Tried a floor pillow for my dog's reading spot, the kitchen stool won by a mile

I keep my dog Biscuit next to me while I flip through cookbooks at home, and last month I bought one of those plush floor pillows thinking she'd curl up on it like the photos online. She sniffed it once and walked straight over to my old wooden kitchen stool where I stack my open recipe books, then plopped her whole 60 pound self on top of the pages. I tested both for 5 days straight, same time of day, same book, and she chose the stool 4 out of 5 times. The pillow was too soft and wobbly for her, but the stool is stable and puts her right at reading level with me, like she's actually scanning the ingredients list. Biscuit even nudges the book with her nose when I pause too long, which never happened with the pillow. Anyone else have a pet that picks the weirdest surface over something made specifically for them?

2 comments

2 Comments

drew_west1mo ago

Did you try putting the pillow on top of the stool to see if she'd still pick the combo, or is it strictly the wood surface she's after? That would tell you if it's about height and stability versus the actual texture. My cat does the same thing with a cold sink over a heated bed, so I get the frustration.

kevin_adams1mo ago

At 3 AM last week I watched my cat do almost the exact same thing with a cardboard box flipped upside down. We got her a forty dollar heated bed and she sleeps on the box next to the radiator instead. I think part of it is cats just pick the spot that smells most like us or feels most secure, and sometimes that has nothing to do with what looks comfortable to us. But there's another angle here. Maybe it's not about the surface at all. Cats like to be able to see the whole room while they rest, and a stool gives a better sightline than a pillow that blocks part of the view. With a pillow on top, she loses that clear line of sight to the door or window, and that could be the real reason she sticks to the bare wood. You could test it by just moving the stool to a corner where the pillow doesn't block anything and see if she changes her mind. My guess is she won't, because cats are stubborn like that, but at least you'd know it's not the texture.