How to pick a washable bed for a shedding curly dog

If you live with a curly dog, you already know the two things that happen to every bed you bring home. The first is hair. Curly coats shed in a way that weaves itself into fabric, and no amount of brushing gets all of it. The second is smell. A bed that cannot go in the washing machine slowly becomes a sponge for everything your dog drags in from the yard. I learned both lessons with June, my three-year-old standard Aussiedoodle, and I learned them the hard way before I figured out what actually matters in a washable bed.

June is about 48 pounds, blue merle, with a wavy-curly coat that mats behind her ears and along her collar line if I skip even a few brushing sessions. She sleeps on her bed every night and naps on it after walks, which means that bed takes a beating. When I went looking for a replacement, I did not need another pretty dog bed. The Bedsure Orthopedic Dog Bed is what I landed on, and it has been in our living room for about 21 months now. What sold me was the practical list: a removable cover that could survive regular washing, a base that would not turn into a lumpy mess, and edges that would still look like edges after a year of a bouncy dog flopping onto them.

Step 1: Start with the cover, because that is what you will actually wash

The single biggest mistake I made with June's first bed was buying one where the whole thing had to go in the washer. The bed before this one came from a big-box store, and I remember the exact moment I gave up on it. I had wrestled the whole flat cushion into the washer on a Saturday morning in March, and when it finally dried two days later in the Tennessee humidity, it smelled like a damp basement and the cover had started to pill. I put it back together, June took one sniff and walked away, and I did the whole thing again a month later before I admitted the design was the problem, not my washing routine. The cover is the part that touches your dog, collects the hair, and absorbs the smells. The foam base does not need to be washed every two weeks. It needs to stay out of the machine entirely.

That is why the Bedsure bed works for us. The cover zips off, the foam base stays in the living room, and the cover goes in the wash by itself. I wash it about every two weeks, and it comes out looking like a bed cover instead of a science experiment. When you are comparing beds, look for the word removable and a zipper you can actually find. Some covers are technically removable but the zipper is hidden so well that you give up and wash the whole thing anyway. I learned that the hard way with a friend's bed I helped her wash once; we spent twenty minutes hunting for the zipper before we found it under a fold of fabric.

A second cover is worth considering if your dog is a heavy shedder. I did not buy a second one, but I have thought about it more than once. The cover is the part that takes the abuse, and having a spare means you can wash one while the other is on the bed. It also means you are not waiting for a damp cover to dry on a rainy week, which is exactly when June likes to come in from the yard smelling like wet dog. If you only want to buy one bed, the Bedsure cover alone has held up fine for us. I just mention the spare because it is the kind of thing I wish someone had told me before I bought the first bed.

Step 2: Check the zipper before you check the fabric

A zipper is the difference between a bed you wash and a bed you throw away. I have handled beds at pet stores where the zipper felt flimsy, the kind that snags on the fabric the first time you use it. With a curly dog, you are going to unzip and zip that cover dozens of times a year. A weak zipper will not make it. I unzipped the Bedsure cover on a Sunday morning in late September, after June had come in from the yard with mud on her chest and promptly flopped onto her bed. The zipper pulled open in one smooth motion, no snagging, no fighting the fabric. I washed the cover on a normal cycle with a little detergent, let it air dry, and had it back on the bed before the afternoon was over. After 21 months of regular washing, the same zipper still closes the way it did on day one. That is the thing I would tell anyone shopping: a zipper is not a detail, it is the whole point.

The other thing to check is how the zipper is placed. Some beds have the zipper on top, where your dog lies on it. That is a pressure point, and it is also where hair collects. In 21 months the Bedsure zipper has never bothered June or snagged. When you are shopping, run your finger along the zipper track. If it feels rough or catches, imagine doing that every two weeks for two years. If the zipper is buried under a flap of fabric, ask yourself whether you will actually find it at nine o'clock at night when you are tired and the bed smells like a swamp.

