Where do your dogs sleep at night?

[Stinky The Clown]

Some people allow their dogs in bed with them, some allow them to sleep on the floor in the bedroom, some keep them in cages or kennels, some let them sleep wherever they wish. Some have plush doggie beds in whatever room the family gathers.

None of this is right or wrong. If you hold pets to be family members (I think most who post in this group do) you make their sleeping arrangements accordingly, which is to say, whatever works for *your* family.

So . . . . . where do your dogs sleep?

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

1. In our bed.

He starts off at my feet, towards morning, after a gentle over the back lick of my ear, moves up right between my wife and I. We sleep on our sides, she facing out on the right side, me facing out toward the left. Roscoe the Rascal, settles head high right between. I would have it no other way. He's done that since a young pup. He's a year and a half now. Havanese, Maltese blend.

[liberal N proud]

2. On the leather love seat in our room

Makes a damn nice dog bed.

[canoeist52]

3. Our dog started out sleeping in our daughter's bedfor the first year.

Then she started growling at her every time my daughter rolled over. That's when she( the dog LOL) got her own crate to sleep in.
Then she started growling if we touched her as she slept on the sofa next to us. Now she's banished from all furniture in the house.

She's going to "boot camp" for two weeks tomorrow, to adjust her need to dominate, as she's bitten family members. We've never dealt with a dog with this temperament before.

[Auntie Bush]

16. What kind of dog do you have?

[canoeist52]

22. She's a hound-mix 3 y/o rescue.

This is the day we brought her home.

[glinda]

30. She is lovely! Congratulations and good job!

[X_Digger]

4. In bed with us..

All three doxies, furry hot water bottles. Our oldest makes a pillow fort at the top of the bed and stays there, the other two are usually glued to one or both of us.

[nadine_mn]

5. usually the bed, sometimes they move to the floor

Our Lab is a cuddler, our GSD likes to lie in doorways after we fall asleep to keep an eye out.

[Phentex]

6. on his pillow downstairs - BUT NOT MY NEXT DOGS!!!

When the dogs were puppies, they slept in a huge crate together downstairs. When they got older, we got rid of the crate and they each had great big pillows but sometimes ended up together.

Now that we are down to one, and he STILL has separation anxiety, this has become a problem for the humans. He will cry at night and it's usually me who ends up going downstairs to sleep on the couch. He is happy as a clam if one of the boys chooses to sleep downstairs. Sleepovers with friends mean he gets to sleep on a sleeping bag next to somebody.

He hates stairs and refuses to set a paw over the threshold between the rooms downstairs and the hall going to the upstairs.

I have already informed my husband the next dogs are getting beds on the floor of our bedroom.

[woodsprite]

7. On the floor of our bedroom

Although, since it's been really hot, she likes to sleep on the cool tile floor of our master bath.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. One almost always is on my bed with me and the other is either

on the floor or on his bed. The later is a tri-paw and cannot jump onto my bed by himself. Many times I lift him up so he can sleep with Hank and me in my bed.

[bluedigger]

9. Somewhere close.

She's seasonally variable. In the winter, she will be down by my feet in the bed. In the summer she usually is on the floor somewhere around the bed. Sometimes I'll find her in the next room on the couch when I wake up. She almost always gets on the bed after I get up, though.

[Granny M]

10. In our bed,

and I hate it. I was determined when we got him to train him to sleep on the floor. I was unable to train my husband, and so Sam was in our bed almost immediately. He is 15 now, and of course, there's no changing things now. As God is my witness, the NEXT dog....... blah blah blah....

[kdmorris]

11. On the floor in our bedroom

Unfortunately, they are too big to sleep in the bed with us... with my husband, me and one of our cats in the bed.

[Kablooie]

12. My dog hates being on the bed.

She dislikes being anywhere higher than the floor, even the sofa.
So she sleeps on the floor next to the bed but also gets up to go out at night and often sleeps on the stairs landing.

BTW, we put in a doggie door and its great. She goes in and out all the time. Much more often than when we had to let her out. She goes out to pee several times at night and during th day just wanders out to lie on the patio and watch the birds and squirrels. I highly recommend getting one if you have an enclosed yard.

[avebury]

13. On the bed naturally!

He makes a great source of heat in the winter. In the summer, I try to put a little space between us.

