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The inspiration for our beds:
Dogs on wet kennel floors.
Notice the dog in the
white container above ?
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Elevated
Dog Beds
Columbus Dog Connection was
moved to create a low cost elevated dog bed.
A few Doggedly Dedicated Dogmanity Do'ers, pulled their creative talents and
came up with an easy & inexpensive way for anyone to build an elevated
dog bed.
Below, you will see simple, inexpensive plans to help dogs in shelters
who must sleep on wet concrete kennel floors.
Your cost to build the
bed will vary depending on
how much of the materials you are able to get donated.
Watch our You Tube Video
of how to build one
Printable
Instructions
Click here to see our
Elevated Dog
Bed Building Days
Click here to see
our beds built by groups
across the US
Other Options for Elevated Beds
Animal Rescue Aid
A sewn version of the Columbus Dog Connection Design
Beds4Paws
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As of January 2013, Columbus Dog Connection
has received
donations for, paid for, made & donated 913 to shelters in OH,
Indiana, W Virginia & Kentucky. Orange signifies donated beds.
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Columbus Dog Connection has donated
over 900 elevated dog beds to rural counties.
Henry Co OH
Holmes Co OH
Auglaize Co OH
Clay Co Indiana
Fayette Co,
OH Jackson Co, OH Monroe Co, OH Seneca Co, OH

Mercer Co OH Meigs Co, OH
Paulding Co OH
Harlan Co KY
Putnam Co, OH
Highland Co, OH
Preble Co, OH
Morgan Co, OH
Marion Co WV
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4 Materials Needed |
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Material List |
Where You Can Purchase |
1 |
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Corner pieces
1 ¼ inch not carried by
big box
stores, can be ordered on line
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DP's Bargain Basement
C & S Plastics (Don,
"The Bomb" owns this company, mention you reached him via our web site for possible discount)
US Plastics
SnapClamp.com/prices.htm
IPP Industrial Plastics Products
Savko (store
located in Columbus OH)
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2 |
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PVC Pipe
1 ¼ inch, schedule
40 |
pvc comes in sticks, 10', can be purchased at any hardware store, runs about $4.38 from big box stores
for 10' stick
20' sections are least expensive, purchased from suppliers rather than
big box stores
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3 |

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Screws
Round Washer
Head #8 x 1/2 "
NOTE Our YouTube video
shows our screws being 8 x 3/4 inch. You can use either size, we
happen to
have had the longer ones donated for
a recent bed build.
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--Home Depot, $5.60 for 250 screws
--Fastenal.com carries boxes of 1500 and 3000 for much less
--Fastenal Screw
Check local construction supply companies
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4 |
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Cloth
(Sharon
RSteelman@cox.net
is offering to share her stash of Phifer.com cloth to non profits if
you pay for shipping about $11 for 14 medium pieces)
-Phifer.com offers
this fabric
-the best option is 50 ounce vinyl
-creative option, contact your local awning company or boat companies that makes awnings
for businesses/boats, ask for scraps or shorts
-any
durable cloth may be used, to test if it is strong enough, take a key
and try to gouge through it ...if it can hold up to that....likely it
can
hold up to dogs scratching at it
-dogs will chew the beds, best to remove beds from dogs who are chewers
as they will ruin the bed
-cordura, good option as it is moisture
resistant, durable, low cost cloth to use
-order 1000 denier cloth, must be ordered in 50 yard lengths often
times, check for specials and ask for shorts, ends or drops
(shorts are ends of reams of cloth material)
-if awning is
donated, we have found that well used awing will likely not hold up to a
dog's nails, we scrape all
used awning with a screwdriver or key to see if it breaks though, if it does, don't
use it |
Top Value
Fabrics, -look under
promotion section under Nylon for seconds, cheaper, typically color is a
little off
-Top Value only sells full rolls, only good for people who are making a
large number of dog beds
-Send email to this company for newsletters on seconds
Astrup.com
FabricFarms.com
in Hilliard OH
MagnaFabrics.com
-Trucking Companies that make covers for semi trailers, try
Mountain Tarp.com
-this vinyl holds up to just about anything, including heat, can be
sterilized w/out damaging it, try for
18 or 22 ounce vinyl
Cleaning of beds
or cloth like Sunbrella like material
Best to mark plastic of frame to alert shelter staff not to throw
away frame as it can be recovered with new cloth.
Tarp
Web Site
Phifertext
Twitchell |
Cutting the PVC
If you are making numerous beds for a shelter, we
recommend building the medium sized beds and add a few large ones. The
medium
beds will accommodate most dogs. As an option for the medium sized
beds, you can added 3 inches to the long side and subtracted
3 inches from the short side (or any amount you need) to better fit into
narrow kennels. Be sure to make appropriate cloth sizes if you
change the frame size. |
Tools Needed
-Hammer
-Drill
-Saw (to cut PVC)
-Tape measure
-Channel Locks (to turn pvc after cloth is applied to tighten) |
Channel Locks |
Small Bed
Cloth size
36” x 29”
1 10 ft stick or 112”, will have
12" left over
-2 pieces at 18.5 inches each
-2 pieces at 25.5 inches each
-4 pieces at 4 inches each
Final Dimensions 22"
x 29"
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Instructions for Couch
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Option to cover arms to protect from chewing
SnapClamp.com/prices.htm
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Medium Bed
Cloth size 34.5" x 38.5"
1 10ft stick will make one complete bed including legs,
-2 at 24"
-2 at 28"
-4 pieces at 4 inches each (legs)
Final Dimension 27.5" x 31.5" |

