Puppy crate mats
 

So the Siberian is doing well, growing and happy so far. In his crate we started with a rug remnant which was not the best idea, now he has towels which he bunches up and wraps around himself like a little kid, but he is very HAIRY and shaking these towels just doesn't cut it and I'm concerned about washing them regularly - will that hair hurt the washer and dryer?

I was thinking of making crate mats, fabric with poly batting in between and loosely quilted.They use them in shelters and I have some cute fabric with cats on one side and dogs on the other, Christmas fab but I'm sure he won't mind, which would work perfect.

Do you think these would work? If not I'm open to suggestions.

I know that a few in our sewing group make the dog beds for the local shelter and rescue organizations. They sew what I would call channels and stuff them full of scraps of fabric. That is where my leftover tiny scraps go.

I had a Westie and I just made a simple quilt using 4.5 strips, put a good quality batting in them. I still have the quilt top laying on my wicker bench in my bedroom to remind me of my beloved pet. Fabric looks faded from the washing but that is all, still intact.

When we took our Shepherd to classes, it was requested that we bring a mat for him. I pieced a scrappy top that was 6" squares of fun doggy prints. I then enveloped it using a towel for the backing. I turned it ride side out and did a top stitch around the edges and then cross hatched quilted it. Worked well. I know that you are currently using towels and don't like all the hair it captures but only one side of the towel would be able to catch the hair. We have 2 German "Shedders", a Pomeranian, a Schnoodle and 5 cats. We deal with lots of animal hair in our house. We do have to clean out our dryer vent & hose more often but wouldn't trade them for the world!!! Huskies are huge shedders so keep an eye on your dryer vent and hose.

Personally, I would (and did) go with the orthopedic (egg carton shaped) foam pads covered with a zippered, easy to wash, faux sheepskin top/faux flannel back cover that are made especially for dog crates. They're better for the puppy's bones and joints, aren't prone to being chewed, and stay put on the bottom of the crate where they belong. It's a good idea to get two covers so there's one in the crate while the other is in the wash. The foam pads themselves are hand washable if soiled.

Shelters use loose, quilty things because they're free and very low maintenance. It's that simple. I'd never crate my own dog on anything that flimsy/swallowable/uncomfortable/unhealthy. Health and safety outweigh cute and crafty. Just my opinion of course, and that of the breeders I know and those I am related to.

Sheltie hair never hurt my washer and dryer, so yours should be fine. Keeping the filters, not just the vents, clear on both machines is the secret. Dog hair did kill two vacuum cleaners, but that's a whole 'nother story. :o

My dog didn't like mats or towels in her crate. She wadded them up in the back of the crate to get them out of her way. Some dogs will chew them up and eat them which is dangerous too.

When the dogs aren't in their crates I take the mats outside and give them a good shake. Each dog has 2 mats. I alternate because they are great shedders. The mats are identical but 2 different sizes (specific for each crate). I try to remove as much hair as possible before putting into the washer and dryer. Wish I had a clothesline because I would use it instead of my dryer. Our mats are heavier because we use old bath towels.

I have cats but they love to lay ON things -- I folded a mattress pad, cut in half, and stitched around all the edges. I use the vacuum on them before I wash them.

The granddogs love the polar fleece crate blankets I made for them. I doubled up the fleece, sewed them leaving enough edge to fringe them. They are washed frequently, but they have short hair. So not sure about the washer/dryer wear and tear. I would think that if you clean the lint trap in the washer (we used to use a panty hose leg over the hose to collect the lint) it should be ok. If your puppy loves to chew and suck on tags, you can add tags made from grosgrain ribbon on the blankets. Both of the granddogs loved the tags when they were babies.

I showed dogs for a long time, and have set up at shows next to every breed possible. I'm not proud to admit that my breed sheds more than any other I've run into. I've had as many as 5 adult Kuvasz living in the house with me at any given time so the answer is no ... if the dog hair I was tossing into my washing machine didn't kill it, the hair of 1 Siberian won't come close.

