A dog bed is usually the largest piece of soft furnishing in the house that never gets cleaned on a schedule. It is also the single object that determines how a room smells — which is why cleaning it periodically does more for a home than almost any other routine.
The difficulty is that dog beds are not built alike. Some come apart entirely, some have a removable cover over a sealed insert, and some are a single piece that was never designed to be washed at all. The correct method depends almost entirely on which of those you own.
So the first step is not cleaning. It is finding out what you are cleaning.
Read the Label Before Anything Else
This sounds obvious and is skipped constantly. Dog beds carry care labels for the same reason mattresses and cushions do, and the instructions vary considerably between constructions.
Memory foam inserts in particular are frequently marked as not machine washable, because saturation and spin cycles can break down the foam structure. Waterproof liners often carry temperature limits, since heat can damage the coating that makes them waterproof in the first place.
Where a label has worn off, the safer assumption is the more cautious one: treat the insert as not machine washable and clean the cover only.
Always Remove Hair First
Washing a hair-covered bed produces the same result as washing hair-covered clothing — the hair redistributes rather than leaving, and a substantial amount ends up in the machine itself.
A dry pass first makes a considerable difference. Shake the cover out over a hard floor or outdoors, then work over it with a brush or roller. Our guide to removing pet hair from clothes and fabric covers which tool suits which weave, and the same logic applies here.
If your machine is also used for household laundry, this step is not optional. Hair left in the drum transfers to the next load.
Washing a Removable Cover
Where a cover comes off, this is the straightforward case.
- Follow the stated temperature. Higher is not automatically better, and it can damage waterproof backing or shrink a fitted cover so it no longer sits back over the insert
- Wash it alone or with other pet items rather than with household laundry
- Use a mild, unscented detergent unless the label states otherwise. Heavy fragrance sits in fabric and defeats the point of cleaning it
- Skip fabric softener where a waterproof or water-resistant layer is present, since softeners can affect how those coatings perform
- Zip or fasten the cover before washing so it does not tangle
Drying matters as much as washing. A cover that is put back over an insert while still slightly damp will hold that moisture, and a damp core is what produces odor a few days later. Air drying fully is usually safer than machine heat, and it avoids shrinkage on fitted covers.
Cleaning an Insert That Cannot Be Washed
Foam and sealed inserts need surface treatment rather than immersion.
A practical approach is to vacuum the insert thoroughly, spot-clean marked areas with a cloth and a small amount of mild detergent solution rather than soaking, blot rather than rub, and then allow it to dry completely before the cover goes back on — which can take considerably longer than expected, often a full day.
The most common failure here is impatience. A foam insert that feels dry on the surface can still hold moisture in the core, and that is exactly what causes a bed to smell worse a week after cleaning than it did before.
Odor, and What Actually Causes It
Odor in a dog bed is almost always coming from one of two places: the insert core, or a waterproof liner that has been compromised and is allowing moisture through into material that never dries.
Surface sprays address the top layer and leave the source untouched, which is why a bed can smell fresh briefly and then return to how it was. If a bed smells again within days of a full clean, the likely explanation is retained moisture rather than insufficient cleaning.
The wider approach to this is covered in our room-by-room freshness routine, since a bed rarely accounts for the whole picture on its own.
A Realistic Schedule
There is no universal frequency, because it depends on the dog, the season, and whether the bed is used for sleeping or for lying in after walks.
What tends to work is a layered rhythm rather than a single interval: a quick hair pass roughly weekly, a cover wash on a regular cycle that suits your household, and a full insert treatment occasionally. The advantage of the layered approach is that the weekly step is short enough to actually happen, which keeps the larger jobs from becoming necessary as often.
A second cover, where available for the bed you own, removes the main obstacle entirely — the bed stays in use while one cover is in the wash.
Buying With Cleaning in Mind
Most of the difficulty described above is decided at purchase rather than during cleaning.
A bed with a fully removable, machine-washable cover is meaningfully easier to live with than one without, and it is worth treating that as a primary criterion rather than a feature. This is part of what Ease of Maintenance measures within the HomeFit Standard™. Our guides to choosing between elevated, orthopedic, and crate mat styles and selecting a bed that fits your living room cover the rest of the decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should a dog bed be washed?
There is no universal interval. A practical pattern is a weekly hair removal pass, a cover wash on a regular cycle suited to your household, and occasional deeper treatment of the insert. Dogs that come in wet or muddy will need more frequent attention.
Can memory foam dog beds be washed?
Frequently not. Many memory foam inserts are labeled as not machine washable because saturation and spinning can damage the foam. Check the care label, and where it is missing, treat the insert as surface-clean only.
Why does my dog bed still smell after washing?
The most common explanation is retained moisture in the insert core, or a compromised waterproof liner allowing moisture into material that does not dry. Both produce odor that returns within days of an otherwise thorough clean.
Should I use fabric softener on a dog bed cover?
Generally avoid it where a waterproof or water-resistant layer is present, as softeners can affect how those coatings perform. Follow the care label, which takes precedence over any general rule.
Can I wash a dog bed with household laundry?
It is better not to. Wash it alone or with other pet items, and remove hair while dry beforehand, otherwise hair transfers through the drum into subsequent loads.
Conclusion
Cleaning a dog bed well is mostly a matter of respecting what it is made of. Read the label, remove hair while everything is dry, wash what is designed to be washed, surface-treat what is not, and let it dry completely before reassembling. The step that most often gets rushed — drying — is the one that determines whether the result lasts. And if the bed you own makes any of this difficult, that is worth remembering the next time you choose one.
To see the current range, visit Comfort & Living, evaluated using the HomeFit Standard™.