# Is it bad for our puppy to sleep in our bed?



## EllenCherryCharles (Jan 14, 2007)

Our puppy started sleeping through the night, and a few times we've let him sleep in our bed with us. He's been fine, he just lays down and sleeps soundly without bothering us or trying to run off and get into trouble. If he wakes up early (he tends to wake up and start playing around 4:30-5 am) we put him in his crate. I was reading in the Monks of New Skete book that I "shouldn't let my puppy sleep with me because it will cause problems later on". What problems am I asking for? Will it cause him to not like his crate? He stays in there on cold/wet days and for short periods when we're running errands etc. He also sleeps in there mostly (the few times we let him sleep with us were days we felt he spent a lot of time in the crate already). He doesn't protest all that much (halfhearted whining for about 5 minutes), and when we get home or get up he doesn't go nuts to be let out. He just sits quietly and watches us until we're ready for him to be out. So I think the crate is a success, at least for the most part.

Is it bad to let our puppy sleep with us? He's NEVER peed or pooped in his crate/on the couch/on our bed. I'm not worried about that aspect of it. I'm just worried that if we let it happen too much (or all the time) that we may be encouraging some sort of negative behavior. 

Thoughts?


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## Weebles (Feb 12, 2007)

My dog always sleeps with us. It hasn't caused any problems yet  I think it is good bonding time, and he seems to enjoy it (his favorite places to sleep are on my feet or around his dad's head).


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## threedognite (Feb 10, 2007)

*letting dog sleep in bed*

My opinion is NO.
Lower ranking pack members do not share the same sleeping spot as the pack leader and it is very probable that there may be behavioral issues in the future.
If you have ever watched, The Dog Whisperer, you would know abou this.


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## 3212 (Feb 4, 2007)

I have to say I agree with both the above responses. Yes, I also watch the dog whisperer and love Cesar...but Bridgette sleeps with us and is now 2 1/2. LoL. She's really good and it hasn't caused any problems...but it kind of depends I suppose. Most of the dog owners/lovers I know allow their dog in their bed...if you do then just make sure he knows who the boss is and that you are allowing him to be there not him allowing you. I've watched on episode where Cesar explains that as long as the dog is being told to come onto the bed and listens when you tell him to get down. Bridgette is only allowed on our bed when we tell her she can come up and if she's being too much of a bed hog she has to go on her own bed....so I'd say as long as you are still in control you shouldn't have issues with it.


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## menehune2006 (Feb 19, 2007)

We've had our dog for 8 years and he's always slept in my bed with me. He is fairly well behaved and he listens if I tell him to get down. Now that I'm away at college, he sleeps on the floor. I don't think it'll cause problems but every situation is different.


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## Jen_B (Feb 18, 2007)

My one dog sleeps downstairs and the other sleeps with my son (the dogs choice to sleep downstairs).
she is 11 now and we have never had any problems. I suppose the only problem would be if you decided you no longer wanted the Pup to sleep there and he has other ideas.


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## Keno's Mom (Nov 20, 2006)

I've never been a fan of allowing any size dog to sleep in bed. The bed should be for the pack leaders. If you have a dog that has an alpha attitude you do NOT want them in bed to be equal with you.

If you go to stay with a friend overnite with the dog, do you think it will be ok for the dog to sleep in THEIR bed?

Case in point - Keno has her own bed - she is never allowed in our bed. She listens to us as pack leader. Our one son allowed her in bed (during thunderstorms). Keno does not always pay attention to this child with commands like she does with us. I told him he shouldn't do it and why...but you know that teenagers know more then the parents


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## 3212 (Feb 4, 2007)

Keno's Mom said:


> I've never been a fan of allowing any size dog to sleep in bed. The bed should be for the pack leaders. If you have a dog that has an alpha attitude you do NOT want them in bed to be equal with you.
> 
> If you go to stay with a friend overnite with the dog, do you think it will be ok for the dog to sleep in THEIR bed?


I think that's why it's important to remember that if you are going to allow your dog to sleep on the bed then your dog needs to know when it's okay and when it isn't. We've always had Bridgette on our bed, but if she is told to sleep on her bed or elsewhere then she does so without question. I think that as long as you are in control of your dog there is no problem with it. If your dog takes over your bed then yes, you are opening a world of behavioral problems. It reminds me of one episode of the Dog Whisperer where the people actually told Cesar that they didn't get "intimate" anymore because their dog was in total control of their bed. Cesar was amused, but couldn't believe that they allowed it to get THAT out of control. Bridgette is only allowed on the bed when she is told to come up and always stays on her own bed when told to. And if we went to anyone's place with her she would not be sleeping on the bed. In fact, when I took her to my parent's she wasn't allowed on the bed there and she obediently stayed on her own bed at night.