The good news is that right now he's probably loosing his puppy fluff. Once that is done he will shed a bit all year round, then once or twice a year he will have a "blow" when he loses all of his undercoat. Get yourself a rake - designed for removing undercoat, and remove as much as you can outside. My one last Kuvasz is blowing coat now.

This is what it looks like after I've raked and blow dried him. Bear in mind, this is just the first rake. It takes 3-4 weeks to completely blow coat ... so I have a pile like this every week for 3-4 weeks.

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Vacuum cleaners are another story. I've killed scores of those!!

If you run short of time or energy, we have gotten some very nice quality crate mats at Ross at very reasonable prices.

Each dog is different and likes different kinds of beds. Some dogs like to bunch things up and lay on it or snuggle into it. Fleece mats/blankets are good for those dogs. But dog hair can stick into the fleece. So before they go in the washer, I take masking tape and go over them first. It doesn't remove all the hair, but reduces the load for the machine. The trick is to wash them frequently!

I've made quilts for my dogs and for my friends' dogs. Commonly, some of the dogs like to bite at the fabric and take the batting out. Taking batting out of dog toys seems to be a favorite thing for many dogs. As a result, I don't reccommend anything with bat in it unless it has a really tough cover.

For my dogs' beds, I get the sheepskin (fake) beds for them, but I don't wash them at home. They are too heavy when they get wet so I use the heavy machines at the laundry mat for them. I keep a counterpane, or summer, quilt on the spot on my bed where they sleep. It just gets shakened and goes in the washing machine.

The heavy undercoat of your dog will give you more hair than most dogs. I brush my dogs (corgis) every day. When they blow coat, I get a trash can full of fur every day for two weeks. The key is frequent grooming.

Sue, omg, lol! I'll have to show dd this pic, she's quite knowledgeable about her Siberian, she's wanted one since high school, but she'll love this!

What do you DO with all that?

Lucio, I'm not familiar with Ross...

Penny, the laundramat is a good idea. DD just bought a foam bed with removable, washable, sheepskin cover.

We've made our girls several beds. They are not picky, they just want the one the other has. The only problem we had was when their cousin chester lived with us for awhile. He ate everything, even their toys. He ate his rubber crate bottom. And his dad's couch.

My Gracie, Maltese, is a single coat baby and does not have an undercoat, so she does not shed. However, she will lose a few hairs a day just like we do. Before I wash anything of hers, I use a lint roller to pick up any stray hairs, and it works really, really well.

Just a tidbit about using carpet as crate pads. If you choose to use carpet make sure it's not looped like Berber carpet, because if you have a coated breed the carpet will pull hair out of your dog producing more hair ball about your house. If your dog can be destructive you can use upholstery material for the outside part of the crate pad. I have a few that has lasted 10 years and are used daily. Please post your creations when you have finished them. I always like to see new ideas!! Btw, your puppy is adorable!!!

I have 3 dogs and have experimented with batting/ wadding in the quilts I make for them . They love the poly best. They also like a cotton top with a fleece backing with or without poly.
Being small dogs 2 bishion and a cairn, they roll them up and run round with them placing them where they think they should sleep ie on a chair.
They loved the one in my avatar,which after 12months of them sleeping on in under went into a quilt show. Comment I'd missed a strip of quilting. It never was for showing just me and the dogs and it's big enough for that.

I make cat blankets for cat shows and use cotton fabric, BUT I also have a puppy and he has shreded the blanket we gave him the compforter we gave him so I made a large pillow case with shade cloth and put the left over bits of compfotor in that ans sewed it up, no more problem

Some dogs, especially puppies, are chewers, so I wouldn't give them a mat with a filling in it. Double denim would probably suffice. We have a dachshund and her favorites are an old really thick baby blanket and a down filled comforter which is left across the foot of my bed. Se doesn't chew them and although she does shed some, it's not problem. Her one vice is she chews any knobby eyes off her dog toys and then I just sew up the hole so it's not to attractive any more. She's such a sweet dog I would keep her if she ate everything in the house!

Cute puppy ! Hope you find a solution that fits your furbaby ~!

