a human who makes sure my surroundings are neat and clean. I confess….I can bring messes and dirt into the house and my bedding can bear the brunt of the damage. So…how do you keep your pet’s bedding clean and fresh?

According to pets.petsmart.com, here are a few handy-dandy tips:

• Vacuum the bed completely to remove excess hairs, dirt and debris. Roll one of those cool lint rollers over the bed to pull away the pesky hairs the vacuum did not remove.
• Remove the outer fabric cover from the lined cushion. The cover can be washed more frequently if necessary.
• Place the fabric cushion cover and the bed base, if machine washable, into the washing machine. Be sure to wash these separate from other laundry items. Using a large load setting and cold water, along with pet-safe laundry detergent, will help to dislodge as much of the pet hair and dirt as possible. (For extra dirty beds, you may want to repeat the wash cycle!)
• Dry the washed bedding in the clothes dryer with at least one pet-safe dryer sheet. The dryer sheet, along with reduce static electricity, will also remove more pet hairs. Dry the bedding on a low temperature setting for about 20 minutes to remove hair and wrinkles. Finish by air-drying it so the pet bed does not shrink.

On a side note, this is why my humans don’t let me sleep in bed with them. Can you imagine stuffing a king-sized mattress into the washing machine? I think not, Baby Puppy!

Cheers!