As Monte has destroyed the big pillow that he used as his bed, I thought that I would make a proper dog bed for Duff. Yes I could have bought it, but where’s the fun of it?
After searching for some DIY dog bed on the internet, I found one via Pinterest that I quite like. Unfortunately the Pinterest link only pointed to the image with no explanation of the original creator. The watermark shows a username on Weibo, a Chinese microblogging service. If you are the owner of the image, or you know who owns the image, please tell me so I can give a proper credit. This is the image.
The idea of the dog bed is quite simple but clever. Everything is in one piece, you only need to shape them by stitching some lines across. The walls are then connected to each other using ribbon ties. Of course this bed is more suitable for calmer dog like Duff. I use cotton/linen mix from my stash, it is an interior weight fabric with checks pattern. Duff seems to like it as he has already lied down on it when I was cutting on the floor. I recycled the fibrefill from Monte’s pillow for the bed’s walls.
The pillow form was made from Monte’s old pillow form fabric, filled with leftover fibrefill and cut-up fabric scraps. The case is just some old pillow case lying around. Maybe I should have made a matching pillow case,γο½ut the fabric of this pillow case is very comfortable and Duff loves it.
The red pillow is from his previous foster parent. It is made from quilted fabric with his name appliqued on it. Except for the smell, the pillow is still in perfect condition! No bite marks and all. I think it is so adorable that he has his own pillow.
Duff is such a sweet boy! He doesn’t bite, doesn’t chew on things, does his business on the right place (except for several times when he couldn’t differentiate tatami floor with grass). He sleeps on his bed in our bedroom at night and doesn’t have to be crated.
The thing is, he doesn’t know how to play. Maybe he didn’t have toys when he was living with his previous owner. Isn’t that sad, a dog who doesn’t know how to play? I threw him a ball, he looked at the ball and looked back at me excitedly, as if he knows that I want him to do something but he just couldn’t figure it out.
I gave him a chew toy (with tasty bacon flavor!) but he just sniffed it and then looked at me. This morning I gave him a food dispenser toy, he was preoccupied for sometime but stopped when the treats were all gone.
So he usually just follows me everywhere, sitting around me and staring at me with his adorable eyes. It is cute of course, but I hope he will be able to enjoy playing with toys someday!
Ow, that is adorable! It’s like a mini-sofa for a dog.. Love it! Maybe I should make one for my dog, so she stops pushing her owners out of their bed at night..
What a sweet doxie! I adopted a rescue lurcher when he was 7, and he was never interested in toys, at all, and I bought him lots of different ones to try until he passed away aged 14. He loved to chase wild rabbits and squirrels (never caught one), and his favourite game was ‘find which pocket I have the treat in’. I have two dogs now, and one will play with toys all day but the other isn’t interested at all unless it’s edible, and they are the same breed. You could try freezing some mince or dogfood or peanut butter in a Kong toy, that would keep him occupied for longer?
I have a smaller dog and she isn’t much for playing either. Occasionally she will get excited about a particular ball or squirrel, but otherwise she is very relaxed. I love the dog bed- super cute! Pretty sure my little Gia would love one.
Duff is SO cute!!
itΒ΄s the cutest thing ever!!!!
I read Duff’s story the other day. Then when I saw today that you made him his own bed, I totally started crying. I love that you are fostering these dogs and nurturing them. You are doing healing work! Duff might need you and Sidra to get down on the floor and play with the ball together, and then involve him by throwing it to him, crawling up and grabbing it, throwing it to him, and grabbing it again. This is how we taught my rescue dog to play. It was like her brain didn’t even have the switch for “play”. Be advised, though: once it’s on, it’s ON! π
Duff’s dog bed is great! And it probably is not a big deal that he doesn’t play with toys. When we first adopted our basenji, I had a whole basket of toys for her, but she showed no interest in any of them. Then, her foster mom visited and brought a stuffed hedgehog toy. Our dog LOVED the hedgehog. It was really the only toy she ever played with!!
Yep, I found the source… π
Scroll down a little bit on this site – there are more nice things on it – and you will found the original http://tieba.baidu.com/p/1988437748
“Groeten uit Amsterdam”
Palma
Thank you Palma, I will check it out!
Hi! You puppy and toys reminds me of getting my cat. For the first few weeks, she didn’t play at all. Eventually she became more and more comfortable in my apartment and with me. After that she started playing a lot; it turned out she is a very playful cat. Perhaps your pup is still settling in!
wow, this is to nice and sweet:) You should to keep him. This so nice and sweet doggy:) I love him:*:)
He is so beautiful. Sounds like the perfect boy with his behavior. I would just keep working with him on the toys. He’ll get there.
