Nikki and Ellie aren’t the first Labrador Retrievers I’ve had so I am aware of the ongoing genetic issue of hip dysplasia in their breed. I wanted my girls up off the floor with their hips cushioned.
Both were crate trained for the first 2 years of their life — meaning if I wasn’t home they were in the crate. I loved it because I missed the whole having my home chewed phase. When they hit 2 years old the crate was removed and a cot put in its place. Since they are 2 years apart in age, that means I moved Nikki to a cot when I got Ellie because she needed to be in the crate. I couldn’t face training more than one dog at a time so I spaced them out.
When I brought Ellie home I started building the frame and sewing the slings for Nikki’s dog cot. I bought enough materials for 4 cots — 2 downstairs where they stay when I’m gone and 2 in the bedroom for sleeping at night. The whole time I was making the cot I was thinking I’d do all that work and they wouldn’t so much as look at it. Wrong.
I put the first cot down in the kitchen when I was spending a lot of time remodeling it and they both climbed in. Ellie was really little at this point so they cuddled up together to nap.
1st day on new cot — they needed to include their “puppy” toy
PVC reasy to assemble
Detail of corner fittings with non-slip pads for ceramic
First sling mounted on PVC
Both slings assembled
1st corner assembled
Completely assembled cot
Level view of cot
Nikki and Ellie on current Cordura cots
Nikki and Ellie are now 9 and 7 years old and they still love their cots.
If you’re interested in making your own cots I can send you the dimensions I used for these. If you’d rather just put one together, email me and I can make it and ship it to you.
Hello DIYGirl
Im interested in making my own cots but am unsure of how to make your slings… could you please send me your dimensions as I have a boxer and 2 pitbulls that live in house with me…
Also how much would it cost me for you to make me the slings and have them shipped to me… I can buy and cut the PVC to size…
Thanks
Corey
Corey,
I definitely could sew the slings for you. Do you have ideas of what fabric you would like or would you let me pick? If you let me pick up the fabric I would need to know what color you would like. How many cots were you wanting?
I could also provide the corners for the PVC since they are a little difficult to track down.
Let me know what you’d like to do.
Th DIY Girl
Hi…I have 2 labs each one being around 85 pounds. I am very interested in making these for my dogs. I am fairly certain I can get all the supplies around me. Would you mind sending me the dimensions for the cot itself , the slings and then what pvc I would need. Thank you so much.
Kim – everything you need to know should be on the tutorial at http://www.thediygirl.compvc-dog-cot-tutorial-2/. Check it out and let me know if you have any questions.
Th DIY Girl,
Hello thanx for getting back to me so soon… If possible I am wanting 3 cots. Which fabric did you use? Would it be possible for you to get Phifertex? As for the color well something similar to the color that you used for your 2 beauties..
I have a fawn male boxer, caramel male pitbull & beige female pitbull…
Corey
Corey,
Let me tell you what I have and what I think of the two options.
I actually have 4 beds. 2 in my bedroom and 2 in an area I leave the dogs when I’m away.
The slings for the beds in the bedroom are a relatively thin cotton. They are probably 8 years old and have withstood 150 pounds of dog jumping on them at the same time. What I like about them is they are quiet. When the dogs move around at night the fabric makes no noise.
I made the slings on the other 2 beds of Cordura thinking that would be more durable and easier to clean. It is durable (but so has the cotton been). I had thought it would be good to be able to take them outside and hose them off, but that’s not so convenient and I end up throwing the slings in the washer. The Cordura isn’t easy to wash and dry. The cotton is. And the Cordura is so noisy. Every time one of the dogs gets up and and turns around I hear them.
Unless the beds are going to be outside I will only use cotton in the future. It’s soft and comfy for the dogs and it’s quiet for me. And it’s really easy to wash and dry.
I think I would get something like this. Heavy enough to hold up to abuse from the dogs, but with all the benefits of cotton.
http://www.joann.com/duck-canvas-/prd23683/
Let me know what you think and how you’d like to proceed. I should warn you that if you would like me to sew them it would take a week or two since a fabric store isn’t exactly right around the corner.
The DIY Girl
DIY Girl
Hello..
