My aging GSD has poorly joints and hips and I would like to treat her to a new bed. It needs to be one that she can get up from reasonably easily as she stiffens up during the night and takes a while to get moving ( a bit like me ) We have a stone floor with underfloor heating so warmth is not a problem. All the beds I seem to have either go hard quickly or are so fluffy she can't get up out of them. It needs to be a big GSD size - please do you have any ideas. I just want to make whatever time she has left as comfortable as possible.

My old dog loves his memory foam mattress. He absolutely detests anything "flumfy" now which I think is because his stability isn't as good as it once was and he doesn't like the sensation of standing on something which move beneath his feet! The memory foam is quite firm for him to stand on but gives a good level of comfort for his old bones :)

When my last dog got older he had stiff back legs (he was GSDxBlack Lab). I got him a orthopaedic dog bed. It's a memory foam one so supports them without being too hard. If you google it there's a website www.ideas-4-pets.co.uk. They have them at very reasonable prices.

Again bought memory foam for our two, found the price a little expensive for two, so looked on ebay for a matress topper, 4'' thick, free delivery and cut it up into four seperate pieces (so I can rotate with houndy dogs). Cost less than £40.00 and I thought a bargin.

I like the Wipe Clean Waterproof Tuffies for support and the washable surface has obvious benefits.  I use covers from Orvis but a fitted cot sheet works just as well.  I also have a memory foam bed from Orvis which gets a fair amount of use too.  I don't pay their hugely expensive prices though, I buy from their sale outlet in Street, for much less than half price !

My sister in law uses one of her old cot mattresses for her dog - she says she had a cupboard full of waterproof covers and towelling cot sheets.  You can get these pretty easily online if you want new but charity shops often have them, and freecycle is a great place to look too.

I have a tuffie and a kudos orthopaedic bed, both are wipe clean, comfy, lasted (in the latter case) 4 years so far and seem to do the job.

Many thanks for all the advice.
I have had a good look at the memory foam beds, but to get a thickness and a size suitable for my very large GSD, she likes to spread out,  I think I will be looking at around £200-£300 which is more than I can afford, however I have been trying to decide between 2 other options. One is a jumbo size dog bed on ebay, contains 2 ins of memory foam with 3 ins normal foam underneath in a waterproof lining and strong fabric cover for £49.95 plus £5 delivery or option two the mattress toppers as mentioned on here, a 3ft bed size in 3ins memory foam for around £50 free delivery. I could cut this down to size but not sure if cot mattress covers would be large enough, so I may need to make a cover ( perish the thought) I've got a leaning to the ready done dog bed, however I think I'll sleep on it ( not literally) and see which one I want in the morning.

We use a heavy, kingsize duvet, folded up to the right size, with a piece of vet bed over the top incase of accidents etc. Our vet said this was the best thing to use with our older dogs (sadly now no longer with us), but out arthritic rescue girl also loves it. We don't spend a fortune on the duvet as then they are easily (and relatively cheaply  ) replaced, think the last one, complete with cover cost us about £15 (in Asda). Easy to wash the covers etc too.