Washing dog bedding or basket

Two potential problems arise when washing a dog basket or bedding. First, if the bedding is full of hairs you need to remove as much as possible before washing or you could end up with a washing machine and filter full of hairs. Try shaking it outside or brushing them out with something appropriate. Wet rubber gloves are reported to be effective at scraping them off with your hand.

The second problem is balancing the load in the washing machine. If your pet just uses old blankets then I would try to add some more old blankets in with them to balance out the load. If you don’t you could find that either the washing machine will just refuse to spin because its out of balance sensing can’t detect a balanced load or it will spin violently out of balance if it’s an old model [ Related: How do I avoid out of balanced loads in my washing machine? ]

If the dog basket is one of those soft manufactured dog beds have a look to see if it has a wash label which would confirm it is safe to wash and should give appropriate wash temperature and spin advice. It could even say do not spin in which case it would have to dry out on its own. These manufactured soft dog baskets can be awkward to wash depending on its size. If it’s really big it may just be too awkward to wash unless you have a washing machine with a larger than average drum size. If it’s a small one it may be perfectly ok in the washing machine. Keep a close eye on it during the wash process and especially at the spin stages.

If the washing machine just won’t spin the basket it probably just can’t balance it. Either accept that and let it drip dry or you could try to put towels or sheets in with it to try and balance it out. If you have an old washing machine that’s over 10 years or so old it may not have out of balance protection which may allow a spin. However, it may also allow a violent out of balance spin that can damage the washing machine or even surrounding cupboards or worktops.