HAMMOCK REVIEW
Why You Need Hammock Beds For Your Puppies
Puppies love hammock beds - it makes a cozy nest and it keeps the puppies clean and off the floor. I think they like the way it sinks in the middle and give that “den” feeling. And it also makes a great play fort, as you can see in this clip from Puppy Culture:
What Size to Get
The beds come in many sizes so here’s a reference for you: 7-8 Bull Terrier puppies can comfortably fit in a 24x36 bed up to about 9 weeks of age.
Although they inexplicably do like to jam themselves into small places...
... we still add a second bed when they start falling off the sides or they can’t comfortably fit on it in one layer. These puppies are 9 weeks old.
Which Brand is Best?
It’s rare that you can unequivocally point to one product as winning on every point, but the hands down winner for us in every category are the Kuranda beds. Here are the points that keep Kuranda beds head and shoulders above the rest:
1. Hidden edges on the webbing:
Kuranda has brilliantly hidden the webbing inside the PVC frame so there’s nothing to chew. The puppies would love to destroy it, but their little mouths just can’t get a purchase on anything. Sort of like the shark scene from James and the Giant Peach. You see a lot of furious activity but in the end the worst is a couple of scratches. Nice.
In contrast, here is a photo of the Max 200 bed we started with - this is the way the demise of the bed starts, and then it progresses rapidly to it being chewed in half with the puppies lying on the floor. We went through 5 or 6 of these very expensive (and incredibly difficult to put on) covers before we bought the Kurandas. Now we’ve had the Kurandas with their original covers for over three years. Amazing.
2. Super Durable Plastic
Even after three years, our expert adult chewers did not manage to completely destroy this bed that we keep on the back deck. And they really tried.
3. Overall, very reasonable price
Amazon has the 36x 72 Kuranda bed listed for $72, including shipping.
The very cheapest PVC hammock bed I could find was at Lowes, which was $41. They do not sell replacement covers (at least, I could not see any on their site), and the cheapest replacement covers I could find are 30+ dollars. So the price is really about the same, if you figure you will go through at least one cover per litter.
If your puppies are not self-contained-wrecking-units, the Lowe’s product might be a good deal, but I still don’t like that little space where a leg could get jammed between the PVC and the webbing.
Oh, and don’t bother with the fleece covers. This photo was taken literally within one second of putting the covered bed in the weaning pen. Bull Terrier puppies are divining rods for the destroy-able portion of anything you put in their tank, I mean, pen. They don’t even have to investigate the whole thing to find the part they can chew - the weak part of the item sends out some kind of signal to the litter and they go straight there. Your puppies may not be this efficient at destruction, in which case the covers are very nice.
We got sick of replacing the fleece covers and now use nice fluffy double sided fleece beds, instead. It’s stiff enough to lay flat and not ball up and they can’t chew it. Yes, not cheap, but lasts forever with puppies.
So the Kuranda beds get the Puppy Culture Heart of Approval - we sure do love their products!
About The Author
Jane Messineo Lindquist (Killion) is the director of "Puppy Culture The Powerful First Twelve Weeks That Can Shape Your Puppies' Future" as well as the author of "When Pigs Fly: Training Success With Impossible Dogs."
Jane has had Bull Terriers since 1982 and she and her husband, Mark Lindquist, breed Bull Terriers under the Madcap kennel name.
Her interests include dog shows, dog agility, gardening, and any cocktail that involves an infused simple syrup.
