Sleeping in the Same Bed

Sangmort

Hey all, hope everyone's doing well!

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Ok everyone, get your mind out of the gutter What's the oppinion on having your dog/s sleep in the same bed with you?

Personally, it's something I've gone back & forth on. I'd love to have my dog sleep in the same bed with me...BUT...I see issues that can arise from this;

o1. It becomes routine for the dog, & can help disrupt your love-life. [ ]
o2. Dog will not see you as "Alpha" since they are sleeping on the same level as you.
o3. If you have more than one dog...*cough*Brad / Jen *cough* it might not work out ok...Especially if you have one dog that's been sleeping in your bed for a year, & then you try to bring a new dog home.
o4. Might not be comfortable if you have multiple dogs & a husband / wife / bf / gf with you. Imagine Brad's pack trying to cram into one bed lol ]

Any thoughts on this? The reasons I listed above are purely my own speculations, so I don't know if I'm correct in assuming them. Please correct me if I'm wrong As it stands, I'd allow my pup to sleep in the bedroom, [ in their OWN crate / doggy bed ] but NOT in [ or even on it during the day ] my bed itself.

[ sorry I used you as an example Brad...but the thought of you & all your pups trying to sleep comfortably on one bed is rather amusing ;D I'm sure Hilo, Lani, & Fuji are 75% of the bed by themselves lol ] ~

okiron

Dogs wont be allowed in our bedroom to begin with so the bed is a non-issue for us. It's going to be our designated safe room for the cats to be able to run to if the dog(s) get too overwhelming for them. And the fact our rabbit HATES dogs so we have to keep her separated or she'll stop eating from the stress. Even if those weren't issues, we already have to share the bed with cats and soon a baby, a dog just wont fit! :P

baanton

I vote no to human beds, human couches and other such furniture ... no dogs allowed on these in my house. (Although I have my suspicions that other 2-legged occupants of my house may have encouraged 4-legged occupants to take liberties with this rule unbeknownst to me)... So if humans care to sleep on the floor or the doggie bed or in the crate, they can snuggle up to the pup around here!

These views represent strictly my own personal viewpoint...

ivanmeza03

Avy and Kiba are allowed to sleep in my room, but in the floor, and yes they are allowed to be on couches, and furnitures and stuff.

ljowen123

Jazz sleeps on my bed about 60% of the time. She's allowed to be on my brother's bed, as well. I've had no real issues with this, even when Fletch was at the house. Jazz is not allowed on any other furniture.

JessicaRabbit

I have three dogs. Piglet sleeps in the bed. Moto sometimes sleeps in the bed if he decides to grace us with his company. Miko sleeps in her playpen.

We have a king size bed so room is not an issue.

And love life? Bed is big enough that they can go to a corner and pretend their humans aren't so weird.

sunyata

Bella sleeps on the bed during the day, and will cuddle with us at night until she (or us) is ready to go to sleep. Then she jumps off the bed and sleeps on her bed. She will only sleep on the bed at night if one of us is not there.

Nola sleeps in her crate. But once she is house trained and out of the puppy stage, I am not sure if she is going to be a bed bug. She is not one for cuddling much... Or sitting or laying still for that matter!

LoveMyMylie

Mylie isn't allowed upstairs, period & we've been able to stop using the baby gate to keep her from going up there. She doesn't follow us up there without being invited & being upstairs with us is a reward for good behavior. She's so rambunctious while upstairs that I don't think she'd ever sleep, so sharing the bed is out of the question. She knows which room in the house is "hers" and she's only allowed on the couch & not the leather chairs, once we move into a bigger place our old couch she'll be allowed on, but not the new furniture set we plan on buying. She's very good about these rules, actually, now that I think about it I am quite proud of her

brandon_w

Nemo sleeps in his crate at night. During the day he sleeps on or underneath our bed.

tsukitsune

I don't really see anything wrong with having your housedogs sleep on the bed if they so choose. Thats how we roll. Actually we have a large dog bed in the room that Kitsune usually sleeps on, Hachi and Tsuki sleep under the bed at first, then when John leaves for work, all 3 end up sleeping on the bed with me.

When we picked up Tsuki, we had 2 foster dogs, one slept in his crate (border-collie-sleep-whizzer) and the other on our bed. Tsuki jumped right up and started sleeping with us. Than the whizzer got adopted, Kitsune came and John had to keep him close on the bed at night b/c he barked at everything once the lights were out.
Then Linus got adopted and Kobe came, we made Kobe sleep in his crate b/c he and Kitsu did not find each others company so riveting. Than Kobe went to his adopter and Hachi came, and she was in heat, so she slept in her crate for a time, then was allowed on the bed. There are no issues with them on the bed at all - even with space. Its nice and cozy and warm on my queen bed. I let them sorta choose where they want to sleep.
If we ever expand the brood, I think we'd have to either get a king sized bed or start designating sleep spots.

