# letting your dog sleep in the bedroom



## dogclass (Feb 16, 2011)

Hi,
I've read others advise to let your dog sleep in your room (but not your bed). Supposedly, letting a dog sleep in your room is a bonding activity, and it's really good or your dog - at least that's what they say.

What has your experience been? Does letting your dog sleep in your bedroom improve anything? I'm not sure what it does.

Any opinions would be appreciated, thanks. Right now, the dog sleeps in the kennel in the living room, which is where we hang out 95% when we're awake, so he gets plenty of family time.

Edit: My dog is about 11 months old. We've only had him for 3 weeks. So far, he has only had 2 accidents, both our fault for dilly dallying when we wake up and getting home from work and not letting him out immediately.


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## RubyFeuer (Mar 30, 2010)

I let all of my dogs sleep in my room and in my bed too lol. The biggest one usually sleeps under the bed or on the floor though because he gets hot in the bed. I have noticed that the dogs bond faster if they are allowed to sleep in the same room as you. If you wish they can still be kenneled, but it just makes them feel better to be able to know you are there and smell you all night. I have never had any issues with it except when they were puppies because occasionally I would wake up to an accident. This is usually easy to avoid if you take them out immediately before bed and first thing in the morning. If you wait even a minute to long after they wake up they could have an accident. If they are smaller puppies or young puppies waking up around 3 or 4am and letting them out will help too. If you don't let them sleep in the bed with you and they sleep in the kennel these times to take them out are nice anyway just so you don't have to clean a kennel lol. I don't know how old your dog is so I just threw in that last part just incase. I hope my opinion and experience is useful to you.


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Both dogs sleep in our bedroom. Our adult dog sleeps on her bed next to our bed, but comes up for a cuddle every morning before we get up. Our puppy sleeps in his crate to avoid accidents, and also to stop the dogs from playing with each other during the night, and I know him well enough that I don't want him on the bed at night, because he's such a fidget.


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## Maggie Girl (Feb 27, 2011)

Our dog sleeps in our room, on the floor at the foot of the bed. We've also found him in a laundry basket if one is on the floor near that spot, LOL. It's really cute. I'm sure he'd love to sleep on the bed, but we have a no furniture policy.

Wanted to add, we used to keep him gated off from the end of the house that has the bedrooms. The other end is linoleum or hardwood floor so until we could trust him to not pee on the floor through the night he stayed in there. And he'd whimper a bit when we'd go off to bed, poor guy :-( After we knew we could trust him through the night we allowed him to choose where to sleep and he chose our floor at the end of the bed.


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## amynrichie (Sep 3, 2008)

My two smaller dogs have been sleeping in my bed and mostly ON my legs. I'm considering kenneling them in my room, though, because I just do not sleep well when they are on me all night.


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## Cracker (May 25, 2009)

Honestly, I think it depends on the dog and on the humans. I live in a studio apt (one large room) so I don't have a choice either way but sometimes when I'm housesitting Cracker will go sleep in another room, where ever is comfortable for her. I know many people who's dogs are crated at night downstairs or in a "dog room" and I know many who's dogs sleep on the bed (Cracker does if it suits her). I think waking time spent training, playing and doing stuff with your dog is much more important for a decent bond than where they sleep.


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## sassafras (Jun 22, 2010)

Our dogs sleep in the bedroom, although only Pip is allowed on the bed.

Back in the day, when it was Pip and our old dog Roxy, we let our dogs come and go as they pleased. Pip always slept in the bedroom and Roxy often chose to sleep downstairs. But we had to start closing the bedroom door at night to keep the cats out to preserve our sleep and sanity, and rather than have dogs scratching to get in and out we just started bringing them up to bed with us.


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## LoMD13 (Aug 4, 2010)

Lola sleeps on my bed. She usually falls asleep in the living room, and I carry her (sleeping) to bed. She doesn't even wake up from that, so she stays wherever I plop her down.


