bedding for dogs

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ljckr

New member
i know this has probably been covered before but what is the best bedding for dogs straw,hay or cedar shavings or cedar strips and what are the advantages or disadvatages?
 
ljckr said:
i know this has probably been covered before but what is the best bedding for dogs straw,hay or cedar shavings or cedar strips and what are the advantages or disadvatages?
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Id use Straw or hay. i dunno about the other you listed. you pretty much want it to stick in the same spots. im not sure if shavings or strips will stick to a dogs fur and come off as they step out of their dog house and end up outside.


hay is more for me bc I have a farm as well as Straw so i can put in a new bedding when it gets flat and worn.
 
:DNo not realy, you found a good one here.:thumbsup:

I have used straw, chips, saw shavings. The chips well I had too many dogs chew on em and have the I can't go thing offten. pups choke on them some. Saw shavings there is allot of dust so they can sneeze allot. Straw is better in my own opinion if kept dry and fresh, not old dusty stuff. But any moisture and your dog is stained orange yellow, if they have white on them they don't look the best, they seem to like fresh straw better then wood products. Never tried the hay or wild grass thing, some of the guys speak pretty highly of it on here. I think Jmc uses some prairie grass type stuff that sounds good, get him to chime in. Could be a better option if you can get it.
 
I am an old blanket guy. I try to air/dry them out every so often.
 
FCSpringer said:
:DNo not realy, you found a good one here.:thumbsup:

I have used straw, chips, saw shavings. The chips well I had too many dogs chew on em and have the I can't go thing offten. pups choke on them some. Saw shavings there is allot of dust so they can sneeze allot. Straw is better in my own opinion if kept dry and fresh, not old dusty stuff. But any moisture and your dog is stained orange yellow, if they have white on them they don't look the best, they seem to like fresh straw better then wood products. Never tried the hay or wild grass thing, some of the guys speak pretty highly of it on here. I think Jmc uses some prairie grass type stuff that sounds good, get him to chime in. Could be a better option if you can get it.
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Ive used Straw for really cold days/nights.. hay i use year round. Its merely Broam Grass and some is Wheat Grass.

I find i have to put in a new batch of hay every week or so. You can buy square bales of this stuff and use that as it goes.. but i find Round bales are better because you can flex with it and make it fluffy in the dog house. square bales are chopped and pressed as tight as it can get.

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You could do this. if you got a dog house that isnt a straight in and lay down kind of dog house where its a house that you go in and then take a left into a room... id then just find an OLD dog bed or even buy a cheap bed and then lay hay on top of that. most likely that hay will stay dry and my dog and my parents dog seem to love to go in their dog house with that sort of stuff.
 
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I've used both straw hay and prairie hay. The straw stays a little cleaner but it does not stay in the dog house very well. I started using prairie hay or prairie grass hay and the dogs love it. The advantage is the grass binds together and does not seperate so you do not get any open spots. The dogs can burrow down in the grass. The straw got pushed around and left open spots. One word of caution when using grass. When you buy it in a bail, open the bail and spread or shake the hay to help clean the dust out. It does hold dust more than the straw. Remember to add a little as it gets packed down. I run it all winter. Either way, they both are good. I'm not sure if it's an old wives tale or not, but I don't use cedar just because somebody told me it's not too good for the dog's sense of smell. Blankets last about 1 minute for me as they become toys once the dogs know they can drag them out.

When it's really cold, I bring the dogs into the garage and they stay in a two-dog box (night only). I keep wood shavings in the box just for a little cushion and ease of cleaning.

So the question is...why am I posting at 4:30 am...well, it's snowing and I'm off to clean the parking lots with my maintenance crew. School today; sorry kiddos...:D
 
def cedar chips

cedar chips are the best straw and hay collects dust period. When i go to a friends house who owns a big time dog kennel thats what he has as at scott miller kennels if you dont know who that is he was the owner of probably the most well known birdog of all time honytonk, but any way they use the barrel system and heck there wasnt anything in them lots of times not even cedar chips
 
Have raised and bred dogs for 25+ years and tried it all. Good clean dry yellow straw is without a doubt the best, also a good ol blanket works well. We have a old washer set up in the barn and my wife washes them and keeps them clean there.. Cedar chips and wood shavings are dusty and the dogs/pups can and will digest them and get plugged up from them. Many use cedar because of it's ability to cover the sent of the dogs waste. Many dogs and pups are effected in a negative way from them, like a allergy type effect. NO SAW DUST!!! PERIOD!

For pups, we use shredded paper in the whelping box. You can get it for free many times from a recycling center. Shake it well as there can be dust from the shredding process. White paper only NO COLOR

Onpoint
 
Dog house bedding

Have raised Goldens for 40 years. They stay outside most of the time, except in really cold weather. Have tried straw,hay, cedar et al. I found the dogs feet and coat made the bedding wet and it smelled. Not sure if a wet bed is too comfortable so I don't put anything in the house and they stay dry. Had one dog that pushed the cedar out of the house with his nose!

Jon
 
My dog must live in the lap of luxury. I buy the Carpet Samples from the carpet shops when they change styles. They give them to me for a buck apiece. I put about 3-4 in the dog crate and they love them. If they get sick or just muddy/dirty. A little dish soap and a garden hose cleans them up just fine. That is one thing about my Brittany's, they don't mess their regular Kennel or their crates. They bark and cry to get out. Tony banks the carpet up on the sides of his travel crate. To keep the cold off and as a cushion against the road bouncing......Bob
 
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I also use straw just because it easy for me to get. My favorite is corn stalks they don't flatten and hold the air i will put hay over the top of this. Toss a bale of corn stalks and one of hay in the pasture and the cattle lay in the corn stalks.
 
In my opinion shredded paper is the best. When growing up my old man ran a printing business. We used the shredded paper for all our dogs. Paper retains heat as well as straw but it is cleaner. And bugs cannot live in it. Do not use high gloss etc. If you have a printing business near you I bet you can get boxes of the stuff for free or cheap. It's usually just the trimmings off the pages of a book etc.
 
The right kind of prairie grass is hard to beat. Sheds water but does not beakup like straw and can be handled with fork. Broom is a native grass and soaks up moisture stinks etc.
 
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