I wold not recommend stuffing a dog bed with cotton scraps. The electricity you would burn to get it dry after washing it is really brutal!

I don't like removing the egg-crate mat inserts because I think they are icky and should get washed too!

I vote for the SEALED fake-sheep-wool crate mats, but be sure you get the really heavy duty stuff that can't get chewed to bits. The whole thing can be thrown in the wash. It worked for Akitas and is working fine for our lab.

The fact that the fake sheep wool attracts pet hair is GOOD. It means there is less pet hair rolling into balls like tumbleweeds around the kitchen floor when they are blowing their coat.

Ross dress for less is a discount store that I thought would be nation wide but apparently not. Stores like TJ Maxx and Home Goods also have products for dogs and cats to the rear of the stores.

My house is covered with nonskid bathroom-type rugs that get really furry and peed on a good bit and the washer and dryer dont seem to mind! Crate mats sound good, I'd use towels inside rather than batting for ease of washing and drying.

Try putting your towels, or whatever, in the dryer first....just on air fluff, no heat. That should remove most of the hair before washing. Just remember to clean the dryer filter!

Living in a small Midwest town our dog shelter is private and needs all the help they can get. When I decided I wanted to learn quilting I figured the dogs wouldn't be too critical of my work so I've been making them mini-quilts. Some do get chewed to shreds, but it's for a good cause.

My little yorkie poos like to lay on pillows so I go to the thrift store and buy small throw pillows, wash them and fluff them up again. I make new covers with some of my fabric if needed. My family room looks like a harem with pillows on the floor in their favorite spots . I did make them each a doggie bed with the collar all around and used a thrift pillow in the center. I keep those in my sewing room so that they can come and sleep while I sew.

I have 3 very hairy dogs, one in particular is a Great Pyrenees - wanna talk about hair loss daily? lol - clumps of hair are lost almost daily, regardless that I brush him often! And yes, I have made this member of our family many blankets to lay on, and yes, they become EXTREMELY hairy. And YES, I wash them regularly - but usually hang them on the line to dry - if they are too hairy then I do put them in the dryer. The hair collects into the dryer trap - and I remove them a couple of times while drying. They always come out looking like I just made them.

I'm grateful that my 3 mutts are well past the puppy chew-on-everything stage! They share one gigantic crate out in the garage (when they're not on the couch and/or in our laps) and we have a variety of things in there. We have 3 beds in there and then they have a variety of blankets - some store-bought, some made by me.

They don't chew the blankets usually, unless they get into a game of tug-o-war with them. I usually just patch the rips since they don't actually eat any of the fabric, it just gets yanked apart. They're very good at wrapping themselves up, though...when it's cold you can't see a single nose or paw in there! (There's also a heater mat under their crate that we put on a nightly timer during the coldest months...even though it rarely gets cold enough for frost outside, we like to spoil our doggies! And one of the girls is 13 now so we try to keep her old bones nice and warm.)

Everything that's theirs (beds, blankets) is machine-washable. I shake stuff out in the yard before tossing it in, but I don't do a lot of work to remove fur. Our old girl is a Lab/husky mix so she produces a LOT of fur - so far our washer & dryer handle it all just fine!

I would not put any padding in a crate with a puppy. Nothing they could chew and swallow!

I make dog mats by folding a fleece into thirds and then sewing the sides. it gives two areas for a puppy or small dog to curl up in.

I buy those "gel" mats from Walmart in the kitchen towel department. Perfect size fir the medium crate. They have the cushion and they can be wiped off esp when my senior dog leaks or poos on it. The towels are thrown in the crate. Washable.

ROFL! My living room floor looks like that too! My no-sew round fleece beds look horrible but my furkids love them. I am going to start my flannel pillow case dog beds tomorrow as a way to get used to my "been sitting in the box for a couple of years" as yet unused sewing/embroidery machine. Any mistakes I make my furkids won't notice!

Louise

......what does a kuvasz look like...from that pic, looks like a lot of dog! I'm going to look this up.


Edit--- wow, what a beautiful dog.......( looked up), but indeed needs lots of brushing/grooming