Travels with Chachy | The Summit Bed

One of our long term travel goals has always been to incorporate our dog, Chachy, into our trips. I can’t even begin to tell you how much we love that little guy. He’s one of the best things that has happened to us and no matter what kind of day we’re having, one look at him can always bring a smile to our faces. I’ve had a number of dogs over the years– Pritz the wiener dog, Molly the basset hound and Winston the miniature collie—and I’ve loved them all, but there’s something different about Chachy. His personality is nothing like I’ve ever experienced in a dog, and his warmth and cuddling are just awesome. Whenever we go away it’s really hard him, especially now that we both work from home. See, Chachy came into our lives from one of Beth’s friends who found him abandoned in her backyard in San Diego, so he has some abandonment issues. We try to take him with us as much as possible (if you ever see us walking around with an oversize bag, well, that’s why) but it’s not always easy, especially on international journeys, so he has to stay at home with Bridgette and Mike–Beth’s sister and brother-in-law–who he adores, and their cute 2-year-old dog Lucy, who he loves like a little sister. We were recently contacted by a new start-up out of Seattle called Skookum Dog, who had seen photos of Chachy on our site and wanted to see if we’d (and Chachy and Lucy, of course) would like to check out a few of their newest products. Beth and I went back and forth on this one, since we’re travel blog, but since we have always wanted to expand out to pet travel, we decided to take a look at their products. One thing that immediately stood out when I went to the Skookum Dog site was that the company is devoted to making its bags in the USA (Seattle to be exact) out of high quality materials, which I’m a huge fan of, so Beth and I decided to go for it. First up, I’m going to be taking a closer look at The Summit Bed by Skookum Dog. This piece of heaven was designed to be the ultimate dog bed, and it is. Heck, even Bridgette’s feisty geriatric cat, Penny, loves the synthetic sheepskin/ Sherpa fleece that makes up the covering on the 1 ½ inch orthopedic grade memory foam that’s not only fit for animals but also humans (Don’t ask, it’s a long story). Yep, this is the good stuff, none of that cheap memory foam they sell on “As see on TV” commercials. But The Summit Bed ratchets things up notch from your average dog bed by including four interlocking bolsters, which are designed to provide support for your dog’s chin. While this feature is a little too far out of Chachy’s range; he’s more of a curl up in a ball sleeper, his girlfriend, Sonny—an 80 pound pit bull mix, loved propping her chin up on the bolsters over the holidays. Better yet, the whole bed, including the bolsters, is outfitted with U.S. 1050d HT Ballistic Nylon covers. Plus, as an extra guarantee, all Skookum Dog products carry a lifetime warranty against defects and workmanship.

The Summit Bed is recommended for dogs up to 90 pounds and its external dimensions are as follows: 40″ x 40″ x 10″ high and the bed weighs about 19 pounds. The bed costs $400; however, with that said, it’s likely one of the last dog beds you’ll have to buy for a long time due to its superb craftsmanship and level of materials that are used. For more details, check out The Summit Bed by Skookum Dog. Now, if you don’t mind I’ve got some cuddling to get to with Chachy before our family vacation to Florida later this week.   Tom Bihn, my favorite bag maker, uses this same material on its bags, so I’ve seen firsthand how well this material holds up over the years. For example, my  Tom Bihn Aeronaut, which I’ve dragged all through Europe still looks gorgeous nearly three years later, despite logging some serious air and rail time.

Here’s the whole gang – Sunny, Lucy & Chachy! They all love this bed. But I do want to say that the bolsters were not in the bed for this photo. My sister accidentally left them at home when she drove the bed up for the holidays so I put normal pillows in it so the dogs could test it out. Still looks and works great but if the correct bolsters were in, it would look much fuller like the top photo.