Hi,

Both of my personal dogs have been unconsciously and informally taught the "go to your bed" command previously. (Finger snapping, pointing, and spatial pressure kind of thing). It is very "loose" and informal, and thus I do not consistently reinforce when they break command.

So I am wondering, now that I plan to teach them a formal "place" command, which I plan to reinforce consistently, would it be better to get a different bed/cot for this purpose? At least for this initial phase of training to avoid confusion? Or would a bed my dog is already familiar with actually benefit the training and give more relevance to the new command when given? 

I don't think there is any reason you should feel the need to get a new bed. If we were trying to condition this with a certain emotional context, such as the dog being in drive then I probably would, but for our purposes I think if anything your previous "loose" training will probably be beneficial if anything.