Until recently, my cat slept on a pillow at the head of the bed. She has stopped doing that and now sleeps on the dining room table. At 18-19 years of age, I let her do what she wants as it is her house too. I don't know how much time I have left with her so give her a lot of latitude.

[alsame]

14. On the bed :) nt

[hobbit709]

15. Mine sleep where they want, which usually means I say "Move over"

[Auntie Bush]

17. My dog sleeps with me under the covers except on hot nights

when she sleeps on the floor or even under the bed. She never keeps me awake.

When she gets too hot under the covers she pulls up till her head is out and puts it on the pillow...just like a person...so cute!

My three children and their spouses let their dog sleep with them. I guess it's a family tradition as they all took turns sleeping with our dog when they were kids.

[Auntie Bush]

18. So Stinkey...where do your dogs sleep?

[Stinky The Clown]

28. On the floor in our bedroom.

The little Shih-Tzu gets to hang out on the bed as we get ready but then she goes, quite happily, into a dog crate. She likes the security it offers.

The GSD almost always stays at the door or at the top of the stairs. In her mind she's guarding, I'm sure. Even during the day she will lay down between us and any entrance to the space we're in. The front door has a glass pane to the floor. She will lay there, too and rear up when anyone approaches.

The Border Collie sleeps wherever she wants to, but it is always on a hard surface because it is cooler. The stone floor in the bathroom or the edges of the room where the rug doesn't cover the wood floor.

[jtuck004]

19. On the bed, on the pillows on the floor, on the floor. The real question is...

Where do I sleep when all the good places are taken?

Hint: It's rare, but I did find that those pillows on the floor aren't so bad

[CitizenLeft]

20. they move around

... from the bed to the chair to the floor and back on the bed. Wherever they want.

[Frosty1]

21. I bought a memory foam mattress topper (single bed size)

folded it in half...It made a comfortable bed on the floor next to our bed. It fit perfectly into the old dog bed cover. He never wanted to sleep anywhere else.

[Walk away]

23. Anywhere they want to! (adorable sleeping dogs video)

&feature=share&list=PL89083439252202CC

[Curmudgeoness]

24. As a cat parent, I feel left out here.

So....I will chime in anyways. Sammy sleeps on the bed, usually at the foot of the bed, but if it is cold, he curls up beside my legs.

[williesgirl]

25. In bed with me. 90# pitbull & 28# pug.

[Purveyor]

26. My Siberian Husky sleeps in bed with me and he is such a cuddler. Might have something to do with,

back in the day, people used the dogs to keep their kids warm at night by sleeping with them.

Also inherit to this breeds absolute love for young children.

[NRaleighLiberal]

27. Mocha (female chocolate) is under our bed...Buddy (male chocolate lab) on his bed

in our bedroom in the corner. The three cats raise hell all over the house all night long.

[glinda]

29. I have four....

My Springer sleeps on my head or on the pillow above my head on the bed, my shadow dog sleeps at my side on the floor, my huge dog sleeps on the floor at the foot of the bed and the littlest new one sleeps in his crate on the last remaining side of the bed although he wants to sleep under the covers on the bed.
And now do you want me to tell you about my cats? lol!

[TorchTheWitch]

31. where ever he's coolest

Which means not in the bed. The bed is too warm for him, and I disturb his rest with all my tossing and turning... I'm such a restless sleeper I have to have the mattress directly on the floor or I'd be falling out of bed all the time (with the mattress on the floor I don't have far to fling myself in my sleep and thus avoid injury).

In the summer he sleeps in my room because he likes the fan, and I like to have the fan blowing toward the bed on low and the a/c running if it's needed. The cooler months when I don't use the fan or in the winter he tends to like to either be in my room on the floor at the foot of the bed (same spot he'd be if the fan was there), downstairs in the living room with his binky, or in the bathroom mashed between the potty and the sink. When he sleeps or just naps on his binky he likes to ball it all up into a lump to lay on it, and he goes and gets various toys and sets them up around him... I'm not sure if he's intending to guard the toys or for the toys to guard him while he sleeps.

