Does your dog sleep in your bed?

[juxie]

My fiance and I are bringing home our Lab pup on Friday and we are debating over whether to let her sleep in our bed or not. I know the habit would be impossible to break, and thats ok because I don't mind a big warm doggie sleeping in my bed when shes all grown up

My concern is that she might fall out of the bed when she is small- is there a way to make it safer for her? What are all of your thoughts on letting her sleep with us? We have a crate all set up for her daytime potty training, and it could easily be taken upstairs to put beside our bed for sleeping in- is this perhaps a better idea? Thanks!!

[borzoimom]

on our bed no- but any other bed is fair game..

[tikeyas_mom]

well Tikeya and Ebony dont sleep in our bed.. But Daisy sneaks up there inthe middle of the night

[applesmom]

There are several reasons I don't agree with allowing dogs to sleep with their owners though I did it for years. Breaking them of the habit was one of the smartest things I ever did. For us and the dogs!

The first and most obvious is that it's messy and itchy. Washing sheets every day and clogging the washer and dryer with gobs of dog hair isn't my idea of a good time.

Big dogs take up too much space, don't care if they're laying on your feet and you can't move; put out too much body heat in the summer (their body temperature is 4 points higher than ours) and they lay on the covers in winter--usually during the coldest part of the night! Sometimes they snore too!

A dog needs a place that it can call it's own and doesn't have to share with anyone!

Sleeping with the owners can also cause seperation anxiety.

I'll let someone else get into the dominance problems that can develop. Though I'm aware of them I've never experienced them personally, but that could have been dumb luck!

[Freedom]

As I ponted out in another thread on this subject, I am concerned with the age of this pup. If it is not house trained, young pups can't make it trough the night. Starting with the crate may be a better idea. The first night away from its mom and litter mates, the dog is going to cry a bit. So if you decide to keep the crate in your bedroom, just be awre of that.

[luvofallhorses]

my dogs sleep in bed with me sometimes and my parents most of the time (they have a bigger bed than me.. I have a twin and they have a king)
and they don't have seperation anxiety or anything. or any dominance issues whatsoever, although my hound Buster thinks he can only sleep in bed with my parents and not the others. but he lets the other dogs on there most of the time.
and my cats sleep with me all the time since they can fit.

[critter crazy]

If my dogs slept on my bed, I would have to sleep on the couch!!! They have their very own special Beds!

[CathyBogart]

Jasper sleeps on a pile of blankets next to the bed...though if it weren't for a non-dog loving BF he would certainly sleep with me!

[borzoimom]

If my dogs slept on my bed, I would have to sleep on the couch!!! They have their very own special Beds!

I can't imagine trying to sleep with mine- I did (use to) with hottie when I was single. I had a king size bed- hottie was the king.. lol..
I crate puppies in our room. Teaches the crate, and keeping out of trouble in the night. After about 6 months old, they are loose in room but I have a gate up to keep them in there.
The only dog I had that slept with us for the life time of the dog was my little Affenpincher Crikket. ...

[Crayons09]

Sadie sleeps on my parents bed, as you can see from the picture. Daisy does not sleep on beds because she can not jump on them. Now, if she could jump on them she would always be on one.

[Jakesmom]

We have two, a (large, 100#) Golden Retriever and a smaller English Cocker. They both sleep on the bed (king), at least to start. Usually, in summer, the Golden will get off pretty soon (he gets hot), though in the winter he will sometimes stay the whole night. We started them both in crates or crate equivalent (the bathroom), as I was afraid of hurting them or them needing to "take a break" in the middle of the night. Luckily (for me), my husband always wakes up in the night, so he would just take them out for a mid night potty break. When they were fully potty trained, we let them stay in bed with us.

I'd love to figure a way to let them stay with us from the begining, but this system worked for us. Now if we could just get the two cats to stay off...

Jake's mom

[Sophist]

No dogs on the bed here.

The dogs all get shut in the room with us at night, but they have their own bed set up next to ours on the floor.

I would recommend crating the puppy, at least to start.

[Vette]

Nope,, my dog sleeps in his crate at night... an during the day he sleeps
in a dog bed on top of a microwave that doesnt work anymore,, thats not
even an arms length away from me while im at my computer

[cloverfdx]

In winter yes, keeps both them and me warm. It is a pretty hot night here tonight so they will most likely sleep in the back sunroom, and puppy will sleep in his crate in my room or if it is too hot in his crate he will end up in bed with me.

Clover is the only dog i have had dominane issue with re: the 'big bed' and for quite some time she was not allowed to hop on whenever she felt like it... we worked on it and she knows i am boss again and will wait to be invited up and will get down when told .

[mruffruff]

My first puppy was allowed to sleep with me the first night home. After I washed all the bedding, I gave him his own box next to the bed. I could drape my arm over the side to comfort him until he got used to being alone. A crate would have been the way to go, but I wasn't smart enough all those years ago.

Now I sleep with Samson. He's 14+ and is having some mental issues, so I need to keep him close, leashed to the bed frame. Occasionally, he will get aggressive toward Scruffy because he thinks he's in charge of the bed. So Scruffy sleeps on his own bed next to mine. Mac the cat shares my half of the bed.

Bella Mae doesn't like to get on the furniture unless asked so she sleeps in her own bed.

Ideally, I'd like all of the dogs to use their own beds. But I have to admit I like Samson's warmth these cold nights