I do tell people that have a truly dominant dog, not a tv-diagnosed-cesar-dominant-dog, but a really truly behaviorist assessed dominant dog to think twice about where they allow the dog to sleep.
Also, I think pups under a year or fosters should not be allowed on a bed until housebroken or non destructive night behavior ready, clearly I broke this rule with Tsuki, but you live and learn.

TeamLaika

I also have three dogs. They are permitted on furniture mostly by invite only. The dogs all sleep in the bedroom with my husband and I. I don't have a problem with dogs being in the bed...it is only a problem when the dog refuses to get out of the bed upon your request. (I don't really subscribe to a bunch of overwrought dominance theory.) Mine may hop in the bed but they rarely stay. They get too hot and think we toss and turn too much! Tuli usually sleeps in the bay window. Triepak likes to sleep in the bathroom on the cool tile and Guska sleeps all stretched out on the floor on my side between the bed and the dresser. Tuli may take a nap with me if I am the only one in the bed! They are not permitted in the bedroom during the day when I am gone. Actually, the entire upstairs is off limits to them when we are not home.

When I was young, I grew up with Terriers. These guys were all snugglers. They wanted to be in the bed UNDER the covers!

Honey's mom

Honey is still too small to get up no our bed by herself, but we do allow her to sleep with us at times. It doesnt seem to have caused any problems with her sleeping in her crate when we want the bed to ourselves. She's pretty flexible. She IS big enough to hop up on the couches now.....so that's fun! HAHAH But she usually only hops up when we are on the couch relazing. (except when she wants to dig in the couch in the front room. hahah)

brandon_w

Terriers really tend to be snugglers. We have Whizzer with us (again!) and he always wants to sleep by us. Usually we make him sleep in the other room, but one night this past weekend we had some guests over in the guest room, so he slept with us. He spoons all night that crazy little dog. If I had to flip over, I would just grab him and take him with me and he stayed put.

For any of you who are unaware of who Whizzer is, he is Nemo's best bud, a Carin Terrier. You can see many pictures of him in the Nemo Thread.

kwyld

My dogs have growled at each other and me when I used to let them sleep on the bed. Plus, my dogs go outside and poop in the grass, and there will always be poop that I might have missed from the previous cleaning session and I'm pretty sure they don't always avoid it, hence poop on their paws. I don't want poopy paws in my bed.

cas12

I don't let my pups upstairs at all this is our pet free zone, but when I had my staffI made the biggest mitake by letting her sleep in my bed she did this for sixteen years, It was uncomfortable at times exspecially when she was cold and cuddled under the duvet. She was a smallish dog can you imagine two fully grown akitas no thanks. They have their cuddle time down stairs

Edgewood

I agree with baanton "vote no to human beds, human couches and other such furniture ... no dogs allowed on these in my house"

My dog is allowed in my bedroom and he sleeps on his bed. When I had 3 dogs, it was the same, they each had a bed to sleep on in my bedroom. Dogs are allowed up on furniture only by invitation in my house.

grandemu

We just recently started allowing Sora to sleep on the bed. For the most part, this works out (the random late-night, "oops, ate grass" hopping off the bed to vomit). But she definitely doesn't have any different attitude towards us, if anyhting, she is definitely more cuddly - she wants more scratching, ect. It is a pain when she sheds though. She isn't allowed on any other furniture, and doesn't usually try to get up on it.

Sangmort

Thanks guys, this was super helpful! ~

dlroberts

Wow, I had no idea I was in the minority allowing dogs in bed with me. With the exception of the last few weeks (post Lucy's surgery where I can't risk her jumping off in the middle of the night) Lucy has basically always been allowed to sleep in bed. Joey is old enough now where he is ready, but I'm waiting for Lucy to get the OK from the doctor to start again before I bring Joey up regularly.

To answer your questions Osy:

It becomes routine for the dog, & can help disrupt your love-life. [ ] If your dog claims the bed and refuses to surrender their position when you ask for it then yes, this could be a big problem. Lucy will get down and stay down when I ask her to. And if she doesn't, then she looses her bed privilege (this has only happened once).

