The simplest way to make a dog bed is either to sew two rectangular sheets of fabric together and stuff with a filling such as hollow polyester fibre or cut a piece of foam or memory foam and encase it in a similar cover.

Filled dog beds are often shapeless with uneven and lumpy support for your dog's body. They provide uneven insulation and, when compressed, the filling stays compressed and gives minimal cushioning under pressure and poor levels of insulation. Access and egress from the bed can be tricky especially for older or arthritic dogs.

In a remarkably short time, they become lumpy and even more shapeless and become virtually useless in terms of both providing comfort and support for your dog.

The principle component of this type of bed is fresh air. They are cheap to produce, weigh very little and when packed, take up minimal space in a shipping container or in a warehouse prior to sale.No wonder retailer love them!

Foam dog beds do provide a degree of support but can be too soft and foam of any kind can make your dog feel too warm. They are not breathable, they can often have a strong smell when either new or damp and memory foam can be slow to react to body movement depending on temperature conditions.

Most worrying is the fact that all foam contains a cocktail of chemicals either as part of the manufacturing process, applied as fillers to bulk-up the foam or sprayed on as a flame retardant to help reduce the highly flammable nature of all types of foam.

Again though, foam is cheap to produce, easy to shape, light in weight and easy to compress and ship.

Foam crumbs / chips or egg crate slabs may have their uses as packaging materials but they are wholly inadequate when used for dog bedding.

Berkeley's Waterproof Orthopaedic Mattress incorporates pocket spring technology combined with traditional mattress making techniques and deep layers of natural fibres including wool felt, cotton and lambswool in its construction.

The Active Support Technology® in the pocket spring core provides a dynamic response to natural body movement and reacts intelligently to your dogs body contours.

One of the latest advancements in sleep surface technology, a Berkeley pocket spring dog bed actually becomes firmer for needed support as weight is applied. The coils adjust instantly to sleep movements, comforting and supporting your dogs body actively as he sleeps.

Moreover, springs sleep cooler. If you're covered in fur and living in a centrally heated home this can be a critical consideration.

Springs don’t break down like other materials. After 50,000 rollator cycles, visco loses 16.3% of its firmness, latex 19.4%, and poly foam an incredible 43.7%. Compare that to some types of springs, which break down just 5.4%.

There is a natural air dam created around the pocket springs and when the bed is compressed this forces air around and through the natural fibre filling helping to keep the mattress cool and fresh.

Overall, the final product is a super-comfy, breathable, totally supportive dog bed mattress that will always retain its shape and is guaranteed not to flatten.

When you consider the amount of time that your dog spends sleeping and resting, investing in a really great dog bed makes so much sense.