How to choose a pet bed your pet will actually use.

A common story: you order a beautiful pet bed — the one with the good fabric, the good stuffing, the design that looks right in the living room. It arrives. The dog sniffs it, walks around it, and then goes to sleep on the rug next to it. You wait a week. The dog continues to sleep on the rug. Eventually you give up, move the bed to the corner, and buy a cheaper one for the corner where the dog actually sleeps.

This is a universal experience and it is not the dog's fault. It is a bed-selection problem, and it's usually one of three specific errors.

The good news: pet beds, if chosen correctly, are one of the few objects the pet will use reliably every day for years. The bad news: "correctly" means getting three things right at once, and most first-time buyers get two.