Here in Florida with a long-haired dog that was always panting & never cool we thought we would give this bed a try. Our dog already had a bed with bolster sides so we needed something cool to go on top and this fit perfectly. We placed a sheet on top since we had one on the bed before. It took about a week for our dog to get used to the new texture of her bed since she was used to sleeping on a firm surface.

Now a couple weeks later she sleeps on the bed like normal and is visibly cooler. There is dramatically less panting and she doesn't have the urge to roll on her back to keep cool as frequent as before, and if she does it is minimal.

The only thing with the bed is make sure not to overfill it. Get too much water in it and it's like a water bed. It made lots of noises and scared our dog a bit from getting on it, so we took a bunch of water out so it was more firm & spongy and that did the trick.

So far so good. Worth the money.

When my retriever-poodle developed an autoimmune disease, her joints hurt. The high-dose prednisone used to treat the disease caused her to pant heavily and seek the coolest surfaces -- usually the bathroom tile floor. So I wanted to find a bed that would not only provide soft comfort, but also the cooling she needed.

This worked! After a few weeks of occasionally placing treats on it, she got used to the water motion and started using the bed regularly. I purchased the largest size bed, plus the optional bolster/cover, and placed it in our shaded, enclosed porch.

I've known several dog-owners who've bought other brands of this type bed and didn't like them. Others who bought this one and said their dog never used it. My advice is to get this one, and then to use some form of positive reinforcement to get your dog over the initial wariness of the water motion.

My 14 year old golden retriever (who can't stand the heat) loves this bed! I found it hard to believe that it would work, but it's great. Shadow say's, "Two paws up!".