Last updated: July 2026 — Ruby has slept in our bed since day one. After years of testing what actually holds up, here’s everything we’ve learned.

Let’s be honest: if your dog sleeps in your bed, the bedding you choose matters in a way it simply doesn’t for people without pets. You’re dealing with more frequent washing, more hair, more dander, the occasional muddy paw situation, and — depending on your dog — a lot of warmth being added to the equation at 2am.

After nearly a decade of co-sleeping with Ruby, we’ve worked through enough sheet sets and duvet covers to have some real opinions. This is what we’ve learned, what we look for, and the three sets we currently rotate between.

What to Look For in Bedding When Your Dog Sleeps in Your Bed

Before getting into specific picks, here’s what actually moves the needle when you’re shopping with a dog in mind:

Pet Hair Release

This is the biggest variable and the one most bedding companies don’t address directly. Some fabrics cling to pet hair like a second skin — textured weaves, brushed cotton, and most microfiber blends are the worst offenders. Others release hair easily both on contact and in the wash.

What works: tightly woven fabrics with a smooth surface. Bamboo viscose, Tencel, and high-thread-count percale cotton all perform significantly better than loosely woven or fluffy fabrics. If you’re running a lint roller over your sheets every morning, the fabric is working against you.

Washability and Durability

Dog owners wash bedding more often than most — which means your sheets need to handle it without pilling, shrinking, or losing softness after 50 cycles. Before buying anything, check the care instructions. Machine washable, tumble dry low, and no special handling requirements should all be baseline expectations. High-maintenance bedding gets washed less often, which is counterproductive when cleanliness is the whole point.

Breathability

A dog in the bed adds warmth — sometimes a lot of it. If you’re already a warm sleeper, a non-breathable fabric will make your nights genuinely uncomfortable. Bamboo and linen both excel here. Standard polyester blends trap heat. Long-staple cotton like Supima or Egyptian is a good middle ground if you run slightly warm but not extremely so.

Anti-Odor Properties

Some materials are naturally better at resisting odor between washes. Bamboo in particular has natural antibacterial properties that keep sheets fresher for longer — useful when you’re on a bi-weekly laundry schedule rather than weekly. This isn’t a dealbreaker, but it’s a real-world advantage if you have a dog who gets into things.

Feel and Sleep Quality

This might seem obvious but it’s worth saying: don’t sacrifice sleep quality in the name of practicality. The best bedding for dog owners is bedding you actually want to sleep in. If your sheets feel scratchy or stiff, you won’t maintain them properly and the whole thing falls apart. Fortunately, the best-performing fabrics for dog owners — bamboo, Tencel, long-staple cotton — also happen to be some of the most luxurious feeling.

Our Top Picks

We’ve tested a lot of bedding over the years. These are the three sets currently in our rotation and the ones we feel comfortable recommending:

Cozy Earth Bamboo Sheet Set

Best for: Hot sleepers and heavy shedders

Cozy Earth has become our most-used set and the one we default to on regular nights. The bamboo viscose fabric is genuinely exceptional at releasing Ruby’s hair — both the sheets themselves and in the washing machine. After a full wash cycle, hair that clung to other fabrics rinses clean from these. They’re also the most temperature-regulating sheets we’ve slept on, which matters when you have a dog generating extra heat beside you.

The feel is silky without feeling slippery, and after multiple washes they’ve held their softness in a way that some bamboo sheets don’t. They wrinkle more than cotton when you pull them from the dryer, but a quick tuck while warm takes care of most of it.

The price point is higher than average but the durability justifies it — we’ve had ours for over a year and they still feel like new.

Pet hair performance: Excellent
Breathability: Excellent
Washability: Very good

Shop Cozy Earth → (ShopMy link)

Brooklinen Classic Core Sheet Set

Best for: People who prefer the crisp, cool feel of cotton

Brooklinen’s long-staple cotton percale is our pick when we want something that feels more traditional — crisp, cool, slightly textured. It doesn’t perform quite as well as bamboo for hair release, but it’s significantly better than standard cotton and holds up beautifully across repeated washing.

What we appreciate most about Brooklinen is the consistency. Every wash, every cycle, they come out looking the same. No pilling, no fading, no shrinkage issues. The percale weave is also naturally breathable, so while they don’t match bamboo for temperature regulation, they’re not a hot sleep situation either.

If you’re someone who has always loved the feel of classic hotel-style cotton sheets and doesn’t want to switch to bamboo, this is where we’d point you. The hair situation is manageable — a quick shake before washing takes care of most of it.

Pet hair performance: Good
Breathability: Very good
Washability: Excellent

Shop Brooklinen → (ShopMy link)

Brooklinen Luxe Core Sheet Set

Best for: People who want cotton with a softer, more sateen feel

The Luxe is Brooklinen’s sateen weave versus the Classic’s percale — smoother, slightly shinier, warmer in feel. We rotate this one in during cooler months when the extra warmth is welcome and the tradeoff in breathability doesn’t matter as much.

Hair performance sits between the Classic and bamboo — the sateen weave is smoother than percale so hair tends to collect more on the surface rather than embedding in the weave, which makes it easier to shake off before washing. The softness is genuinely exceptional and it gets better with each wash.

Pet hair performance: Good
Breathability: Good (best for cooler months)
Washability: Excellent

Shop Brooklinen Luxe → (ShopMy link)

What About Duvet Covers?

The same fabric rules apply. A bamboo or Tencel duvet cover will outperform cotton for hair release, and the Cozy Earth duvet cover is our recommendation if you’re going that route. That said, a simple approach that works well for dog owners: use a top sheet as a barrier layer between you and the duvet, which extends how long you can go between duvet washes. Less ideal in summer, but a practical solution the rest of the year.

How Often Should Dog Owners Wash Their Bedding?

Experts recommend washing sheets weekly if your dog sleeps with you. In practice, most of us — ourselves included — are on a bi-weekly schedule, and with high-quality bamboo or long-staple cotton that’s generally fine. The antibacterial properties of bamboo in particular help bridge the gap.

The duvet or comforter is a different story. A top sheet barrier helps, but if your dog sleeps on top of the duvet regularly, monthly washing is the realistic minimum. Make sure your duvet cover is machine washable and that your washer drum is large enough to handle it — most full-size comforters need at least a 4.5 cubic foot capacity to wash and rinse properly.

The Bottom Line

If you’re starting from scratch, bamboo is the move — specifically Cozy Earth if budget allows. The hair release, breathability, and durability combination is hard to beat when you’re co-sleeping with a dog. If you love the feel of traditional cotton and don’t want to make the switch, Brooklinen’s Classic Core is the most durable, washable cotton set we’ve tested.

Either way, invest in quality. Bedding that’s easy to maintain and holds up over time is worth far more than a cheaper set you’re replacing every year.

Ruby has slept in our bed since she was a puppy and we genuinely wouldn’t have it any other way. The right bedding makes that easy to maintain without sacrificing cleanliness or comfort — and after testing what’s out there, these are the sets we keep coming back to.