Do you sleep with your dog?

[JohnLloydJones]

My childhood dog, was never allowed up in the bedrooms, so it wasn't a problem for me that my wife wants the upstairs area as a dog-free zone. Senneca is such a restless soul that I wouldn't imagine she'd sleep still all night, anyway. I have no clue exactly where she sleeps at night; she has two crates and a dozen favourite napping spots.

[Kat's Dogs]

All the doggies are allowed to, and do, sleep in the bed all the time. Although, I have found that the little ones take up a lot more space than you would think. They tend to stretch out and leave about 5" of space for me to sleep in.

[Mudpups]

Our oldest dog Tia, is nearly five, she sleeps on her bed on the floor next to DH's side of the bed (if anyone has ever heard a Shar-pei sleeping they willknow why she sleeps on the floor, she sighs, snorts, snores, huffs and puffs all night long).

 

Taj has slept in his crate at the side of my bed till recently, when he got to big for the large airline crate, I put his blankie on the floor and had him tied to the bed. He tends to prefer sleeping under the bed though. He would be allowed on the bed (and does jump up for cuddles, or to insist that we GET UP NOW!), but our bed is much higher than normal and I am worried about his legs because he is only five months old. The other morning he jumped up on the bed, over me and straight into the middle between me and DH without touching me. Pretty good, seeing as he can only just see over the top of the matterss from the floor!

 

On the odd times he needs to go out during the night, he wakes me up, but i am not sure that he would do the same if he had free run....plus I am sure at daybreak he would be up and into things he shouldn't.

 

We did buy him a big flash doggy cushion yesterday, and he better use it because it cost as much as my king size bedspread! When he is completely reliable he will have free run of the house and bed. Its summer now so he dosn't mind not being onthe bed, but as soon as the cold weather comes in, I am sure he will want to be on the bed snuggling. At five months of age he is 15.2kg (33.5lbs), and I am keeping him lean...I can't imagine what he will weigh by one year!

 

SO is no one else worried about puppies legs jumping up and down off beds, or is everybodies dogs older?

[Kyrasmom]

Nope, we'll get the occasional bed time playtime where a few will come up for a cuddle ...or when I'm making the bed lest new sheets smell of lavendar for long...but we all, humans and dogs, prefer to sleep on our own beds undisturbed. I do wake up to the couches being well utlized.

 

Maria

 

PS: Cooper (avatar photo) used to sleep at the foot of the bed until he began guarding me....and then it was off to a crate for him. He actually gets more rest that way, less to think about.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Daisy was crated until house trained and trust worthy. Now I can't sleep without her. My BF works nights and there is something comforting about having her head on the pillow next to me. On weekends I usually get stuck in a sandwich between her and him. She does have a bed of her own that she sleeps in once in a while, but I guess the fleece sheets are just that much nicer!

[Nik]

I could NOT imagine life w/o a dog or cat in the bed. I've always had a dog that sleeps w/ me since I was a little girl. Navi sleeps in his crate because he's more of a bed hog (a queen size bed w/ a 210 lb. man and two 55+ lb. dogs and one 15 lb. dog does not make for a restful nite) but as long as I have at least one of them I'm satisfied. Navi is the better cuddler in the sense that he conforms to me, but Pache is the stillest and he doesn't do well in the crate at nite so he's the one that gets the bed privilages along w/ Miss Gracie.

 

When its cold (DH prefers 60 degrees to sleep well and I would be ecstatic w/ 75+ degrees) I will occasionally let all three in the bed. I do sleep in between DH and Pache and Gracie sleeps between my knees at nite. When we finish our addition and get into our bigger room and KING SIZE bed, DH has a rude awakening coming. He wants ALL dogs out of the bed at that time, but I will get my way or he will have to find another room to sleep in. Yes... if I had to make a choice between my fur blankets or the ole man, well lets just say I feel for the ole man. The dogs would definitely win my favor!!!

 

Side note: The other nite I was working on my sons computer until 2 a.m. Pache was on the sofa and finally got up and came over to lay his head in my lap as if to say, "Ma, can we PLEASE go to bed now?!?!" As soon as I asked him if he was wanting me to go get in the bed he did a happy dance and beat me to the bedroom. I guess he's just as used to having me as a bed feller as I am him.

[Shetlander]

SO is no one else worried about puppies legs jumping up and down off beds, or is everybodies dogs older?

 

I've had puppies as young as 7 weeks sleep on my bed. If the puppy is restless, looks like it wants to get down or jumps down, then I put him in the crate for the night and we try again at a later date. My puppies have all jumped on and off furniture. I didn't encourage it, but I didn't try to stop it. Quinn was jumping like a cat from an early age. So, no I guess I've never worried too much.