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## nrhareiner (Dec 6, 2006)

I have never had a problem with dogs sleeping in my bed. They will not come up until invited not even if they just got out to go outside in the morning. They are made to ask again if they can come up. 

If they where in a place where they could not sleep with my then they would be given an apropriate place on the flore to sleep. They know the differnce.

Training is just that training. If you want a given behavior you train the animal consitantly to do what you want. Pick your battles and make it clear to the animal what is expected and you will not have a problen.

Just keep in mind that you much be consistant. It will only take 1 time to mess up what may have taken months to train.

Heidi


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## DOBERMAN_07 (Jan 17, 2007)

My boy sleeps with me and it hasnt affected his personality at all. He didnt turn into an Alpha Male and actually made us a lot closer.

The only problem with sleeping with a 100 lbs dog is that he wont budge if you want to re-adjust. He just lays there like a bag of dou*che


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## RopingBarrels (Feb 8, 2007)

My dog slept with me until I left for college, when she was about 8, she is now coming on 11 and we don't have problems with her. To remind her who is boss I have taught her to wait for me when I go through a door and make her move out of my way if I'm walking somehwere and she just happens to be in the way. She is very polite at doors and will get back and wait until I walk through to go through herself. That helped with obedience a lot.


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## skelaki (Nov 9, 2006)

As you can tell from the responses, it depends on the dog and the owner. if the owner wants the dog to sleep on the bed AND the dog does not challenge the owner's Alpha position it's not a problem. But, if the dog does challenge by, for example, growling when told to get off, then the dog should not be permitted on the bed. When your pup gets into the teenage stage of life he may or may not decide to challenge you. If he does, he should lose privileges (especially bed/furniture privileges). If he doesn't, then it's up to you whether or not to allow him on the bed. One thing I would suggest is to place a small blanket or something at the end of the bed and teach him to sleep on that.


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## 3212 (Feb 4, 2007)

skelaki said:


> As you can tell from the responses, it depends on the dog and the owner. if the owner wants the dog to sleep on the bed AND the dog does not challenge the owner's Alpha position it's not a problem. But, if the dog does challenge by, for example, growling when told to get off, then the dog should not be permitted on the bed. When your pup gets into the teenage stage of life he may or may not decide to challenge you. If he does, he should lose privileges (especially bed/furniture privileges). If he doesn't, then it's up to you whether or not to allow him on the bed. One thing I would suggest is to place a small blanket or something at the end of the bed and teach him to sleep on that.


I totally agree. A blanket on the bed and the couch too is a great way to teach them where they can sleep! We started that with Bridgette and now she only sleeps in that one spot unless told otherwise. We did have some problems with her getting on the couch and not wanting to get off when told, but we worked on that and now she listens brilliantly when told to get down. But we also have an old armchair that we kind of deemed hers, so unless she wants to cuddle she's usually there or on her window seat.

But I agree it really depends on the owner and what kind of dog you have. If Bridgette were to become territorial over the bed she would certainly lose priveleges to sleep on it!


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## Keno's Mom (Nov 20, 2006)

The only time that Keno's sorta allowed to sleep with us in "bed" is during camping. We have a tent and an air mattress. While she doesn't sleep on the mattress, she can sleep on a thick blanket right next to us - sometimes putting her head on the edge of the mattress, but never allowed right on there


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## 3212 (Feb 4, 2007)

Yeah somehow I don't think dogs and air mattresses go well together! lol. I'd be afraid that Bridgette would pop it and scare the crap out of all of us in the tent!


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## Elijah (Dec 30, 2006)

> Lower ranking pack members do not share the same sleeping spot as the pack leader and it is very probable that there may be behavioral issues in the future.
> If you have ever watched, The Dog Whisperer, you would know abou this.


I'll bet no one ever heard the expression "Alpha this and that" until National Geographic started airing episodes of Cesar Millan who thinks all dogs are wolves. This man, believe it or not, is not God. To check for sure, see if you can find him on the History Channel, Disney Channel, Animal Planet and As the Word Turns at the same time. That's called omnipresent. Give it a break! Who cares about "pack leader"? Just love your dog, feed him decent food, play with him and don't complicate life for you or him. Both will be a lot more happy.

I wouldn't start anything with a puppy I didn't plan on carrying over to adulthood. They may not understand why it's suddenly not ok now that they're two years old instead of two months anymore.


