When Luke and transitioned to their own bed.
Do you sleep with your dog? Do they sleep in your bed or just in your room.? Or do you forbid dogs in your room? There are many different ideas around dogs and sleep. My thought on the subject is that dogs should sleep in your room. They are pack animals and we are their pack, sleeping together as a pack is a very natural thing. That said if you are such a light sleeper that any movement wakes you up and leaves you staring at the ceiling trying to fall back asleep, it might not be good for you.
When I have new clients we always discuss k9 sleeping arrangements. Where will the dog sleep when they are an adult? Who is willing to get up when they need out? Who is capable of running the dog out when they start to heave in the middle of the night? Each answer to my questions lead to more questions until we come up with a plan.
I don’t like the idea of dogs sleeping out of the guardians room. If they are not in your room then you don’t know when they need something or what is going on with them. You are also not bonding like you could be as a pack that sleeps together. But I totally understand those who just cannot have a dog sleeping in their room.
Whether your dog sleeps with you in your bed or in their own bed is a very personal decision. We have had the dogs sleeping in our bed for a long time. But I am now considering getting them onto their own huge comfy foam bed. Elsa has always been one of those dogs that feels like she weighs a ton. Plus the fact that she likes to sleep literally across me. I got use to this, adjusted and we managed. Now Riggs is on the bed and for a peewee he also feels like a lead weight across my legs. He likes to sleep across my or my husbands body too. This has left us not much room with the dogs partially in the middle, weighted across us and pushing us to the outer edge. .
When Elsa had her stroke I purchased a great new foam bed which she used a lot in the beginning. It is easily big enough for both her and Riggs. It is now in our room but up until now is unused. Unfortunately I have suffered from bouts of sleeplessness and sleep is very important. And there are many nights when the dogs actually interfere with my sleep.
I do not want to upset Elsa by doing a cold turkey switch but am hoping to slowly utilize the bed. I also know that the day will soon come when Elsa can no longer be on the bed for her safety. This day will come sooner because of her spinal stroke. Riggs is a non issue, where Elsa sleeps he will sleep. He also still uses under the bed which astonishes me each time he goes under and struggles to come out.
So I will let you know when we start the transition and journal the day to day until we have dogs sleeping in their own bed beside ours. It will be a very long transition once it starts and who knows when that first step will begin. Procrastination seems to be the way of it so far. :)