[Bo Peep]

I let my heart dog sleep with me until the day she died. She showed me through divorce and even put up with my ex hubby. She deserved a decent bed to sleep in. He didn't. LOL.

[Suprman]

Maisie is not allowed on the bed or the couch. I believe there are some places a dog should not be. I believe it could lead to behavior issues. She's a dog and I don't want her to start thinking she's a human.

 

Plus I hate dog hair in the bed... it's hard enough keeping my clothes hair free

Just my honest opinion.

[Guest SweetJordan]

SO is no one else worried about puppies legs jumping up and down off beds, or is everybodies dogs older?

 

I adopted my first dog at the age of 12 weeks. Even though the bed I was using at the time did not sit that high up she needed me to pick her up to put her on the bed. She would always ask for permission. For some reason she just had the sense that because she was too little to jump in the bed that she was also too little to jump out of the bed. As a result she never started jumping in and out of the bed until she was older. And even then I didn't worry about things such as when her growth plates were closed like I did before allowing her to do the full agility jumps etc.

With my second dog (my lab) I waited until he was older. My bed sat up higher at that time, and I knew that he was the type who would go flying off of the bed. Plus, at two months there was no way that he wouldn't potty in my bedroom w/o a crate. At three months I couldn't trust him like my other pup(she was unusual as she slept through the night w/o having to potty at three months). He was allowed to sleep outside of his crate at about 5 months of age. When he was all grown up and I felt it was safe for him to jump then he was invited into the bed. And he still asks for permission every night.

Riley was adopted at 15 months so I didn't worry much about her jumping. I think she was probably born w/ springs on her legs anyway.

[dogsofmenace]

All the doggies are allowed to, and do, sleep in the bed all the time. Although, I have found that the little ones take up a lot more space than you would think. They tend to stretch out and leave about 5" of space for me to sleep in.

 

Agreed! My BC curls into a ball at the end of the bed while our smallest dog stretches out as much as she can. We used to have a beagle/basset mix who would physically push people off the side of the bed and if someone got up in the middle of the night they would come back to find the 30 pound dog stretched completely across the area they were just occupying and then some.

[1sheepdoggal]

I dont mind the dogs in the bed at all, but my husband has a no dogs allowed policy, so when he is in it, the dogs know better than to come get on it. However, when he's not in it...........Course, we wont tell about how he has allowed the new pit puppy to sleep in the bed with him every night since we brought him home. Now its my policy of no puppies in the bed, the little buggar pee'd on my comforter last night.

[ZoZo]

I believe there are some places a dog should not be. I believe it could lead to behavior issues. She's a dog and I don't want her to start thinking she's a human.

 

Here, here! Now that's a smart human. That's what we should be doing, but alas, we are failures in our own home. First it was no dog upstairs, then no dogs on the furniture- especially the nicer couch in the living room- ok, so much for that. Then positively, no dogs on the bed, really. Absolutely no dogs on the bed at night, this will never change. OK, for sure no dogs over the 50 yard line at night, they must confine themselves to the foot of the bed only. Now, I'm waking up to a dog on my pillow as the cat has decided all parts of the bed are actually for cat lounging and since he scares the new rescue dog, the dog now comes up to lean against the headboard to escape gaze of possible evil cat (Jinx is still not sure of his intentions). All our pets are so nice and really do behave otherwise so we do cut them some slack on the furniture thing. Even so, I need more sleep, maybe everybody is getting crated tonight!

[Rockstar]

Rockstar only gets to sleep on the bed in the morning after one person is up and there is room for her. Even though she is on the smaller side she takes up SPACE when she stretches out. And I like to make sure she knows that it is a luxury to be on the bed and NOT expected. But she is very good about waiting until the morning and sleeps happily in her bed the rest of the night.

[Alaska]

Sorry, you guys are making me feel like I simply must contribute this picture of my father taking a nap with two of his three dogs:

 

 

They don't think they're humans. The life of a dog in that house is so good they know they'd be crazy to trade it in for the miserable existence of a human.

 

I'll have you know that we did NOT have dogs in our beds when I was growing up. I dunno when the line got crossed, but it was far enough in the distant past that there isn't even a detectable line any more. For instance: the brown thing at the left side of the photo is an actual dog bed that is permanently installed between my parents' two pillows. For the white dog, you know? In that house, the dogs even have their own beds ON TOP OF the humans' bed. Q.E.D. I rest my case.

[Shetlander]

Maisie is not allowed on the bed or the couch. I believe there are some places a dog should not be. I believe it could lead to behavior issues. She's a dog and I don't want her to start thinking she's a human.