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

My 3 sleep in my room. They are allowed up on the bed, and usually all start out there, but the 2 largest, Christy and Rusty both get down onto their beds after about 15 min or so. They don't like people touching them from under the covers when we turn over/move. Snickers (cocker mix) is a sandbag, and WILL NOT MOVE, no matter what.

OP- I'd let him sleep in the bedroom, crated, or when housebroken, uncrated in his own bed.


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## peznite (Oct 21, 2009)

I couldn't let my westie sleep in the bed, she is way too active outdoors during the day...unless I washed her every single day. She only gets washed when she goes to the groomers every 6-8 weeks to avoid skin-issues (hasn't had any yet...but I assume thats because we don't wash her much) Anyway she is allowed to dig in certain areas (terrier) and she rolls around in the grass and is always destroying weeds n stuff. I brush her everyday but still...she's spends most of her time running around playing in dirt/mud/grass/plants...she's only wants to be inside when it's A) raining, or B) hot (air conditioning) or C) when we're cooking food.


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## Labmom4 (Feb 1, 2011)

All 4 of mine sleep in my bedroom. The puppy's crate is right next to my bed and the others have dog beds/pillows scattered around my room. I like to let them (except the puppy) sleep in bed, but hubby says they take up too much room


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## lisaj1354 (Feb 23, 2008)

Pepper sleeps in a doggie bed on the floor at the end of my bed. He loves to sleep on my clothes, so every night I drop a piece of clothing on his bed and he cuddles up and sleeps through the night. I can't imagine him sleeping any place else. It gives us both a sense of comfort, I think.

I couldn't sleep in the same bed with him - he would want to play every time I rolled over. 

That said, he sleeps with me when I take a nap on the couch. Sometimes he snuggles up behind my knees, sometimes he's at my feet, and sometimes he crawls up between my back and the back of the couch.


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## LazyGRanch713 (Jul 22, 2009)

Tag sleeps in my bed, on his back, nose tucked into my neck, body along side mine. If I move, so does he. Dude sleeps at the foot of my bed or on top of Tags crate (I put a pillow up there, so it's like a double decker bunk bed). It's completely his choice if he wants to sleep on the bed or not. Auz has *never* liked sleeping on furniture (probably good with the amount of mud we're currently dealing with). The cats usually take over at least half my bed during the night.


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## LynnI (Mar 27, 2010)

I agree with Cracker depends on the people and the dog. In my case, my dogs sleep with us.


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## dbulick (May 10, 2010)

Our dogs can sleep wherever they want, but our Cocker always sleeps under the bed, and our Aussie sleeps in the door way between our bedroom and the living room(I like to think she is standing guard).


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## Maggie Girl (Feb 27, 2011)

spotted nikes said:


> My 3 sleep in my room. They are allowed up on the bed, and usually all start out there, but the 2 largest, Christy and Rusty both get down onto their beds after about 15 min or so. They don't like people touching them from under the covers when we turn over/move. Snickers (cocker mix) is a sandbag, and WILL NOT MOVE, no matter what.
> 
> OP- I'd let him sleep in the bedroom, crated, or when housebroken, uncrated in his own bed.


I'm LOLing at your dog being a "sandbag"  I had a cat like that once. No matter what I did, he wasn't moving.


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## Not a Boxer (Oct 5, 2010)

In a nutshell: The BEST move I've ever made with regard to my dog was letting him sleep in my room.

When we first got him he we kept his crate in the living room, but at night he would cry and cry (even when he didn't have to potty). A trainer suggested moving the crate into the bedroom at night so he could hear and smell us, and he starting sleeping through the night from the very first night we tried it. Now he has a bed in the corner of the room. He'll come cuddle with us, but sleeps through the night in his bed.