Ok so how about you put together 1 for me…
Then could you send me the dimensions for the ones that you have and I’ll just look around here at my local fabric stores to see what I can find…
Corey
DIY Girl,
hello sorry it took me so liog to respond. I thought my last message went out to you but apparently it didn’t… Well my last message asked if you could sew the slings for 1, then send me the dimensions so that I could find some material here at my local fabric stores…
Corey,
I sent an email to you a few days ago and haven’t heard back so I thought I’d reply here. Let me know if you didn’t get the email and I will try to send again.
The DIY Girl
Hi, DIY girl – can you tell me where you found your PVC corner pieces? I am, like you said, having a VERY hard time finding them in 2″ which I think I’ll need because my little fellow is about 80#.
I can understand your desire for 2″ with and 80 lb. dog, but both of my 75 lb. dogs get on one bed at the same time and nothing has ever broken, so I bet 1 1/2″ would work. I did a search for 2″ 3 Way Elbow and found several listings. Lowe’s will pop up in a search, but they do not carry them. I have purchased from http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=74198&catid=896 and http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/accessory/pvc.shtml before. I buy from whoever has the best price with shipping.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I hope your dog loves the dog cot as much as mine do.
Hi there! I would love for you to send me your dimensions. I have a German Shepherd, full grown and a 20 lb “Dorkie” mix. Thanks a bunch for the tutorial!
Sue — Since it’s 9 degrees outside right now, my dogs are snuggled up on their beds as I write. The first little chart in the tutorial shows that I cut my PVC 32″ and 26″ for a rectangular bed. This should be a good size for your German Shepherd. If the “Dorkie” sleeps with him/her there will be plenty of room for 2 since my 75 lb. labs can both curl up on the same bed. Let me know if you need anything else!
Can you give more detail on the dimensions of the canvas to be cut prior to sewing, and the seam sizes and stitch you used? I feel like I don’t have all the detail, am I missing something? All I see are captioned pictures.
thanks, Denise
Denise, I just checked the post to make sure nothing had happened to the images that contain the sizes, layouts, etc and they are still there. I assume you aren’t seeing them? I am sending you an email where I attached the images and I copied the sewing instructions. All sewing is simple straight stitching. Let me know here if you don’t get the email.
I am wanting to build a cot for my Great Dane “Annie”.
I will obviously need to make mine larger for the breed. Annie is a small sized Dane at about 120 lbs., but she’s tall with long legs.
Her bed is 40″x52″ and will go on top of the cot.
I looked at the photos of yours and read the posts and want to know what your height is or what length the riser leg is and how you came to that height.
Did you glue the legs to the corners? I’m guessing that the side pieces are not glued so as to disassemble and wash the slings once in a while.
A couple points on a larger dog cot.
The longer spans of each side may (I don’t know) be more prone to sagging or bowing. Having used the original frames I made for 10 years I know for certain 1 1/2″ PVC doesn’t sag from daily use by 75 pound dogs. Maybe a larger diameter PVC? I did find 3 way corners for 2″ pipe online.
Longer sides means longer slings and the fabric will definitely sag more. They will sag even more due to the increased weight of a 120 pound dog. Less than 6″ legs and my dogs were sometimes touching the floor in the center which defeats the purpose of the cots. I would increase the leg height to compensate for this. Fortunately the legs can easily be changed if the height isn’t good. And no — I don’t glue anything so the cots can be taken apart for cleaning and travel.
Please let me know how the cot turns out for Annie.
Steve — sorry I totally missed your comment. The leg height was trial an error. The key is to make the slings really tight so it’s a pain to assemble the cot, but doable. I tried 4″ and when my dogs were on the cot I slid my hand under and realized they were touching the floor in the center so I bumped up to 6″. With the greater span for that large of a dog cot there’s going to be more sag so you might need to make the legs much higher. Fortunately that won’t be a problem for a leggy breed like a Great Dane.
No glue on the legs – I have taken the beds apart so they can be packed for travelling and they pack better if the legs are removable. If you never plan to take it with you, they could be glued. Never glue the frame so you can get the slings off to wash.
Again — sorry I didn’t respond more quickly.
Hello. Your dog beds are awesome! Approximately, how much would you charge to make a large bed for an American bulldog? He’ll probably weigh 120lbs as an adult so we would want a large one for him. Thanks in advance! Love this idea!
I finally took the time to look at ALL of your posts and found the measurement for the small dog cot. So, please disregard my earlier request for that information.
Gayle — if you need any help at all while making these shoot me an email.
I was wondering if you had any slings and/or cots (large) for sale?
I make them to order — I don’t keep an inventory of pre-made slings. Let me know if you want to order some.