Abbey is a 70lb dog |
Large Bed
Cloth size
36” x 45”
144” needed
You will need 1-10 ft stick of PVC and an additional 20" to make
one complete large bed
-2 pieces at 25.5 inches each
-2 pieces at 34.5 inches each
-4 pieces at 4 inches each
Final Dimensions 29"
x 38" |

Peppy the Dalmatian is a 76lb dog |
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Building Instructions for Elevated Dog Bed
Tips if you are having a large group make the beds
-not
everyone is use to using a drill, tell everyone to stop drilling when
the screw is flush with the cloth, we ended up having some stripped
entries
from folks who were continuing to drill once the screw was as
embedded as possible
-you will make a better bed if you have 2 people working together, one
to fold and hold, one to drill, we had folks attempting to fold and
screw by themselves and the
results are not as tight and neat as if you
have 2 people. It is critical to get the corners neat and tight
or, as we have found, the dogs will chew on anything they
can grip.
In the shelters, this pvc and cloth are the most chewable thing, and
they will try to chew it.
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PVC Mass Production of beds
Mass production spreadsheet
Use the Beds tab if you know how many beds you want to make, but need to
know how much PVC to get
Use the Sticks tab if you have PVC pipe and want to see how many beds
you can make
If you're only making small beds, you need 1 stick for each bed and
you'll have 8" left over from each stick.
1 stick = a 10 foot piece of PVC (120
inches)
1 stick = 1 small bed with legs and 1 extra leg (plus 2" scrap)
1 stick = 1 large bed and no legs
1 stick = 20 legs, enough for 5 beds
5 sticks = 4 small beds and 1 large bed
6 sticks = 5 large beds
11 sticks = 4 small and 6 large beds |
Printable
Instructions
1
Using a corner piece, put one short and one long pipe into 2 of the
3 holes

2 Once the frame is built, use a hammer to on each corner to firmly hit
each side to force the legs into the corner pieces,
don't worry about hitting too hard, the pvc is strong
3 Insert 4 legs into holes, turn bed over and hit the
top of each corner 1-2 times to be sure legs are in as far/tight as
they can be --no picture for this
4 Lay
the cloth on a flat surface and lay the frame on top, with legs
pointing up, center frame on cloth