Dog will not see you as "Alpha" since they are sleeping on the same level as you. I'm coming to realize as I read more and more about dog behavior and pack theory that the whole "alpha" thing is way overplayed in the media. Your dog will respect you as a leader if you act appropriately regardless of where they sleep. The "pack leader" has the right to invite any other pack member to sleep in their chosen location and to revoke that invitation at will. If you dog doesn't respect your bed rules, then its probably symptomatic of a larger respect issue (I'm probably over simplifying here, but hopefully you get the point).

If you have more than one dog...*cough*Brad / Jen *cough* it might not work out ok...Especially if you have one dog that's been sleeping in your bed for a year, & then you try to bring a new dog home. This is a non-issue. Others have said on this forum (I apologize, I don't recall who) that each dog understands and respects their own rules. They don't get frustrated or upset when another dog is allowed on the bed and they are forced to sleep in a crate or their own bed. For the past 5+ months, Joey has been sleeping in his crate and Lucy on the bed and this has never been an issue. If I wasn't particularly sleepy when I got in bed, I would bring Joey up with Lucy and I while I watched some TV. Lucy never had a problem with it. In fact, she enjoyed the playtime and would gently mouth Joey while I watched TV. When I was ready to fall asleep, I would move Joey down to his crate and he would not protest at all. No problems there at all.

Might not be comfortable if you have multiple dogs & a husband / wife / bf / gf with you. Imagine Brad's pack trying to cram into one bed lol Again, this is only a problem if you cannot claim the bed back from your dogs if/when you want it.

So, to summarize, dogs are allowed on my bed, but only because I choose to allow it. It is a not an entitlement, its a privilege and I treat it that way as long as they do too. I hope that makes sense Osy. :-)

Sangmort

Thanks Dave for the super-detailed response! Most of the stuff I was talking about came from what I have seen in doggy-related shows, & wasn't sure how accurate they were [hence my posting the question ] So thanks muchly !

I understand what you're saying completely.

It kind of makes me happy as if my pup is a snuggler I would love to have a furball to sleep with ;p ~

ivanmeza03

dlouisrobert for president! xP. very nice explanation. and YES FOR DOGS ON BED! 8)

Nekopan

I think it's important to crate train first. Jack always goes to bed in his crate. If I wake up in the middle of the night and he hasn't cried, I usually take him into my bed for a snuggle. He takes up the whole bed and kicks me in his sleep, though. XD As long as your dog understands the rules, there should be no issues.

Sangmort

Oh definitely. I am a firm believer in Crate Training.

That's too cute...he kicks you in his sleep! ~

Nekopan

Our previous dog (mini dachshund) was an uber-snuggler - she was not happy unless she was burrowed into a blanket! This also included warm piles of laundry. If you were under the blankets as well, she would curl up right behind your knees.

Sangmort

Awww! ~

MommyofNiko

The dogs are allowed on the bed once in a while for special treat and Not for very long. I dont like sleeping in dog hair and Sasha is a HOG and Niko has to always be in contact with me. The furniture is also a huge treat. They need to be invited on the furniture, the bed, upstairs, outside, in the car (with a lot of back talk from them while waiting).
Niko sometimes will catch herself in the middle of doing something without being invited (walking up the stairs behind me very slowly and quietly) I turn around, ask her what she is doing and she turns right around and goes right back downstairs.
I have learned she gets so focused on the 'free' word she doesnt hear other commands given to her.

sujewel

For me, it's a yes and a no. I don't particularly like dogs on the bed since my space is the first to be affected (read: less space for Barbara). Kurt loves the dogs on the bed. To compromise, I'll allow them on the bed during the day, but once it's sleeping time, all dogs are off! And there is absolutely no way the dogs are allowed on the couch.

JessicaRabbit

I am a strict dictator about many things in my house. But furniture...not even close. My couches and bed would feel so empty and lonely without a Piglet on them. I think that is probably the biggest difference between my Japanese dogs and my pits of past and present. Pit bulls bond to their owners much more like a child to a parent. It actually feels wrong to not be near them when they are in the room. Moto and Miko, whom I love ferociously, seem perfectly natural existing on dog beds and play pens. They will sit on the couch or the bed, but they LOVE there space (much like Barbara!!). Side note...all three dogs LOVE the Kuranda beds. I am ordering a third one.

sujewel

Oh, I'm so glad you found a bed that Miko isn't destroying!!!

JessicaRabbit

They aren't cheap but they are worth every penny.

scientiste

I dont allow Tsuki in the bed or on the furniture. If I want to give her affection or play fetch, I get on the floor with her. When I sit down to eat or on a couch, she knows that isn't her territory, so she doesn't bother me there. She's not a hugely cuddlesome dog, and hates being restrained, so she never really tries to bend the rules.