A Bedtime Tail

Deluxe Bedding for Dogs

Twombly the English bulldog relaxes on the heavenly Hastens mattress
he shares with his favorite human, fashion designer Ralph Rucci.
The stuffed horse is also by Hastens.

By Julia Szabo
Photo by Heather Green

Skeptics may scoff, but a deluxe mattress offering the sleeper full-body support is not necessarily a luxury. Dogs spend about sixteen hours of each day sleeping; we humans, if we're lucky, average 6 or 7 hours of shuteye per night. Surveys reveal that more than half of American dog owners permit their pets to sleep with them in bed. That's a lot of quality human-canine bonding time -so why ruin it by subjecting tired muscles and sore joints to a hard, unyielding mattress that only makes muscles more tired and joints more sore? Dogs have orthopedic needs every bit as urgent as our own. Besides preventing trips to the chiropractor and/or acupuncturist, each one of the three deluxe mattresses featured here has a unique practical application in a home with dogs. (And that's good, because they certainly don't come cheap - prices range from the four to five figures!)

For dog owners who enjoy sleeping in, and prefer not to be awakened at the crack of dawn by a panting K9 demanding to go out NOW, the ideal choice is a Duxiana mattress. More than a luxury bed, this is a "sleep environment" designed to keep the sleeper's spine perfectly aligned. Owners of these soft, dreamily comfortable mattresses rave about how their bed enables them to keep hitting the alarm clock snooze button - because their dogs are too busy blissfully snoring alongside them, instead of begging for a walk! This fabulous feature is especially appreciated on cold, rainy winter mornings. As for dogs with extra-long spines, such as Dachshunds or Basset Hounds, the spine-aligning magic of Duxiana could arguably prevent spinal injury in these very vulnerable breeds.

www.Duxiana.com

Tempur-Pedic is renowned for making memory-foam mattresses that conform to every last curve of a body's unique shape, from head to tail. That pressure-relieving property of the Tempur-Pedic mattress is especially beneficial to aging and arthritic dogs, providing allover comfort and joint support while old-timers sleep. It's also greatly appreciated by large and giant breeds of all ages, who tend to develop sores and calluses from sleeping on hard surfaces. The American Dog Magazine's Heather Green reports that her Doberman,
Jaidyn, and two Great Danes, Remi and Bella, simply adore the Tempur-Pedic mattress they share with her and her husband Kevin"”and that the mattress has stood up beautifully to their "almost 350 pounds of dog!"

www.Tempur-Pedic.com

Made without the use of chemical components, the Hastens mattress is ideal for dogs who suffer from allergies. English Bulldogs are quite prone to allergies; happily for one lucky Bulldog boy named Twombly, his owner, award-winning fashion designer Ralph Rucci, invites him up to his Hastens "Excelsior" bed, which contains nothing to trigger any adverse reaction. In fact, Ralph positions a convenient, carpeted step-up adjacent to the bed, making it easy for short-legged Twombly to reach their communal coccoon. Some clever customers save money by purchasing Hastens baby crib mattresses and putting them to use as dog beds.

www.Hastens.com