 

That's a fairly common viewpoint. Personally, I've never noticed my dogs thinking they were human because they're allowed on furniture. They do know to move out of my way if I want to sit or lie where they are. Going back to my first dog when I was 10, I've loved having dogs on the bed and haven't noticed behavior issues resulting from that.

 

Plus I hate dog hair in the bed... it's hard enough keeping my clothes hair free

Just my honest opinion.

 

I certainly wouldn't want to sleep in a bed that had other people's dogs' hair on it. But my own dogs I know are bathed monthly, brushed a few times a week and flea-free. Plus they're my dogs, so their hair doesn't bother me.

[PSmitty]

All or some of my dogs sleep with us in the bed. Depends on who wants to sleep where. Many moons ago, we tried to have a no dogs in the bed policy when we first adopted Lilly. That didn't last long, and we didn't even bother trying with the last two.

 

Thank God for king sized beds.

 

And, I agree 100 % with you, Liz.

[Guest SweetJordan]

That's a fairly common viewpoint. Personally, I've never noticed my dogs thinking they were human because they're allowed on furniture. They do know to move out of my way if I want to sit or lie where they are. Going back to my first dog when I was 10, I've loved having dogs on the bed and haven't noticed behavior issues resulting from that.

I certainly wouldn't want to sleep in a bed that had other people's dogs' hair on it. But my own dogs I know are bathed monthly, brushed a few times a week and flea-free. Plus they're my dogs, so their hair doesn't bother me.

Agree. And what I have noticed is that even if you don't let the dogs in the bed the hair often ends up there and on other pieces of furniture. Because it gets on your clothes and in the air. Doesn't matter how great your vaccum is or how often you clean(and w/ my hardwood floors I will generally pick up hair off the bedroom floor once a day, but there still seems to always be hair on it), hair happens when you have pets. So if that really bothered me then I would have to have the rule of no dogs in the bedroom which I would never do. I know there is hair from at least one of my dogs in my mom's car, and they have never been in her car.

 

I've never had behavior issues from dogs in the bed either. But I have also never had a dominate dog.

[M.L.]

It depends. I let Willow sleep on the bed because she stays at the bottom, doesn't get on and off all night and she barely moves. She also doesn't shed all that much. Sometimes I'll let Bailey on but he moves around too much, constantly waking us up. Ginger prefers her bed on the floor. I actually have to invite her up and convince her to come up on the bed with me. My husband's dogs don't come up on the bed to sleep. His husky sheds way too much and Kato takes up too much space. Sometimes in the morning he'll let his two up on the bed to cuddle with him before he gets up though.

 

There are some nights that we just want a peaceful sleep and we will put all of the dogs in their crates to sleep. No jumping on and off the bed, no crazy dog games in the middle of the night, no running downstairs to bark at a strange noise outside. Ahhh, those peaceful nights!

 

The dog hair also bothers me. I hate laying down to a bunch of dog hair all over. Especially when you pull the covers up and you get dog hair up your nose and in your mouth! Yuck!

 

The night before washing the bedding I will invite all the dogs up to cuddle with me while I'm reading a book in bed. They might even sleep there, as long as I don't have to have another night with sheets covered in dog hair.

[Laurae]

Sophie is quite the little dominant bitch. To other dogs. Never to me. She has had bed access all her life (though she usually prefers to sleep on her own dog bed or the couch). I think there are circumstances where a dog may feel the need to take a leadership role if he/she perceives one is lacking, but sleeping on the bed in and of itself is not really how this relationship takes place. Now, if my dog was to growl at me if I asked her to get off the bed, that would be a problem and I'd restrict bed access until she understood that she was not in charge. (And I'd reestablish leadership with a strict NILIF program.) Leadership is about control of resources, so if your dog sees you as the one who controls resources and does not challenge that status quo, there's no need for Millan-esque displays of power and dominance, imo.

 

ETA: Sophie sleeps on the bed once in a while, Taz sleeps on the bed, Craig sleeps in his crate. I miss having a cat sleep on the bed, but if I had a cat now, sleep would be elusive with all the chasing going on, so I suppose it's for the best.

[Shetlander]

Now, if my dog was to growl at me if I asked her to get off the bed, that would be a problem and I'd restrict bed access until she understood that she was not in charge. (And I'd reestablish leadership with a strict NILIF program.)

 

A few of my dogs have growled at me when they decided I was intruding on their space in my bed. Usually in their teenager phase. They were booted off before they knew what happened. If the growling kept up, you bet they'd be sleeping elsewhere. My dogs all know to move out of my way and skeddadle if they see any human butt heading towards where they are lounging on furniture. The only problem I've really run into is when one dog thinks he gets to tell another dog they're not allowed up. That dog is also booted off before he finishes declaring he's King of All He Surveys. For the most part, it's quite peaceful, especially on the bed.

