How often should you wash a dog bed? More often than you are

Weekly if you can manage it. Fortnightly as a minimum. Most people do it a great deal less than that, usually because the bed does not look dirty.

Looking clean is not the test.

What is actually in there

• Skin oils and dander, which build up steadily and are what produces that distinctive warm-dog smell
• Saliva, from chewing and grooming
• Dust mites, which feed on shed skin and are a common allergen for both dogs and people
• Flea eggs and larvae — and this is the one that matters most

The great majority of a flea population is not on your dog. Eggs, larvae and pupae live in the environment, and the bed is the single densest concentration of them in the house. This is why people treat the dog, see fleas return a fortnight later, and conclude the treatment failed. It did not. The bedding was never dealt with.

Temperature, and the conflict nobody mentions

To kill dust mites and flea larvae reliably you want 60°C.

Almost every pet bed on the market, including most of ours, is labelled for a cool wash, because heat flattens filling and shrinks covers.

Those two facts are in direct conflict and nobody selling beds likes to say so. The practical answers:

• A removable cover you can wash hot beats a whole bed you can only wash cool. Worth weighting heavily when you buy. Of what we stock, the Memory Foam Ultima Sleeper takes 40°C and has a water-resistant liner under the cover, and the Ultima bed has both an inner and outer cover that come off, with a replacement cover sold separately so you can rotate one while the other washes. Neither reaches 60°C. We would rather say that than imply otherwise.
• If the bed can only go cool, wash it more often and dry it thoroughly — frequency partly compensates for temperature.
• If you have an active flea problem, the bedding needs a hot wash or replacing. A 30°C cycle will not solve it.
• Tumble drying on heat kills mites even where the wash could not, if the item can take it. Most plush cannot.

How to wash it properly

• Shake and vacuum first. Hair turns to felt in a machine and blocks the filter.
• Non-biological detergent, and only a little. Enzymes in bio powders can irritate skin.
• No fabric conditioner. It leaves a residue on the fibres, and the perfume is unpleasant to a dog whose nose is far better than yours. Plenty of dogs stop using a bed after it has been conditioned.
• Extra rinse if your machine has one.
• Dry it completely. A bed that goes back damp smells within a day and can grow mildew inside the filling where you cannot see it.

Between washes

Ten seconds each does most of the work: shake it out daily, run a lint roller or the vacuum brush over it, and turn the cushion. A second bed in rotation removes the excuse entirely and means the dog is never without one on wash day.

The bed that sidesteps most of this

A raised mesh bed has no filling to flatten and no cover to shrink, so most of the argument above simply goes away. You hose it down, wipe it, and it dries in minutes. Our elevated dog bed is the one we would point at if washing is the job you keep putting off, or if you have fought a flea problem once already and do not intend to again.

It is not the right answer for every dog. It is firm rather than soft, it sits off the floor, and a dog who likes to burrow into padded sides will not thank you for it. Older dogs in particular usually want something softer — our guide to beds for older dogs explains why. But if your problem is hygiene rather than comfort, mesh solves it in a way plush never quite does.

When to replace rather than wash

Washing does not fix a worn-out bed. Replace it when:

• The filling no longer springs back. Press it with your palm; if you reach the floor, so does your dog's elbow.
• The smell survives a wash, meaning it is in the filling rather than the cover.
• There is chewed damage exposing stuffing, which is a swallowing risk.
• The base has gone hard and flat, which matters most for older dogs. Our guide to beds for older dogs covers why.

If you are replacing rather than washing, measure before you buy — our guide on how to measure your dog for a bed covers the mistake most people make.

If your dog suddenly avoids a clean bed

Two usual causes. Either the detergent or conditioner has made it smell wrong to them, in which case rewash with a small amount of non-bio and no conditioner. Or the bed has flattened and stopped supporting them, which is far more common in older dogs than owners realise — a dog choosing a hard floor over a soft bed is usually telling you the bed is no longer comfortable, not that it prefers the floor.

The questions that come up alongside this one

Can you wash a dog bed in the washing machine?

Most of them, if the label says so and it physically fits with room to move. A bed rammed into a drum does not get clean and can strain the machine. Take the cover off if it comes off and wash that, and check whether the inner is washable separately — on many beds it is not, and only the cover should go in.

How do you wash a dog bed that does not fit in the machine?

Bath or large sink, warm water, a small amount of non-bio, and your hands. Soak it, work the water through, then rinse until the water runs clear — that takes longer than you expect. Press the water out rather than wringing, which distorts the filling, and dry it flat somewhere with airflow, turning it. Alternatively a launderette's large machine will take a bed a domestic one will not, and most launderettes do not mind as long as you shake the hair off first.

Can you tumble dry a dog bed?

Covers usually yes on low; whole beds usually no. Heat is what flattens filling and shrinks fabric, and a foam base should never go in a dryer. If the label allows it, a low heat with a couple of clean tennis balls in the drum stops the filling clumping. If it does not, air dry completely — damp inside the filling is how a clean bed starts smelling again within days.

How often should you wash your dog, as opposed to the bed?

Far less often than the bed. For most healthy dogs, every four to eight weeks is plenty, and many short-coated dogs are fine with less. Washing more often than that strips the natural oils from the coat and skin and tends to cause the itching and dandruff people are trying to prevent. Wash sooner if they have rolled in something, and follow your vet's instructions rather than this page if they have a skin condition or a medicated shampoo. Between baths, brushing does more for a coat than water does.