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## bartleby (Aug 18, 2010)

My boys can sleep in the bedroom, or not, as long as they behave themselves. (They're still under a year, so they get their hall passes revoked if they start getting into things they shouldn't.) They seem to like to start out in the bedroom. Then it gets too hot, so they go downstairs and sleep on the couch for a bit. They come back up at dawn. They aren't allowed on the bed. I don't need two adolescent long legged 60 pound dogs with muddy feet sharing my sheets and teasing the cat, who does have bed privileges.


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## Kim & Duke (Mar 8, 2011)

dogclass said:


> Hi,
> I've read others advise to let your dog sleep in your room (but not your bed). Supposedly, letting a dog sleep in your room is a bonding activity, and it's really good or your dog - at least that's what they say.
> 
> What has your experience been? Does letting your dog sleep in your bedroom improve anything? I'm not sure what it does.


All three of my dogs sleep in my room. Granted they are all working dogs (one retired guide dog, one semi-retired guide/service dog and one working guide/service dog), but even if they weren't I would still let them sleep in my room.

I definitely think it helps with bonding! Another advantage is that it helps them know where they are in the pack. I sleep higher than them (on the bed) so it reinforces that I am more important than them. If I notice one of them having a bit of an attitude or any ideas that they are higher in the pack than one of my other dogs I can also let them sleep on the bed with me (usually they sleep at the foot of the bed when I invite them up). They know they are not allowed on the bed unless I invite them so this works out well.

It's also great that I know exactly what they are doing when they are in the room with me. Not that they get in trouble when left in rooms alone, but if one of them is sick in the night for example I can hear them right away and deal with it. I'm blind and also have a spinal cord injury so it's not like I can leap out of bed and get a dog outside extremely quickly if they are already doing that awful gaging sound!

I think dogs are a lot calmer and more relaxed when they are with their pack too rather than being left alone. Anyway, these are just my feelings on the whole thing.


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

My wife is somewhat allergic to dogs so, naturally, we have anywhere from 2-5 dogs sleeping in our room each night. I do run a large air cleaner all the time.

When the grand-dogs visit, they prefer sleeping in our room, even if the owner is just down the hall. It's a slumber party atmosphere. We have comfy beds and soft blankets and everybody gets tucked in properly. None of them sleep in our bed, but Zeke (who does not shed) has visiting rights.

There are occasional, minor issues. If someone has the audacity to walk past our house during the night, Esther and Molly will alert us. Esther will go, "WOOF!" and let it go. Molly will go, "Arf arf arf arf arf arf arf," long after the danger has passed. Since the person eventually moves out of sight, she is convinced she has prevailed once again.

Before my girls earned the right to sleep in our room, they slept in the dog room. It was a finished basement recreation room, which was probably comfortable-enough, but boring. They expressed their boredom by eating the sleeper sofa and complaining loudly, starting about 2 a.m.


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## Finkie_Mom (Mar 2, 2010)

Hmmm well I feel like the odd-man (woman ) out, here!

My dogs both sleep in their crates downstairs in their area (living room/kitchen). Kimma is reliable with house training, but Pentti still tends to mark things. Plus, I have horrible allergies, so I would probably wake up not being able to breathe (I'm working on getting allergy shots or something because it keeps getting worse and worse ). Though even before I developed bad allergies, I still hadn't planned on ever letting the dog (only had Kimma at the time) sleep in my bed... 

But a nap on the couch every once and a while is definitely OK


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## kadylady (Sep 23, 2010)

Luke gets to decide where he sleeps each night, most of the time it depends on how tired he is. If he's really tired, he will sleep on his bed in our room all night long, other nights he will start upstairs with us and then move downstairs and sleep on the couch or futon. Every now and then he gets lucky and gets to stay in bed with us.

We also have a "sandbag", Rocky, the cat. That cat will not move for anything! I have literally rolled on top of him before and I was the one that had to move. He used to cuddle at my feet which I hated and I couldn't kick this cat off the bed! I would have to sit up, pick him up, and put him on the floor!