Love the bed you made. Awesome!
That is the sweetest dog bed! I’ve seen similar dog beds online and I love how this particular one uses ties to make the walls stand up.
Also, Duff is super cute! From your post and some of the comments, it seems as though he is more food and people motivated. Maybe you can play with him and teach him some advanced tricks?
We used to have a dog, a beagle mix, who was very mild mannered and seemed a bit like Duff, personality-wise. We got her after she had wandered into a family member’s backyard during a sand storm. She was quite emaciated. We concluded that she had also been abused because whenever someone randomly held up a newspaper, magazine, or anything up the air, she would totally cower. It was very sad to know that; she was such a passive dog that just wanted to please. Anyway, she did have a long peaceful life after all that, and got way too chubby. It was a long time ago, but I think that she did eventually learn to do some tricks, like roll-over and things like that. So, maybe dogs who have been in an abusive environment, and never learned the run-and-fetch games, might respond to learning tricks. Especially, if they are dogs that are people-focused and want to please– I think they enjoy that.
I love the dog bed too – its like a big version of a little jewelry tray omiyage.
~Jen
Duff is adorable! My dogs don’t really know how to play either. We adopted both of them, so maybe they didn’t learn to play as pups. But they are super cuddly and sweet. And the LOVE going for walks—that is what they like to do instead of play.
What a photogenic dog! He knows how to look at the camera. My dog never liked hard toys, balls, or anything too rubbery. She liked soft squeaky toys, and especially liked when you tossed the toy between two people and she would run around in between trying to get it. Especially for an adult dog who isn’t naturally hyper, it takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what they like. I’m glad he loves his bed, though! He knows it was made just for him.
Oh my gosh, those pictures… Duff is a sweetie!
That is such a neat dog bed–I love the construction.
I’m really enjoying your posts about Monte and Duff. I’m so happy Monte now has a furrever home!
It’s nice to see him with a little place of his own.
You are so very clever. The bed is amazing. Lucky Duff
Awwwwww! Duff is too cute!
Anyway, what I really wanted to say is- ILOVE your blog! You are combining two of my favorite things ever, sewing and dogs! It’s basically my dream world! I’m actually saving up scraps to fill a bed like that for one of my babies, but he’s 90 lbs. so it’s taking a while! I can’t wait to see what you’re up to next
Aww your dog and I share the same weight lol! It will really take a lot of sewing to have scraps enough for his bed! π
He is spectacularly cute and that is a really great bed! It takes some dogs a while to learn how to play, especially if they come from rough beginnings. He looks so happy, thank you (and Duff) for putting a smile on my face
You’re welcome!
Sometimes my dog likes to play with toys and other times (most of the time) she won’t have a bar of it. It really depends on what mood she is in. Occasionally she will even instigate play by herself if I just leave the toy lying around. Great dog bed!
I guess she has a mind of her own! Duff doesn’t really do anything by himself though, he just follows me around from room to room. Sometimes when I brush my teeth, he would start to sleep on the bath mat – then startled by me walking out of the bathroom and starts following again π But it has just been a week, maybe he’s just in adaptation process
Look at that face!
He’s a daschund, right? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with long hair. Clever idea for a dog bed, too! For some reason all my dogs never really got the concept of dog beds or toys.
Yes he is a long-haired miniature dachshund, they’re quite popular in Japan! You can see them everywhere
Your dogs are too funny! I used to have a dog who would sleep beside his bed instead on it, then he would chew the bed π
In my experience, some dogs just aren’t toy oriented and some are. And I’ve had dogs all my life. It doesn’t mean they’re not happy dogs. I’d suggest different types of toys; i.e. stuffed vs. hard plastic vs. nylabone, squeaky vs. nonsqueaky, etc. to see what he likes. But I have had a couple of dogs who just aren’t into toys or balls, or anything but chewing on a bone or some other food thing. They were still great dogs and seemed very happy and fulfilled without toys. They did enjoy playing with other dogs and going walkies.
Adorable dog! Super cute!
Thank you for your suggestions! I will try giving him different toys.
Sometimes I have to leave him alone for several hours and I think he needs toys so he won’t get bored. He do likes food things (of course all dogs do!) but his body is a bit weak because of his rough past and his weight needs to be really watched. With the food dispenser toys, he will give up if it’s a bit harder for him to get food from it. But if I make it easier, he will finish it too quick! π I guess I just have to keep trying
This is a lovely dog bed! Duff looks so sweet.