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!

[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.

[Cincy'sMom]

All of our dogs were crated at night when we first brought them home. Sadie was our first, and she didn't get to sleep with us until she was about 7 months. The other two, much quicker (after housebreaking Cincy and Spot was cured of worms) once Sadie had wormed her way in and gotten most fo the original rules changed!

While they are allowed in our bed, Cincy rarely sleeps with us. Sadie and Spot will for a bit, but eventually they both get down and each of them have two beds in our room (Yes, we have 6 dog beds for 3 dogs in our room...a nest bed and a flat pillow bed for each of them!)

[wolf_Q]

Nebo sleeps on my bed, he is allowed up there with permission. He didn't "earn" that right until he was older...I can't remember when, I think he was at least 2 years old (I would have let him up earlier, but my parents said no dogs on the beds at the time). He started out crated in my room for about a year, then allowed loose in my room at night, then of course, eventually the bed. I also have a 4 month old pup and she is crated in my room at night. I would not start out having a young pup sleep in the bed, nothing against anyone who does that, I personally just would not do that.

[Taylorbay]

My 2 newfs were crate trained from the day they arrived home, they were both allowed free roam of the house while I'm at work when they reached ~18 months old (until they were trustworthy), because I am at work during the day I allowed them to sleep in the bedroom with me with the door gated (not in a crate). Taylor decided that sleeping on the cool floor was better for her but Splash likes to sleep in the bed with me, sometimes she's in the bed all night sometimes she on the floor in her favorite spot next to my bed. It doesn't bother me even as big as she is (110 pounds) - don't know what I'll do should I ever get married again
just my opinion but I would start out with a pup in a crate in the bedroom and once he/she is completely potty trained I'd let her sleep where she wants in the bedroom, and if you don't mind her being in the bed and she wants to be there then everybody is happy

[Tollers-n-Dobes]

Tango sleeps in my bed for most of the night (she goes to hers at some point in the night when she gets too hot). She has since she was 6 months old (she was a very, very well behaved pup and I could trust her). Before she slept with me, I put her in her crate. I love having a dog sleep with me though, and all of my future dogs will be allowed aswell I'm sure - the Tollers anyway; I don't like sleeping with dogs any larger than 45lbs or so just because my bed isn't very big.