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## Xeph (May 7, 2007)

All of my crew (2 GSDs and a CAT) sleep in our bedroom. Mirada has just gained this privilege. Strauss sleeps in the bedroom (and often times on the bed) for work purposes though, not just because I love him (though I do very much)


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## Shiningsummer (May 24, 2010)

Molly sleeps with me, except when my dad visits. Then of course she sleeps with him because he's her FAVORITE person in the whole wide world. (I'm her second. :second: ) However, she didn't sleep with me until about a month after I adopted her. The bond between us is very strong and I think sleeping in my bed has certainly contributed to that. Every once in a while she sleeps downstairs on her bed but that's not very often and it's usually her choice. She loves to sleep curled up under the covers smooshed up against me.

Merlin, on the other hand, is still not reliably housetrained, so he sleeps in his crate downstairs. :angel:


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

Mine have always slept in my bedroom (on their own beds) both mine are really super hot blooded so I doubt they would like sleeping on my bec with me & fiancee in here with out heat generating bad selves anyway lol. Izze is happy in her bed on the floor, Ho has her crate that she stays in facing ours & Izze's bed so she doesn't feel alone.


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## taxi777 (Jun 2, 2010)

My three sleep in our bed. Sometimes I'm kind of squeezed to the edge of the bed so, I lift them one at a time and throw them to the middle of the bed...the oldest growls at me but, I growl back and she shuts up. The little one I use as a head rest. I actually sleep better now than I did for the 25 plus years we didn't have a dog. I actually like the smell of my dogs...it's very calming to me.
Sometimes I'll wake up early in the morning and they've rotated around and my older one is at my head and the little one's at my feet.

Lady Ga Ga- Chi/Dachshund/Schipperke
Beyonce-wire haired dachshund
Layla-like a mini Ga ga


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## spotted nikes (Feb 7, 2008)

taxi777 said:


> My three sleep in our bed. Sometimes I'm kind of squeezed to the edge of the bed so, I lift them one at a time and throw them to the middle of the bed...the oldest growls at me but, I growl back and she shuts up. The little one I use as a head rest. I actually sleep better now than I did for the 25 plus years we didn't have a dog. I actually like the smell of my dogs...it's very calming to me.
> Sometimes I'll wake up early in the morning and they've rotated around and my older one is at my head and the little one's at my feet.
> 
> Lady Ga Ga- Chi/Dachshund/Schipperke
> ...


What kind of camera did you use to take that pic? The clarity is really good!


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## Bones (Sep 11, 2009)

Bones and Halo both sleep in my room. They also both sleep on the bed. I sleep on the dog bed in the crate (not really but they take up a lot of space!)


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## Jare (Aug 12, 2009)

3 out of four of my dogs sleep in my room.

My lab mix Nellie sleeps under the covers, right next to me. I have a hard time sleeping without her. It's been like that for seven years.

My rat terrier, Jack, sleeps on the couch in my room. He would sleep in the bed if Nellie didn't but hes a diva and prefers to sleep away from the other dogs.

My pit bull, Aija sleeps in a kennel across the room, she can see me and everything. She prefers her kennel. I've tried letting her be free at night but she gets restless and goes to sleep in her kennel anyhow.

And finally, the Beagle sleeps upstairs in a spare bedroom. She prefers it there because its warm and shes a senior and likes her time away from the crazy dogs, the door is always open to that room and thats where she takes all her naps. Sometimes if shes feeling sassy she goes to sleep on the couch in the living room.


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## InkedMarie (Mar 11, 2009)

We have a teeny tiny bedroom...had to move my husband's nightstand out to make room for Ginger's crate....Boone sleeps on a dog bed in front of the closet. Boone shows no interest in wanting to sleep in our bed, which is good. Our bed is only a double so there's really not room anyway. Katie the elderly sheltie sleeps in the livingroom. We keep our bedroom door closed because Katie does wander & if she comes into our room, she gets puppy Ginger riled up, so...


