I have a 20 month labrador & a 3 year old labrador who are intent on eating their way through my dog baskets & bedding.  Originally the 3 year old would tear up bedding if he was given a bone, that I understood.  However, the 20 month old lab (who we've only had 3 months) is eating plastic baskets.  When I say eating, I mean destroying, not just chewing the top :-(  I have also had those "Tufty" beds that the gundog mags advertise but this has been wrecked too.

I am considering getting some pallets (to keep the dogs off the floor) & putting some vetbed type bedding on top for warmth, dryness etc.  Whilst I know in the long run the pallet will be chewed, it is at least free.  Can anyone suggest a bedding that you can't chew into tiny bits like vetbed.  Someone's recommended profleece but unsure as to how chew resistant it is.

Cheers ;-)

What about one of those camping type beds - the sort with a metal tube frame and tarpaulin type material?

The worry about pallets would be chewing wood and they are very heavy too.  Alternatively you could get some cheap cabinet legs from Ikea to fix to a home made frame (made from the pallet perhaps) and fix a sling bed across it.  If you experimented with canvass, tarpaulin etc I would think that if it's tight it is less likely to be chewed.

My final suggestion is from an wanted advert I saw on Freecycle recently, someone was getting rid of two trampettes.  It struck me that these are small and low and would make ideal dog beds, particularly if the spring had gone out of them like these ones!!

I have Profleece but it's the same as vet bed and reasonably easy to chew

Thanks for that, will save my money on the profleece then.  Dog can chew through canvas sadly & as for a trampet I'd hate to think what he'll do with it.  I wouldn't mind, they get plenty of exercise & stimulation during the day, it's just at night the little cherub decides to destroy everything (should be grateful it's not the kennel I suppose)

We put a stop to this by fitting a piece of board to the inside of the dogcrate (it has a metal base), and then getting a piece of vetbed which we folded over the board so it all fits very snugly into the metal base.
We the screwed the vet bed to the underside of the board. Because there are no edges to scratch and bite at it has lasted for ages, unlike the numerous prvios beds he ate. It can be unscrewed for occasional machine washing, though i usually just vacuum it frequently, and hose it down outside if it gets a bit messy. (my dog doesn't eat in the bed, he just goes in to sleep, so doesn't get very messy).

Get Ian to make up a 6" high frame out of a pallet and fill it with straw, little darling lab...hee hee...

I know youll get straw to sweep up and you could also try putting a bitter spray on the wooden frame to stop him....

They do love the straw tho...dont they Archie....!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Jenny, in fact that was his suggestion but then he doesn't clean up after them does he? 

My only problem with that is, will Knight pee up the bales?  Know a certain SWD pup would - not like big bro Archie who wouldn't dream of doing such a thing!

Got so cold last night we brought them into Archie's palace -7 degrees it was! 

right will go & buy some straw then, it will insulate the little darlings too (Coal's got the right idea, she's in the house away from her silly boys ;-))

Yep your prob right he would pee up the bales, so weekend job for Ian make a retaining frame for the straw, less tempting to pee on....!!!

Yes -5 here last night...liquid gold going down very fast keep having to blast the rayburn its soooo cold.......oh well another tank full coming up....just add it to the ever growing c.card bill....eekkk

Jenny

Carrington put this link on another thread about condensation - would this help?

Canine kennels do dog benches made out of metal, washable could do the trick..Our littel darlings also chew...and chew

thanks, will look into them & raid the kids' piggy banks again ;-)

A friend of mine with mighty chewers uses the plastic bread baskets you see being delivered to shops. We recently had a 100 of them dumped near us and the bakery didn't seem that interested in getting them back - apparently caterers etc. get deliveries but no pick up so they just get left at the back of shops or dumped. She puts some vet bed or blankets inside and they seem to last quite a while.