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Earth Day is coming up, and you know how much I love recycled crafts! I’ve created stuff out of old light bulbs, toilet paper rolls, empty beer bottles, and more, so when Discount Tire challenged me to turn an old tire into a cool project, I was super excited. There are tons of things you can do with an old tire, but I decided that the best project would be something for our new puppy, so I made a DIY dog bed out of a recycled tire!
Fawkes totally loves her new bed! She likes to sleep curled up, so the interior of the tire is the perfect size for her, and when she’s awake, she likes to rest her head on the hard rubber edges while chewing on her rawhide. And the best part is, this entire project was quick and easy to do; the longest part was waiting for the paint to dry!
DIY Dog Bed From A Recycled Tire
- 1 hour (time spent doing stuff)
- 1 hour (time spent waiting around)
- 2 hours (total project time)
Tools
- a stiff bristle brush
- soap and water (dish soap works great!)
Materials
- an old tire (just visit Discount Tire; they’d be happy to find an old tire for you and have you recycle it!)
- spray paint (make sure it’s designed to stick to rubber; I used Rustoleum Painter’s Touch 2x in Gloss Berry Pink for this tire)
- sticky felt pads
- a round pet bed (anything from 30″ round to 34″ round should work for a regular tire)
The guys at the Discount Tire store I went to were super helpful! I told them what I had planned for the tire and they made sure to find one with really good tread to make the outside more interesting after it was painted!
Instructions
Start by cleaning your tire. Paint won’t stick to dirt and dust, so hose the tire down and give it a good scrub with some soapy water and a stiff bristle brush. I also picked out all the tiny rocks that were stuck in the treads using an old nail, but I’m a little OCD; feel free to skip that part if you don’t mind a few little rocks!
Once you’ve scrubbed down all the outer surfaces of the tire, rinse it off with clean water and set it out to dry.
Once it’s dry, set the tire up on its edge and lightly spray the tire with spray paint, holding the can about 8 inches away from the tire. Because I couldn’t paint all sides of the tire at once, I did four “painting sessions” for this tire. I did one coat on the top half of the tire, then, once the paint had dried, I rotated the tire and painted the “bottom” half. Then after the first coat was dry, I did a second coat on the top half of the tire, then rotated again to do a second coat on the bottom half.
Once the paint is completely dry, it’s time to bring the tire inside! You can use little felt sticky feet or furniture sliders to protect your floors from the tire and protect the paint job on the tire.
Lay the tire down and stuff a round pillow or dog bed inside of the tire, and you’re done!
I used a 34″ round dog bed as the cushion inside the tire and it fits perfectly! It’s great because it has a washable cover, so if the bed ever gets dirty I can just pull out the cushion, wash it, and put it all back together again once it’s clean!
She totally loves it, but she had to “break it in” a little first. What a silly puppy!
Have you ever recycled a tire? I would love to turn a tire into a swing, but we don’t have a big strong tree in our yard, so no dice!
Want to share this tutorial with your friends? Just click any of the share buttons on the left to share with Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.!
Shop this project:
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- Libman Power Scrub Brush
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- Rustoleum Painter’s Touch 2x Ultra Cover Gloss in Berry Pink
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- Self-Stick Round Felt Pads – 1 inch
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- 30-Inch Round Dog Bed
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- 34-Inch Round Dog Bed
Disclosure: I received compensation from Discount Tire and Find Your Influence in exchange for my participation in this tire recycling challenge. But the guys at Discount Tire were really great and totally helpful when I told them what I had planned, and all opinions in this post are 100% my own. I would never write a post about something I didn’t think was useful or interesting for you guys, and Practically Functional will only publish sponsored posts for companies or products I love and believe in! 🙂
I believe that anyone can do crafts and DIY projects, regardless of skill or experience. I love sharing simple craft ideas, step by step DIY project tutorials, cleaning hacks, and other tips and tricks all with one goal in mind: giving you the tools you need to “do it yourself”, complete fun projects, and make awesome things!