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## MonicaBH (Jul 5, 2008)

All four of my dogs sleep in the bedroom. There are four dog beds on the floor, but usually at least two dogs (StiXxX & Zellie) wind up in the bed at some point. Clyde is not ever allowed in the bed, and Nat just doesn't want to be in it.

The cats are definitely not allowed in our room at all, although sometimes I'll let Shelby come take a nap with me.


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## beverley (Oct 7, 2010)

branston sleeps in his crate down stairs, there is no way that dog will ever sleep in my room, his nick name is methane..he clears the house!


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## Maggie Girl (Feb 27, 2011)

Maggie Girl said:


> Our dog sleeps in our room, on the floor at the foot of the bed. We've also found him in a laundry basket if one is on the floor near that spot, LOL. It's really cute. I'm sure he'd love to sleep on the bed, but we have a no furniture policy.
> 
> Wanted to add, we used to keep him gated off from the end of the house that has the bedrooms. The other end is linoleum or hardwood floor so until we could trust him to not pee on the floor through the night he stayed in there. And he'd whimper a bit when we'd go off to bed, poor guy :-( After we knew we could trust him through the night we allowed him to choose where to sleep and he chose our floor at the end of the bed.


Also, we let our kitty sleep in bed. She's been allowed on the furniture since day 1. It doesn't seem fair to allow her and not him, but Maggie is small and slightly skittish of Tucker (who is very kind to her, regardless of what the kitty thinks and being able to be on the beds or couch makes her feel more secure. Besides, she never gets a houndy odor so I don't mind her being on my blankets and stuff ;-)


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## taxi777 (Jun 2, 2010)

spotted nikes said:


> What kind of camera did you use to take that pic? The clarity is really good!


Digital Rebel "Canon"
used a daylight flash and added a little saturation in Photo elements


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## RonE (Feb 3, 2007)

At our house, it's sometimes a question of whether the dogs will let me sleep in the bedroom.

We're having a snow day today. I've been up for a while ('cause I have dogs) and the dogs, and my wife, have gone back to bed. 

Once I'm up, I have no interest in going back to bed. It's hard-enough waking up once. If I did, though, I'd have to get past my own dogs, who are determined to protect my wife from everything and everyone.

Even her husband.

There would be some intense negotiations and, eventually, they would remember who I am.


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## Labmom4 (Feb 1, 2011)

taxi777 said:


> Digital Rebel "Canon"
> used a daylight flash and added a little saturation in Photo elements


OMgosh! You're avatar picture is Crazy! LOL!!


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## taxi777 (Jun 2, 2010)

Labmom4 said:


> OMgosh! You're avatar picture is Crazy! LOL!!


yep, that's my sweet, sweet Lady Gaga 0_o!!!!
Getting Her to snarl and camera flash reflection made for such a pretty picture!


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## lofgren (Sep 25, 2010)

The cats were here first, so Fiver was relegated to the crate in my office until she could handle being around them without trying to eat them. She was fine with that arrangement at first but at around 9 months she started crying all night in the crate. I mean literally all night, from 11 pm when she went in until 7 am when she came out. To this day we are not entirely sure why, although adding extra padding to the crate helped a bit. After about four days of the crying I broke down and started sleeping on the couch with her until we got our bedroom puppy-proofed. Now she sleeps on the bed with us most nights, but she also has her own bed in the room in case she gets hot or kicked.

As to whether or not it has helped our bond, I can't say. I do think that she sleeps better in the crate. We still put her in for a night here and there, for example if we have overnight guests or on the nights when we apply her Frontline. She always comes bounding out of the crate the next morning, chipper as hell and ready to run, whereas getting her out of bed is a slightly slower process because I get up first and she keeps trying to climb back into bed with my wife.

I have such fond memories of my dogs sleeping in my bed when I was growing up, there was never any question in my mind that she would be allowed to sleep with us eventually.


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