5 Fold cloth
corners under frame, be sure to keep frame centered on cloth when
doing this
(note: fold of cloth, 2nd picture, should
be centered just inside of corner piece)
6 Take one long side of cloth
and make 2 one-half inch-ish folds, the material
should hit the center of the pvc on the bottom side
of the frame

7 Place
one screw in the mid point of the PVC and screw the cloth to the PVC.
Be sure that the screw goes thru the folds of the cloth

8 Place screws
evenly spaced on each leg,
(5 screws, short side of small bed, 6 screws for
long side)
(6 screws for short side of large bed, 8 screws for
long side of bed)9 Screw one screw to the opposite side of the frame
then use channel locks to tighten plastic frame, which will tighten
cloth
important: do not use channel locks on top of cloth, it
will tear it, tighten so cloth is taught, screw in rest of screws

Important Note (July 3, 2008)
Be sure to place 2 screws on the bottom of 2 opposite corners so they
hold the legs and stop them from turning under the weight of the dog
on the bed.
We didn't do this on earlier beds and the weight of the dogs makes
the legs turn which causes puckering of cloth, which is an
invitation to CHEW !
These screws should be the last thing you
do.
10 Finish
putting in screws for opposite leg,
repeat
steps for other sides of bed
If the frame doesn't sit square on the floor, put the frame on its side, legs facing you and twist the
legs a bit
11 On the top
side of the bed, place 5 screws thru the cloth and into the corner
of the pvc corner piece, this serves 2 purposes
1 keeps the cloth from being chewed
2 keeps the side frame pieces from turning
Be sure the end screws are near the end of the corner piece
so they also pierce the side frame pieces and keep them from
turning,if these screws do not pierce the side frame pieces, the
weight of the dog will eventually turn the pvc and the cloth will
pucker, which leads to chewing, or they will laying in a
hammock like bed that will touch the ground
1
2
3
You can't use too
many screws on the corners. The corners are the point most
likely chewed so extra reinforcement is best.
Picture 2 is best
as the screws will be a deterrent to start chewing. Picture 3
shows screws inserted too far from the edge.
Be sure to have
volunteers place screws as close to edge of the cloth as they can..
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How the beds make a difference
Hi Kellie,
We are so grateful for your generous donation of the 50 elevated dog
beds....It is AMAZING, the immediate effect the beds have!
As we made our rounds with installing the beds, the combined echoed dog
barks and shelter tone quieted with each dog getting on their beds,
checking them out and then
balling up on top of them to rest- it was
remarkable!
The same thing happens now each day- the folks go in to clean, take the
beds out for the day for scrubbing/drying, etc...the dogs bark and
squeal with the days events and as SOON
as the beds are put back in,
there is this crazy silence with them hunkering down for the night on
the elevated beds. (until something gets them barking again, but they
settle down
faster when the beds are in the kennels)
Fascinating to see this time and again, the calming effect of the beds.
With constant use and cleaning our dogs are tearing through the canvas
pretty good at this point, so we are saving the frames and have
contacted Kuranda for new material to re-cover
the beds you sent us. The
are sending enough to cover all the beds you wonderful ColumbusDogConnection.com folks gave us for the shelter dogs! ( bright
red 50 ounce vinyl)
With your kindness, we have gotten the dogs off the concrete and we are
extremely grateful for that! THANK YOU!
Melissa, Marion Co WV Oct 2011
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Revisions/Improvements
January 17, 2013 new cloth option with semi truck covers
July 6, 2012
new cloth option with Phifer.com
May 4, 2012
New Sewing Instructions
July 26, 2010
changed legs from 6" to 4" easier for dogs to get on
beds, see new spreadsheet for mass production numbers,
Nov 23, 2009
New size added, medium which is good for mass production for shelters
Dec 2, 2008 Info regarding screws on corners
Sept 13, 2008 Addition: calculations for bulk building
Nov 13, 2006
improved corners
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Contact
614-471-9000 or
Kellie at
kdifrischia@gmail.com
Columbus Dog Connection.com
2761 Johnstown Rd Columbus
OH 43219
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