How to Wash a Dog Bed

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Last Updated on September 22, 2026 by Umar Farooq

Get the hair off first — vacuum it, shake it outside, or run it through the dryer on air-only and clean the lint trap. Then unzip and wash the cover alone, at the warmest temperature the care label allows, with a pet-safe fragrance-free detergent and an extra rinse. Air dry or tumble low. Then clean your drain pump filter, because that is where the hair you missed has gone.

Most advice here is about the bed. The interesting part is what it does to the machine.

Cover or whole bed? Answer this first

A dog bed is usually a zipped cover over a foam or fibre insert, and those two have different answers. The cover is laundry. The insert is an absorbent block that holds several times its dry weight in water and takes days to dry through.

Maytag allows either, with a size condition: “Yes, you can wash some dog beds, if the care label allows and it fits comfortably in your washer without overcrowding” (Maytag). “Comfortably” is doing real work there. A bed that fills the drum dry is a saturated mass wet, and the machine will spend the cycle failing to balance it — the limit in how full a washer should be.

Orvis, who make the beds, strip the cover properly: bolster out, unzip the base, foam out, wipe the insert cover with a damp cloth, then “Reversing the outside cover before you put it in the washer helps remove stains and dirt and helps the cover retain its shape” (Orvis).

How to wash a dog bed, step by step

  1. Remove the hair before any water touches it. Vacuum, or shake it outside. Arm & Hammer adds a third option that works unusually well: “put the items in your dryer on an air-only cycle and clean the lint trap immediately after” (Arm & Hammer). No heat, just tumbling.
  2. Deodorise before stripping the cover. Maytag: sprinkle baking soda on the bed, “let it sit for a few hours and then vacuum the baking soda or shake it out outside.”
  3. Pretreat stains.
  4. Wash the cover alone, never with your own laundry.
  5. Pet-safe detergent, extra rinse. Maytag wants detergent “listed as pet-safe or that is otherwise gentle and free from fragrances or dyes.”
  6. Avoid a centre agitator. Arm & Hammer: “A machine without a center agitating arm works best.”
Where the pet hair from a dog bed actually ends up in the machine Pet hair does not dissolve and it is not fully carried away with the wash water. During the cycle, loose hair leaves the fabric and floats in the water. Some of it redeposits on the load, which is why a dog bed washed with ordinary laundry covers everything in hair. The rest travels out with the drain water and reaches the drain pump filter, where it collects as a dense felted mat around the impeller housing. Because hair mats rather than settling like grit, it restricts flow long before it blocks the filter completely, so the first symptom is usually a cycle that drains slowly or stops at the drain-to-spin transition rather than an obvious blockage. The fix is to strip the hair off the bed before it goes in, and to open and clean the pump filter after the wash rather than waiting for a drain fault. Hair does not dissolve. It goes somewhere. In the drum hair lifts off, floats Redeposits on the load which is why a dog bed washed with your clothes covers all of them in hair Drain pump filter felts into a mat, restricts flow A hair mat restricts flow long before it blocks the filter, so the first symptom is a slow drain or a cycle that stalls at the drain-to-spin transition — not an obvious blockage. Strip the hair off first, then open the filter after the wash.

The pump filter is the part nobody warns you about

Washing a dog bed is a maintenance event for the machine, not just the bed. Hair does not dissolve and it does not all leave with the water. It felts into a mat in the drain pump filter, and because a mat restricts flow gradually, the symptom appears weeks later as a slow drain or a stall at the drain-to-spin transition.

The all care guide gets as far as the drum, listing “Cleaning the interior of washing drum to remove any pet hair or dirt” (all). Go one step further and open the filter — cleaning the washing machine filter covers it.

Hot or cold? Two brands, two answers

Arm & Hammer says hot: wash pet bedding “using the highest recommended temperature setting or at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit.” The reasoning is sanitary: dander, dust mites, whatever the dog rolled in.

Orvis says cold: for its own beds, “Simply select cold water for the wash cycle and tumble dry on low heat.”

Neither is wrong. Arm & Hammer is optimising hygiene on generic bedding; Orvis is protecting one cover’s dye and waterproof laminate. The label breaks the tie. Either way, 140°F is a target most domestic cycles never reach — the sanitize cycle is the setting that does.

Drying, and the thing not to use

Sun and air is safest. If the label allows a tumble, keep it low. Arm & Hammer adds one prohibition: “Do not use dryer sheets with pet bedding.” Then clean the lint trap — Samsung’s own dog-bed guidance ends on the same instruction.

FAQ

Can you wash a whole dog bed in the washing machine?

Sometimes. Maytag allows it if the care label permits and the bed fits without overcrowding. If it fills the drum dry, it will not wash properly wet.

How often should you wash a dog bed?

Maytag says weekly to fortnightly depending on soil. The all guide says at least weekly. Both assume you vacuum in between.

What temperature should you wash a dog bed at?

Follow the label. Arm & Hammer targets at least 140°F; Orvis specifies cold. Hot is the hygiene answer, cold is the longevity answer.

How do you get dog hair off a bed before washing?

Vacuum it, shake it outside, or tumble it on air-only with no heat and empty the lint trap afterwards.

Will washing a dog bed damage my washing machine?

Not in one wash, but hair accumulates in the pump filter. Check it after washing pet bedding rather than waiting for a drain fault.

Can you put a dog bed in the dryer?

Only if the label allows and the dryer is big enough. Low heat, no dryer sheets. Foam inserts do better outside.

Wash the bed, then check the filter

Hair off, cover only, warmest the label allows, extra rinse, then open the pump filter. The bed is the easy part. The mistake that costs money is treating it as an ordinary load and finding out weeks later why the machine stops before the spin.

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