What a great enviromental project. I think my doodle is a bit too big but I love the idea!
Yeah those dogs get pretty big; my parents’ goldendoodle is about 80 lbs! Fawkes is still a puppy, but we expect her to be about 50 lbs when she’s full grown, so we’ll see if she outgrows it. But right now she loves it and it’s perfect for her to curl up in! When she wants to lay sprawled out flat she just finds a nice warm sunbeam on the floor anyway, so maybe she’ll keep using it. 🙂
Love this idea! What kind of dog is Fawkes? I just adopted a pup that has the same coat as Fawkes and I don’t know what her mix is.
She’s a pitbull/labrador mix as far as we know. We rescued her from a shelter and they didn’t have any more information than that, but she sure looks like both breeds, so I’m pretty sure that’s what she is!
get a truch tire.. 🙂
Too cute! Do the cats like it too?
Finnegan does! Puck still doesn’t really hang out in the same room as the dog, but Finnegan will take a nap there with Fawkes sometimes!
The tire is so cute. I love the way the dog is in it.
Hi!
I love this but I got a question, do you think that a Beagle can fit in? thank you!
Probably! It depends on how big the beagle is, but Fawkes is about 33 lbs right now and she fits in just fine with room to grow!
What a great idea! I have 2 mini-doxies and they love to burrow- this seems like a really unique, natural fit for them! 🙂
Hi, I loved this idea and tried to pin it a few times and it said there were no images or they were too small. Is it just me or is there something wrong?
That’s really weird Katrina! I’m not having any issues pinning this post so maybe it’s just something with your computer or phone? If you want, I have this post pinned to my projects board here: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/69454019229714214/ You can try repinning from there instead!
Enjoyed your site and your dog. How creative! Love the dog bed.
Wow I really love this! Even my hubby said this was cool, and he doesn’t say that about most of the stuff I show him! I love your colour choice and Fawkes is way too cute!! Thanks for sharing an awesome project!
Just make sure you don’t use a used steel belted radial tire. I made this mistake once when trying to make a tire swing for our raccoons in care. The metal comes out of the tire and is very sharp. Only use regular tires. I will try this for our animals. They all love sleeping in the tire swing.
Great tip, thanks so much for sharing Mary!
This is such a cute DIY project! What kind of dog do you have? We got our dog from a shelter about a year and a half ago and your dog looks like she could be her twin 🙂 We know she is a black lab mix, but we don’t know what she is mixed with so I am curious about yours!
We adopted Fawkes from a shelter too, and all they told us was that she was a Staffordshire Terrier mix. Staffordshire Terrier is a pitbull, but I think her other half HAS to be black lab; she looks and acts just like one!
Thanks for the tutorial. I just made a dog bed like this for a gift for my friend who is getting a bulldog puppy. I’m worried about the dog chewing on the tire and swallowing the paint. Is that a problem you have seen?
Our puppy hasn’t ever chewed on the tire; she seems completely uninterested in it. I was definitely worried about that too because she’s a pitbull/lab mix, so she literally chews on everything (even our baseboards)! But she hasn’t chewed the tire; I think she hasn’t even noticed that the tire has a rim, because the pillow is so fluffy it presses up against the tire rim so she can’t really get her mouth around it.
I think this is a really cool idea and would like to make one. However, my hubby the mechanic, wants to know how I am going to take the “tire odor” out. Has anyone encountered this yet? How did you solve it? He says washing it will not take out the odor.
Hmm, good question! Our tire doesn’t smell unless you stick your nose right on it, but I don’t know if that’s true for all tires. I did give it a wash with dish soap and a scrub brush just to get the dirt off before spray painting it. But rubber has it’s own smell, whether or not it’s clean. Perhaps the spray paint helps mask the smell? Either way, the house does not smell like tire, nor does the room or even the area right next to my desk where I sit all day!