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## skelaki (Nov 9, 2006)

Elijah said:


> I'll bet no one ever heard the expression "Alpha this and that" until National Geographic started airing episodes of Cesar Millan who thinks all dogs are wolves. This man, believe it or not, is not God. To check for sure, see if you can find him on the History Channel, Disney Channel, Animal Planet and As the Word Turns at the same time. That's called omnipresent. Give it a break! Who cares about "pack leader"? Just love your dog, feed him decent food, play with him and don't complicate life for you or him. Both will be a lot more happy.
> 
> I wouldn't start anything with a puppy I didn't plan on carrying over to adulthood. They may not understand why it's suddenly not ok now that they're two years old instead of two months anymore.


Actually anyone who has ever really trained a dog, especially a very dominant one , has heard of being a pack leader and the term Alpha. I also hate to tell you this but dogs and wolves are very closely related genetically as well as behaviorwise, so in a sense all dogs ARE wolves.

I have never watched Cesar but I do have and have read his book. While I don't agree with everything he says, he is a very knowledgeable dog person (not a trainer). What he says about being a pack leader is right on. If you have a very soft-tempered dog then your formula of love, food and play might work. Of course your dog, being a pack animal and needing a pack leader will still take over that position since s/he won't see you as a leader. But with a soft dog, you might not even notice that this has occurred. However if you ever have a harder tempered dog, you would definitely notice the problem probably when the dog bit someone. At that point, you'd either have to find someone who had the ability to rehabilitate the dog (if the bite wasn't severe). Or, if the situation had escalated beyond a simple correction-type bite to a severe or even fatal dog attack, your dog, whom you loved dearly but have not been a pack leader for, would be put to sleep.

As far as not changing or setting rules at age two years because you didn't do so at 2 months of age goes, this is plain nonsense. That says that a dog can't learn new things after 8 weeks of age. If he was a member of a dog pack, the rules would change over time. At 8 weeks (2 months) of age, he would be permitted virtually no freedom away from the nest and would be allowed to get away with behavior that wouldn't be permitted from an older pup or adult. That said, it is of course far better to set pack rules from the beginning and not allow the pup to do what you won't want the adult doing. But, if the owner has not done this, it can be done later.

If I seem too harsh here, I apologize. That is not my intent, but too many dogs, especially adolescents, end up in shelters with many of them being pts because of well-meaning owners who basically loved them to death.


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## Elijah (Dec 30, 2006)

> [/As far as not changing or setting rules at age two years because you didn't do so at 2 months of age goes, this is plain nonsense. That says that a dog can't learn new things after 8 weeks of age.QUOTE]
> 
> It's nonsense to not read what was said. I'm saying, and I thought I got the point across but, obviously not, that if you don't mind him jumping on the bed a two omonths old, don't scold him two years down the road for doing so just because you may have hlad a change of heart and no longer desire it. That was the point.
> 
> ...


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## anjamaka (Feb 4, 2007)

I really really like the Dog Whisperer, and I agree with most of his tactics. For instance. We were talking our dog for a walk this weekend, cause we went home, and my hubby let Zeus run a little. while Zeus got too excited and ran over to the neighbors (We only see him once every other month and no one in my family does anything with him, the younger sister is lazy as hell and the parents are old and sick)He never ever ever listens to my sister, but when Hubby went down there he yelled for Zeus, zeus came over (he had been humping the male lab on the chain), one of the neighbors free labs charged at Jim (not really in an aggressive way) but Zeus imediately got defensive and growled at her and lunged at her (Jim said not to bite though) so he laid Zeus on his side (not his back, his belly wasnt really exposed) and Zeus imediately calmed down. Jim calmly walked zeus back to his chain (sadly my parents keep him chained, which is why I am taking him away ignoring him the whole time, I did as well, Zeus knew he was in trouble, tail between his legs... and left him there while we went to my dad's hospital (he has pneumonia this time, again) and when we got home Jim took zeus out again (we try to keep zeus off the chain as much as possible when we are home because he hates it. Don't worry he will be an inside dog when we move. It's going to be tough I know). And Zeus did not run away again. We practice NILF and combine that with some of Caesers techniques and in the past 3 visits (thanksgiving christmas and this time) he has improved tremendously. 
Caeser is not a saint, but he has a disclaimer to all his shows, and I really really enjoy him as well as a lot of his techniques. 


As for the originial posters response:
We plan to allow Zeus to sleep on the bed when we are fully in control of him and we can trust him. He does not have the run of the house, and until he is potty trained he will be crated when I am gone and through-out the night. If you notice Caeser never reccomends crating a dog,but I think because of Zeus's condition it is important that we do so. When he is ready he gets to sleep at the end of the bed.


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