where do your dogs sleep?

    • Gold Top Dog

    where do your dogs sleep?

    My three dogs are wonderful. I love them dearly. They are allowed to go wherever they want, whenever they want. (like most ppl on the board!). Since she was old enough to hold in her wee for the night sasha my golden retriever x rottie has slept on/in my bed with me.She is now 20 months old. My other two dogs sleep with my slittle sister and then end up on my bed with me and sasha about 3am. However recently I decided I'm sick of not having enough space. I cant even turn over at night. I went out and bought three huge beds that are really cumfy (i tried them) and they cost over $200 so they wern't junk. My sheltie and my tibbie x really liked them. They slept in them until about 3 as usual then came into my bed. Sasha was a different story. She went onto her bed (in my room, next to my bed) and then as soon as i would turn off the light she got on my bed. I sat with her till she fell to sleep giving her belly rubs and then got up slowly. After 15 mins she was on my bed again. This lasted until 2 am when i was too tired and gave up. Am I being cruel? The dogs are all still allowed on my bed just of a night im trying to tech them, go to your bed. Where do your dogs sleep? Any suggestions with sasha's sleeping habits? Thanks guys
     The photo is of a typical nights sleep. No room for me lol
     

    • Gold Top Dog
    You need to teach your dogs that your bed is by invitation only.  And you being sound asleep does NOT constitute an invitation!

    I guess that I'm just lucky....my dogs seem to see the bed or the sofa as a place that only ONE of them can be at a time.  Now and then I'll feel the "changing" of the dogs at nite...one leaves, another arrives, but luckily they don't like to share and they're all pretty good about giving US the space we need.
    • Gold Top Dog
    During the day she sleeps on her bed in the dining room.  At night, she sleeps with me. *S*

    • Gold Top Dog
    They are allowed to go wherever they want, whenever they want. (like most ppl on the board!)

     
    Sorry I take exception to that statement.  My dogs go where they are allowed to go.  I make the choices.  I have always lived with working and herding dogs.  They need to understand from the beginning that their choices are mangaged by people.  If not, they would take over.  Had that been tried with my last puppy, she would have run the household within 2 weeks of entering it.
     
    BTW my dogs sleep in the room in which I am in and on the floor.  They may be invited up for cuddling, or be on the bed when I am not in it.  But again, it is always my choice.
    • Gold Top Dog
    "They are allowed to go wherever they want, whenever they want. (like most ppl on the board!). "
     
    Sorry I will explain. They can go wherever and whenever they want but when i ask them not to they dont. e.g. people come over and the dogs are excited - dogs are told to get to my room or laundry and they do. e.g. dogs are playing on the lounge suite i want to sit down - dogs get off. I meant they are not locked away in one room, they have full access to everywhere and do what they want unless i ask them not too. With my bed sasha does get off when i ask, its just that she is confused why she cant sleep there anymore. If i shouted at her she would stay off but i dont want her think 'her bed' is a bad place.
    • Gold Top Dog
    I knew what you meant.  But it is important to note for the lurkers out there that their dogs MUST understand that furniture, including beds, is by invitation only and that when we ask them to leave that they must....quickly, quietly and without complaint.  That WE need to be the leaders.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Bailey sleeps in bed with us and Lucy sleep on the floor next to the bed, she has a dog bed down there but prefers ther floor.  She can get on the bed sometimes but she doesnt seem to think there is enough room for her anyway and gets down.  We did teach her that so its very easy to tell her to get down and she doesnt seem to  mind at all.  Shes 80lbs tho. 
    • Gold Top Dog
    We used to start Zoe on her bed, on the floor next to me, and then eventually she would come into our bed.  Now (this week actually), we have decided she can just start with us.  She takes up very little space and we enjoy seeing what position she chooses to sleep in.  We love waking up to her head out of the covers and her body underneath just like a little human :).
    • Gold Top Dog
    Your previous description may suggest that Sasha doesnt really believe its your way or the high way.  You may wish to do some management (crate, tie out) or the training that is currently so tiring.  Dogs do what they do because it gets their needs met.  So it may be helpful to think about her needs (proximity to you maybe).  Placing a dog bed right next to yours, one the floor, and attaching a short tether to the bed may offer you the opportunity to teach her to stay on the floor.  If other dogs are on the bed too, I would insist they stay on the floor as well.  jealous and access issues can interfere with training.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Before I got married Nigel used to sleep up on the bed with me at night, but he always had to wait for the invitation to jump up, he was not allowed to just get up there, same with furniture, I had one couch that was absolutely not for dogs, and another that he knew was ok for him.  Continual and consistent re-directing of him eventaully taught him where he was allowed to go.  When I got married, it was too crowded so he had to learn to sleep on his bed, next to my bed and when we got Sydney his bed was moved into the computer room with her, our room at the time was too small for her kennel, Nigel's bed and our bed, it was an old house with small rooms.  So, now dogs sleep in their own beds in their own room.  He is no worse the wear for this, she doesn't know any different, and we can all sleep at night (he has also begun snoring as he gets older, so being in another room is good for all of us) and in the morning everyone congregates in my room for belly and back rubs.  Both Nigel and Sydney can come and go throughout the house as they please, but they don't get up on furniture or beds unless invited, and I'm very strict about that.  So, it may take some time to teach them that their bed is on the floor or their pillow or whereever you put it.  It took Nigel a little while, but they will get the idea and they will adjust just fine.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Dasher sleeps in his crate and Lille sleeps in the dining room (baby gated area).  When Lille was younger and we had our Dal, Reese, they used to sleep on thier beds in our room.  When I was single Reese slept in bed with me.  After SO and I moved in together it was too crowded and Lille never had a desire to get in our bed.  Usually I will wake up about 6 a.m. and let the pups out, then Dasher comes upstairs on the bed for a bit.  Lille is 12 so she doesn't come upstairs anymore b/c she doesn't navigate them too well (plus she has incontinence issues so its easier to keep her in one area overnight).  I can relate to nigguysmom, as Lille has gotten older she snores like nothing else!! She also kicks in her sleep and used to scare the daylights out of me when she was still in our bedroom at night.[:D]
    • Gold Top Dog
    If Brett's not home when I go to sleep, Brown sleeps with me. Once Brett is ready for bed, Brown jumps onto his own bed. Grey also has a bed in our room (and another in the living room), but he sleeps in there during the day, and at night, he goes to his post on the couch because it's by the front door. He literally guards the house at night. As soon as I get into bed, he trots out to the living room.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Wesley sleeps in a crate in our bedroom.  I like that he loves to go in his crate - he races in there and gets a special "in your bed" treat every night.  I would love to leave the crate open, so he can go in or get out to stretch or if he wants a change of scenery at night, but since he hasn't quite mastered the concept of only being allowed on the bed when invited, and we can't invite him up when we are sleeping, or tell him to get off if we haven't invited him up, the door of the crate remains closed for now. 
     
    For what it's worth, he used to have run of the room at night, but we have had to limit his freedom and put him on stricter NILIF for some behavioral issues and when we made the switch he whined a little the first night, we ignored it and now, he is perfectly thrilled and content to relax in his own crate for the night.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Misty sleeps in my armpit.  [:)]  Teddy sleeps in his crate in our bedroom.  That was his arrangement at his previous home and I wasn't about to change that.  
    • Gold Top Dog




    Bear(the black dog) sleeps with me in my bed, though he has a bed of his own, but it's filled with his toys.  Zoe has a bed too, but she sleeps with my parents in their bed. 
     
    Maybe you could put something with your scent in Sasha's bed?