For a moment I thought someone had posted a picture of my dog on Twitter. Fawkes looks just like my dog Kim (Jack Russell Terrier/Labrador/Husky mix) it’s uncanny. Great project too.
That’s so funny! I had someone else say the same thing on Instagram!
How clever and creative! I will have to try this for a friend of mine for her terrier. Thanks for sharing.
I’d make sure the paint is non-toxic too, as the dog will invariably chew on the the edges of the tire.
Our puppy hasn’t yet chewed on the tire, or even seemed interested in it, but that’s a really good point! She chews everything else though, but she seems to be leaving the tire alone.
This is too cute and such a great idea! Tires are so durable, I know that with my puppy he tore his cloth bed to pieces, couldn’t tear apart a tire! I will pin this 🙂
So cute! I may need to get a pup, just so I cam make one! 🙂
I just wanted to let you know I think this is a genius idea!
In fact, I thought you might like to know that I was so impressed, I included it in a recent post about the best DIY dog beds on my website here: http://smallfluffydogbreeds.com/diy-dog-bed-ideas/
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Oh my Lord! This is absolutely adorable! First of all, your dog is mighty cute! We have a six month Labrador Retriever, her name is Maria. And I make sure that all her toys, her feeding bowl, her water bowl down to her collar are pink. Just love the idea! And the color you’ve used! This color will definitely be difficult to get in India, but I’m going to try! Thank you so much for sharing this. 🙂
http://maryangela.in/50-ways-to-fire-up-your-creativity/
Soooo cute!!!
I love that you painted it pink! I think I’d go with baby blue, but it makes so much of a difference to go with a nice bright colour!!
Thats why color is is great cause u can change it to fit your needs and what you want my momma always tells me no mistakes just creativity and if u got a bigger puppy i would recommend a bigger tire i have three puppies 40lbs each two boys and a crackhead female one koolie and two koolie labrador retriver x
I was wondering if you used a non toxic paint that is pet friendly. Animals tend to scratch and chew on things so you want a paint that is safe. Walmart makes non toxic paint, I usually go to Ace Hardware. I made a few of these with themes for individuals. It’s a great recycling idea.
Yep, it’s a non-toxic paint I got at Home Depot!
Hi Jessi,
i like the idea of recycling tires into comfy dog beds and we have already started to make a couple of them. I think it might be a little more comfortable if you were to cut the top lip of the tire back a few inches to the first set of words. We used a fein power tool (oscillating tool) which gave a smooth finish that did not require any sanding.
I was excited to read that you used a non-toxic paint! Because we intend to sell the dog beds I wanted to verify your statement so that I can feel comfortable when telling consumers we’ve used a non-toxic pet friendly paint on the tires. Fyi I checked the Rustoleum website to get the Safety Data Sheet (MDSD) for the exact paint you used. It states under Possible Hazards: “67% of the mixture consists of ingredient(s) of unknown acute toxicity.” As well under “FIRST AID – INGESTION; Aspiration hazard…if swallowed, get medical attention.” It however does not differentiate if paint ingested is wet or dry. I will contact Rustoleum Canada to see if they can clarify.
Best regards,
Suzanne
Great idea about cutting back the top lip a little! I like having a little bit of a top lip to sort of “contain” the fluffy bed within the tire, but you definitely don’t need a bunch and then it won’t be annoying if the dogs want to lean against the edge. My assumption was that it was wet, but please do let me know what you hear from them!
hi i just want to say that this dog look exactly like mine! its crazy really! what kind of dog is she? 🙂
She’s a black lab/pitbull mix!
I like the crib mattress idea – great reuse of something that would otherwise be useless after a point. The tire one looks cute, but I’d be a little worried about the dog getting his or her legs a bit stuck between the mattress and the tire.
Does it not smell like rubber?
Mine didn’t! I think after cleaning it with soap and water it still smelled like a tire if you stuck your nose right into it and sniffed, but after adding paint and a bed the paint covered the outside and the bed filled up the entire inside, so there wasn’t really any rubber smell left.