Step 3: Look for a base that will not go flat

The foam base is the part of the bed that does the real work. A cheap base goes flat in a few months, and then your dog is essentially sleeping on the floor with a pillowcase over it. The Bedsure bed has an egg-crate foam base, and the texture is still visible when I take the cover off: little rows of foam peaks that look the same as they did the day the box arrived in January 2025. I checked them on a Monday morning in early October, because I had read too many reviews of other beds where the base went flat within a year. June had launched herself onto the bed from a dead run the evening before, the way she does after fetch, and the base bounced right back. That is the test that matters more than anything printed on the box. After about 21 months of June sleeping on it every night, it still has its shape.

I am not a vet, and I am not going to tell you this bed treats joint problems, because it does not. What I can tell you is that June is a bouncy three-year-old who flops onto this bed from a full standing position, and the base has held up. If you have an older dog with mobility issues, that is a conversation for your vet. For a healthy, active dog who just needs a comfortable place to land, a base that keeps its shape matters more than any label on the box.

Step 4: Think about how hair will come off the fabric

Curly dog hair does not behave like straight dog hair. It wraps around fabric fibers, and some bed covers hold onto it no matter how many times you wash them. I have had covers that came out of the dryer still covered in a layer of June's hair. The first time I washed the Bedsure cover, I braced for the same result: a layer of fine curly hair baked into the fabric, with the lint trap full and the cover still furry. Instead it came out clean, and the lint trap caught what the wash loosened. I still run a lint roller over the bed once a week, mostly out of habit, but I do not have to pick hair out of the fabric strand by strand. That was the moment the every-two-weeks washing routine became something I could actually keep up with, instead of a chore I dreaded.

The fabric choice matters here. Smooth, tightly woven covers release hair more easily than fuzzy ones. A fuzzy cover feels nice to us, but it acts like Velcro for loose curls. When you are comparing beds, rub the fabric and ask yourself what a year of dog hair would do to it. The Bedsure cover has held up to June's coat with only light pilling and without turning into a hair magnet, and that has made the every-two-weeks washing routine actually sustainable. I have washed it through a full cycle of seasons, including the spring shed, and it still comes out looking like a bed cover instead of a hair shirt.

Step 5: Buy the right size for the dog you have, not the dog you wish you had

June is about 48 pounds, and she likes to stretch out when she sleeps. Before I ordered, I measured her one evening while she was sprawled on the living-room floor after a long walk: about three feet from nose to tail, with her legs stretched out behind her. I added a little room on top of that and bought the large Bedsure bed. It gives her room to sprawl without hanging off the edge. If I had bought a smaller bed to save space, she would have been curled up in a ball every night, and the bed would have worn out faster in the middle. Measure your dog from nose to tail while they are stretched out, then add a little room. That is the size you want. It sounds obvious, but I almost bought a medium because I was looking at the space on the floor instead of the dog on the bed.

The raised edges on the Bedsure bed are another reason the size works for us. June rests her head on the bolster when she naps, and the edges have kept their shape instead of flattening out. A bed that is too small does not give a dog room to use the edges properly, and a bed that is too big can feel like a cave. The large size has been the right fit for June, and it sits in the corner of our living room by the front window without taking over the whole room.

What Else Helps

A washable bed is only part of the routine. I brush June three or four evenings a week on the living-room floor, with her lying on an old towel. I use a spray detangler first, then a slicker brush in small sections, then a plain steel comb to check my work. That routine keeps the loose hair out of the bed in the first place, which means the cover does not get as hairy between washings. I also wipe her paws with an old towel after she comes in from the yard, especially in the fall when the mud is thick, because a dog who is clean gets a bed that stays clean longer. If your dog has tight mats, that is a job for a professional groomer, not for more brushing at home.

I also keep the bed in the same spot, in the corner by the front window. Dogs like a consistent place to sleep, and keeping the bed in one spot means the cover stays cleaner longer. When I wash the cover, I put it back on the same day so the bed does not sit empty. June has never been shaved, and I brush her regularly so her groomer does not have to. A good bed, a good brush, and a regular routine have made life with a curly dog much easier.

After 21 months of a 48-pound Aussiedoodle sleeping on it every night, the Bedsure cover still zips off cleanly and the foam base still holds its shape.