Review: Plufl Human Dog Bed

Have you ever looked at your cat or dog lounging peacefully in their fluffy bed and thought, I want to get in there? Me too. Several times, I even lay my head on one, but that wasn't quite the same.

Finally, I know what it feels like to be cocooned in a pet bed. For the past few weeks, I've been napping, reading, lounging, and snacking in the very expensive Plufl, a human-sized dog bed.

Some people have busy schedules that keep them up and moving. That is not me. I'm a lounger. My hobbies are rewatching Parenthood and scrolling TikTok on a comfy couch with a blanket and a cat or three curled up on my lap. The Plufl offers that comfort times a hundred, cradling me in just the right way. The first time I got in it, I fell right asleep.

The base is memory foam. Although it looks relatively thin, it's much more comfortable than I imagined. You won't feel the hard floor poking through. The foam is CertiPUR, which means it's made without chemicals like formaldehyde, lead, or flame retardants. That's the same certification some of our favorite organic mattresses have. The cover is plush polyester that feels like the softest kitty fur and stays relatively cool. It's also Oeko-Tex certified, which means it's been independently verified to be free from harmful substances. On one side of the cover is a pocket to hold your phone or a book.

Plufl Human Dog Bed.

Photograph: Plufl

The Plufl arrives in a very large box, but it's pretty light. Once you unpack it, you'll want to let the base sit for a while before putting the entire thing together. Similar to a regular foam mattress, it needs time to expand and get its shape back after being packed and shipped. The brand recommends waiting 24 hours but says people often get away with less time, and the latter was the case for me. I let it sit for a little less than a full workday, and it was fine.

Once it's ready, the two bolster pieces need to be fed through the tunnels in the cover. I left them as is, but you can take out some of the stuffing if you want to. It comes with a bag for you to keep the extra stuffing in, in case you want to put it back.

The bolsters give it a good depth, and it's comfortable enough to support your head without adding a separate pillow. I do wish one end was stiffer or had back support. It's extremely easy to lie down in it, but not as easy to sit up and lean back. I used a stiff pillow, like the Quiet Mind weighted pillow, to keep myself propped up, but you shouldn't have to add a pricey pillow to an already pricey bed. In the meantime, a cheap bed rest pillow would probably help.

In order to fit an adult it needs to be big, of course. It's a little over 5 and a half feet long (68 inches) and 2.7 feet wide (33 inches). I'm 5' foot 7", and my husband is 6' foot 2", so neither of us could stretch out straight within the bolsters, but I was comfortable snuggled with my legs the way I usually sleep anyway, or letting them hang over the edge if I felt like stretching.

There are handles on either end for moving it around, and there's a Velcro strap in the box so you can fold it in half and strap the handles together. This helps if you need to move it out of the middle of your living room, say, but it's always going to be a very large piece of furniture.

The gigantic elephant in the room, though, is the price. The first day I lounged in it, I told my husband to imagine being a kid at a sleepover where everyone gets to sleep in their own dog bed. Hell, I'd do that right now with my friends. But my dreams were quickly shattered when I remembered the $400 price tag. When you've already spent several hundred (or maybe even thousands) on your actual bed and a couch, it's hard to imagine shelling out more for this.

Photograph: Plufl

“The product is hand-stitched and not mass-produced, unlike some knockoffs,” a company spokesperson told me in an email. “So it takes a lot of time and labor to make each Plufl.” That makes sense, and there are orthopedic dog beds—made for actual dogs—that cost anywhere between $100 and $300. That doesn't make the price easier on your wallet, but I do value my comfort more than my paycheck. (Who is saving anything in the year 2023? Climate change is literally burning up the atmosphere anyway, am I right?) This product isn't a necessity, but it is a luxury I've enjoyed immensely. If you have the money and are a lounger, like me, you will probably love this bed.

When the Plufl founders presented their human dog bed on Shark Tank in 2022, guest Shark Emma Grede questioned the premise. “I don't understand, who is buying this product?” she asked.

Grede might understand clothing—she launched the wildly successful Good American with Khloe Kardashian—but she clearly doesn't understand the anxious and tired among us. The answer to Grede's question is me. This product was made with me in mind. For what it's worth, Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner, who invested in another one of my favorite sleep devices, Hug Sleep, also understood. Sometimes you just want to feel comforted and cocooned, and this is perfect for when you don't have your favorite human around to cuddle, scratch, and hold you.