I also think during those months when I'm not using the fan he doesn't always stay in one spot the whole time I'm sleeping and roams from spot to spot to try them all. I know my other two dogs would sneak in the bed a few times during the night to check on me, and I would guess that Yoshi probably does that too. With my first dog it used to wake me up all the time, but I got used to his checking on me and learned to sleep through it. I occasionally caught my second dog doing the same thing so I guess I was sleeping through most of that as well. I'm not sure if Yoshi does it but he probably does since the other two did. If he does it never wakes me since he's so sneaky and gentle getting into the bed.

The two I had before and the one I have now will come in the bed to wake me if they hear a noise (like someone knocking on the door - my second dog and Yoshi don't bark when someone knocks on the door but come get me instead) or if they want to go out and pee or if they want to play or just think it's passed time to haul my arse out of bed. My first dog when he wanted to wake me would fling himself in the bed and bounce all around shaking me up to wake me, Boo would turn around and gently lower his butt onto my head to wake me (so lovely to wake up with a face full of butt fur choking for air), and Yoshi climbs in the bed very gently and breathes in my face about a half an inch away from mine until I wake up and open my eyes with his face practically mushed into mine (it always makes me laugh though since he looks so dorky so close up).

[IrishAyes]

32. I got in the habit of sleeping in the living room on a bed I converted to a sofa

Because when the chows were here, they were already so old they couldn't climb the steep stairs. Well, they couldn't climb on the bed either, but they seemed perfectly happy curled up on the floor right next to me. A single bed never would've held all of us anyway, and I'm a terribly light sleeper. I couldn't have slept upstairs anyway because it took the chows months to stop wailing at the top of their lungs everytime I went up there long enough for a bath. Nothing on earth would shut them up until I rejoined them downstairs where I 'belonged'.

Now that it's just Molly Maguire (a mini beagle/pom cross) and Brigid the JRT, I'm still sleeping downstairs. Just about time Molly got old enough to last all night w/o a potty break, that's when we added 3-month-old Brigid, so now I'm waiting for her to hit 1 year in about 5 more months. Then we might try upstairs together at last. But they'll still be together in a second big spindle baby bed next to me because that's what they have downstairs as well. It's big enough for both small dogs and they seem to love being in there, where they always get their finest bedtime snacks.

A doggy door would be helpful, but I use storm doors and am not about to cut into Victorian oak doors from Canada that took me untold hours to paint just so in 3 different colors. Not to mention the cost of the doors themselves. My house is slate blue (including new metal roof) with white trim, and I did the doors in buttercup yellow, light green, and white. Sorry if that sounds selfish, but at least I'm willing to play doorman for them as often as they require.

During decent weather both dogs prefer to be outside, and their favorite place in hot weather is under the front porch in their little dust bowl beds. Before Brigid arrived, MM was already mature enough to roam through the house unrestricted, and she will be again this winter.

However, for her first full winter with us, Brigid will remain on probation; meaning she can roam at will during frequent playtime every day, but otherwise she'll have to remain tethered in the living room or somewhere I can keep an eye on her while I work. The need for this was brought home to me quite forcefully when I caught her trying to chew on an electric cord. Hopefully by the second full winter she'll be far enough past puppy stage not to do such dangerous things. Except for the biggest $20 rubber chicken toys, the dogs basically prefer to chew on actual wooden branches. Or, I suppose for Brigid, any antique sofa or chest leg would suffice for now.

The biggest problem I expect to face with Brigid in the worst of winter will be keeping her warm enough for frequent 15-minute outdoor breaks, because nudie Molly Maguire, who detests artifical anything, loves nothing better than to shred her sister's clothing in short order if I'm not there to stop her. She immediately made short work of Brigid's first fine leather collar, and Brigid returned the favor, divesting Molly of hers. That's why they're microchipped now. Molly doesn't need a coat for short winter outings because she grows a little fluff of her own. But Brigid's smooth coat and does need extra protection. My only hope short of accompanying them each trip is to first soak Brigid's new winter coat in a solution of alum and see if that keeps Molly's shredding at bay. Brigid won't like the smell, but I can't make her a new winter outfit 5 or 6 times a day either.

Guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For now, the baby bed's fine. I put down a heavy wood flooring painted enough to resist any moisture and then the separate halves of a big hardshell suitcase to make two beds if needed. But they always drag the blankets (no matter how many) over to one and curl up together there.

Maybe when both are fully mature and we move upstairs to sleep, I'll try to let them in the bed with me but it probably won't work. When their babybed is less than a foot away, they'll be happy enough.