Collection: Dog Calming Beds

"Calming" on a dog bed describes how it is built, not what it treats. Here it means: raised walls to press a back or chin into, a deep-fill base so they are not feeling the floor, and a long-pile faux fur or wool surface that holds body heat. Some dogs settle faster with something to lean on. What a bed does not do is treat anxiety. If your dog pants all night or will not eat during a storm, talk to your vet and a trainer.

The hard nights come in a run: spring and summer storms, New Year's Eve fireworks, then late January when the house empties. Buying ahead of one? Give your dog a few quiet weeks with it first, so it smells like them before the noise starts.

How to choose

• Size by centimetres, not by label. Labels differ: a Snooza Calming Cuddler Small has a 30 cm sleeping area; a MiniJumbuk Sleep Calm Oasis Medium has a 25 cm sleep zone. Measure your dog as they actually sleep and check that against the sleeping-area figure in each size table. If close, go up.
• Cuddler, hooded or flat. Cuddlers have walls all round, for dogs who curl up and lean. Hooded beds add a roof for burrowers. Flat mats suit dogs who stretch out, and crates. Everything else sits under dog beds.
• Low front or foam base. Older or stiff dogs do better with a low entry or orthopaedic foam: see memory foam dog beds.
• Washable, and which part. Most covers here are removable and machine washable, not all: read the listing. Snooza cuddler filling washes too; MiniJumbuk wool beds are cover only.
• Where it goes in a storm. An interior room away from windows, where your dog already retreats, set up now, not when the thunder starts.

The Snooza beds, up close

The Snooza Calming Cuddler is made in Australia in four sizes, $99 (Small) to $196 (Extra Large). Cover and filling both go in the machine; a zip on the inner liner lets you top up the fill. The Calming Hoodie Cuddler (from $100) is the same bed with a roof. The Snooza Calming Bed, from $85 in five sizes, is the lowest-priced way into the range.

Beyond the bed

Our dog anxiety treats and supplements are a separate range. The Adaptil diffuser ($121 with a 48 ml refill; refills $80) plugs into a wall socket and releases what Adaptil describes as a synthetic copy of a mother dog's pheromone. Blackmores PAW Complete Calm chews ($38, medium and large dogs) list tryptophan and B-group vitamins on the label. Neither replaces a vet visit for a distressed dog; run any supplement past your vet first.

Free shipping over $99 | SA, VIC & NSW metro — ships from SA. 30-day returns, and we cover return postage.