 

There are some nights that we just want a peaceful sleep and we will put all of the dogs in their crates to sleep. No jumping on and off the bed, no crazy dog games in the middle of the night, no running downstairs to bark at a strange noise outside. Ahhh, those peaceful nights!

 

All my dogs through the years have moved very little during the night even as puppies. And I swear the sheltie would refuse to bark in the middle of the night if she heard an axe murderer making a sandwich in the kitchen. I'm quite sure she'd be saying "Oh, no. Mustn't disturb Her Majesty at this hour. Her Majesty needs her rest." Sassy's a sensitive, submissive girl and I must have really made an impression on her in her puppyhood to zip it.

[Sue R]

When Ed retires, I'd like to get a king-size bed so they can all sleep on the bed with us. Until then, usually only one does now but they all have lovely beds of their own from LLBean. They all climb in bed in the morning for cuddles and belly rubs. Usually, only Bute spends the night, curled up between our feet. It used to be Celt but he won't compete with Bute and, besides, I moved his dog bed to a location by Ed's side of the bed that he really, really likes.

 

Megan is our "thermometer" dog - in real cold weather, she would get into bed for the night. If it was mild, you couldn't convince her to sleep with us.

 

Although Ed says he doesn't like them sleeping on the bed, I always have to leave Megan or Megan and Bute when I am gone away, so he has someone to sleep with. His words, not mine! Celt is the same with me, always sleeping with me when we are gone on a trip together, and sometimes all night when Ed is gone on a trip. He'll even spoon when it's just him and me in a motel room, and this isn't a cuddling dog.

 

We use a Vellux blanket on top of the bed - its foam core prevents dirt or dog hair from getting onto the rest of the bedding. We always take a clean "dog blanket" for the bed when we go to a motel, or don't let the dogs up at all. Ed's rule is no dogs on the sheets or pillows, anywhere.

 

I wonder if he knew that "his" cat was sleeping on my pillow several nights in a row? I finally had to put a stop to that as I couldn't sleep very well while sharing my pillow with a good-size, medium-haired cat. The cat loves to hunt - if I twitch my feet (which I do when falling asleep), he pounces. As my twitching bothers Ed, he is all for having the cat on the foot of the bed, as it makes me reduce or stop the twitching. I think they have planned that together. It's working.

[OurBoys]

Both of ours sleep in their crates at night. We started out with the no dogs on the furniture rule but one night we thought we would let JJ on the sofa. After letting him on it once, he thought it was his....every time we would get up, JJ would jump up there and stretch out as much as he could. We put an end to that.

 

No dog has been allowed upstairs. That's the cat's area. JJ prefers sleeping in his crate anyway. There's been a couple of times we/I have forgotten to close the crate door and he would still be in there when we got up. Jake needs to sleep in his crate because he can get very irate if disturbed. He goes in JJ's crate often to nap but if JJ touches him in the slightest, Jake won't hesitate to growl at him. If he's too ugly, he goes directly to his own crate. Besides, the cat likes picking on the pooches too much. We would never get a good night's sleep if we had to hear a 'herd of elephants' running up and down the stairs.

 

Around here, dog hair is just another fashion statement........

[Skyler]

Before I was married my last BC would sleep right up next to me. He would get under the covers and lay his head on the pillow and sleep there all night long. Once I got married it was too cramped for him and he would get in bed only until I fell asleep and then migrate to his blanket on the floor.

 

Since obtaining our little long haired Chihuahua I have had backaches on a regular basis. She has to get as close to you as possible usually ending up in the small of my back between my wife and I. So much so that I have had my wife strategically placing her on her side of the bed. She still migrates from time to time but always has to be under the covers. It could be 100 degrees in the bedroom and she would still be under the covers - it amazes me how much she likes heat.

 

Koda (BC) is to young to be on the bed. Well see how he does when he's older but he doesnt seem to like to much warmth as of now. He will however sleep with me cuddled up on our big couch so long as there are no covers.

[SnickerKitten]

"I've never had behavior issues from dogs in the bed either. But I have also never had a dominate dog."

 

I have. I just don't allow them onto my bed until I'm there and invite them. Also, as someone else said I reinforce that if a human butt is coming the dog needs to move. Stormy is turning 2 and he's tried to play top dog with people a few times- NOT with me- and I've set him back in his place and that's that.

 

 

 

"Plus they're my dogs, so their hair doesn't bother me."

 

Isn't that funny? *My* dog's hair doesn't bother me, but after touching someone else's dog I always have to wash my hands or I feel dirty.