How to measure your dog for a bed

The single most common reason a dog bed goes back is that it turned out to be too small. It is almost never the shopper's fault. Bed listings quote an outside measurement, dogs sleep in shapes rather than rectangles, and "large" means whatever the manufacturer decided it meant that week.

Here is how to get it right in about two minutes.

Measure your dog, not your guess

Wait until your dog is lying down and relaxed, then take two measurements with a soft tape or a piece of string.

1. Length. Nose to the base of the tail, not the tip. Then add 15–20 cm.
2. Width. Catch them lying on their side with their legs stretched out and measure across. Sprawlers need considerably more width than the breed charts suggest.

The larger of those two numbers is your minimum bed size. If your dog is between sizes, go up. No dog has ever complained that its bed was too generous.

The bit most guides leave out: how your dog sleeps

Sleeping position changes what shape of bed to buy, not just the size.

• Curlers sleep nose-to-tail in a doughnut. They suit round or heavily bolstered beds and can often take a slightly smaller size.
• Sprawlers lie flat out on their side, or on their back with their legs in the air. They need length and width, and bolsters are largely wasted on them.
• Leaners press their back or head against something all night. These are the dogs that genuinely benefit from a raised bolster edge to rest against.

Watch your dog for a few nights before you buy. Most owners are surprised.

Rough sizes by dog

Use these as a starting point, then check against your own measurements. Breed averages hide a lot of variation.

Dog	Typical bed length	Examples
Small	60–70 cm	Dachshund, Yorkshire Terrier, Cavalier, Shih Tzu
Medium	80–90 cm	Cocker Spaniel, Beagle, Border Collie, Whippet
Large	100–110 cm	Labrador, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd
Giant	120 cm and up	Great Dane, Newfoundland, Bernese Mountain Dog

What the measurement on the label means

Almost every bed is listed by its outside dimensions. On a bolstered bed, the raised sides can eat 10–15 cm off each measurement, so an 80 cm bed might give a dog only 60 cm of actual sleeping surface.

If a listing does not tell you the inner dimensions, assume you are losing that much and size up. On our own product pages we give the outside measurement and then say plainly who it fits, because the number on its own is not much help.

What we currently stock, honestly

We sell one dog bed at the moment: the Calming Plush Dog Bed, which is 80 × 60 cm with raised bolster sides.

That comfortably suits small and medium dogs — a spaniel, a beagle, a dachshund, a whippet that likes to curl. Because it is bolstered, it particularly suits leaners and curlers.

It will not fit a Labrador, a Retriever or a German Shepherd. Those dogs need something around 100 cm, and we do not yet stock one. We would rather tell you that here than take the order and have you post a bed back to us.

Four mistakes worth avoiding

• Buying to the breed name. Two cockers can differ by 15 cm. Measure the dog in front of you.
• Buying for a puppy's current size. Buy for the adult size and let them grow into it, or accept you are buying twice.
• Ignoring where it has to go. Measure the floor space as well, especially in a hallway or beside a sofa.
• Forgetting about washing. Check it fits your machine before you buy, not after the first muddy walk.

One thing this guide will not tell you

If your dog has been struggling to settle, has started avoiding a bed it used to like, or is stiff getting up in the morning, that is a conversation for your vet rather than a bedding decision. We sell beds, not treatments, and we are not going to pretend a cushion fixes a joint problem.

Any questions about sizing before you order, email us and a person will answer, usually within two working days.