Sleeping with Cairns

[KShep]

I do not know how you people sleep with your dogs! I allowed Ripley to sleep in my bed for the first time last night since my husband was out of town. She insisted on sleeping right next to or on top of my legs with her million degree body. I couldn't move and I felt like I was on fire. Then about 3 am she runs across the bed barking into the hallway.

Needless to say, she will be sleeping in her own bed tonight!

[Idaho Cairns]

Well, I prefer the solid little Cairn butts in the pit of my back and behind my knees which is where my two are when I wake up. I am a pretty heavy sleeper so their movements during the night do not disturb me. I have this personal theory about sleeping with dogs that probably only works for me--I have come to believe that some part of that sweet Cairn soul stills and soothes the turmoil of the human soul during the deepest part of the sleep cycle so that when I wake up in the morning I am more rested for having had them near me.

Very rarely do our dogs disturb us during the night--if they growl then something is amiss--generally it is Mule Deer out by the bird feeder.

[KShep]

Well, I prefer the solid little Cairn butts in the pit of my back and behind my knees which is where my two are when I wake up. I am a pretty heavy sleeper so their movements during the night do not disturb me. I have this personal theory about sleeping with dogs that probably only works for me--I have come to believe that some part of that sweet Cairn soul stills and soothes the turmoil of the human soul during the deepest part of the sleep cycle so that when I wake up in the morning I am more rested for having had them near me.

Very rarely do our dogs disturb us during the night--if they growl then something is amiss--generally it is Mule Deer out by the bird feeder.

Well, this was the first time for Ripley in an actual bed too, so I don't blame her for being on her guard. I'm sure things sound a little different in that part of the house. My window is nearest to a house full of college boys. They keep late hours on the weekend. I did fall asleep very quickly- which is very unusual. And I should give it another try since I have quite a tumultuous soul in need of soothing!

[lindasue]

Pegi loves to sleep with my girls - they take turns and God forbid I put her in the wrong room. If both girls are gone I try to have her sleep w/me, but she just hates it. Guess she's in for a rude awakening next September when both girls leave for college!

[kjwarnold]

Both of our boys go to bed with me. Kirby stays at the foot of the bed until he thinks I'm asleep and then moves to "his" chair. Packy stays in position attached to my thigh. Sometimes he wakes me up to put my arm around him in the middle of the night. He does that by staring at me (why does that wake me up?) or by giving me "The Paw." Normally I wouldn't like to be awakened in the middle of the night, but it's just kind of endearing that he wants my arm around him, that I don't discourage it. DH comes to bed later and we are very rarely awakened by barking or running around. Like Idaho, they usually have a good reason for barking. So I guess what I'm saying is that we've all gotten used to each other at night and rarely disturb each other.

[hheldorfer]

When DH and I adopted Buffy he declared "This one isn't going to sleep in bed with us!" Know how long that lasted? She came to bed with us that night.

Honestly, I fall asleep much faster when I have a Cairn next to me.

[pindrop]

Well - firstly I have to get past the unbelievable snoring (I know ladies don't snore - wanna bet?) but then she starts out near my tummy and when hubby comes to bed, she repositions herself behind my back. Rarely does she wake but if she senses a deer or some other animal outside, she is in her barking mode and the only way to get her to stop is pop her in her crate. This will usually work and once she settles down, I take her back out and pop her back on the bed. I too can also feel her hum in contentment. I'm sure if she was a cat she would be purring.

[Nena]

Funny topic can relate all of them. We tried to make Nena sleep in her crate and we did good for the first year but then my DH wanted her to sleep with us and the rest is history. She loves to curl up between knees to guess they like a tight spot to fit into. But she usually ends up spralled out between us taking up alot of the bed. And just try to move her, she is not happy about that and lets you know it!

But I like Idaho Cairns comment and choose to believe like you that we are better people for having slept close to our cairns.

[jodi0553]

Love this topic! In 2007, DH moved cross country ahead of me to start a new job while I stayed back and sold the house. Before that, no dog in bed by DH decree. However, I needed the company so I let him up there and the rest is history! DH was displeased when the three of us started to share a bed a month later, especially since Currey likes to snuggle up to him more than to me. I don't mind the dog snuggles, but DH will move over till he's almost off the bed in the morning. It's hilarious to see a 16 lb dog shove a 200 lb man off a bed!

DH is out of town so I get the puppy snuggles this week. The night before last I woke up to a lot of movement in the bed. Currey had been snuggled up to my legs and had gotten rolled over on his back, still shoved up against me. He was having a dream and all four legs were kicking up a storm. Cracked me up!

[Jeff N Oscar]

I'm feeling like an odd one out.... Jeff has never been in bed with us while we were sleeping. The closest he gets is some days when we are hanging out watching TV in the morning he's allowed to get up with us and he might doze a little while he's enjoying the rare treat of being in our bed.

We had a dog a couple years before Jeff came into our life and that dog was sleeping in bed with us for a couple nights and then one morning I found the spaghetti worms hanging out his butt and that was the absolute end of dogs sleeping in bed with me. lol AND Jeff needs to be in his crate to be quiet, otherwise he would bark at things and that would make my heart jump too much.

Maybe some time in the future I can bring myself to think differently and enjoy a little Cairn warmth.

[Dayvo]

Robby doesn't like sleeping with me .I guess I move around to much in my sleep and keep him up .More than a few times I've kinda half woke up to a grumbling dog moving to his bed across the room.

[janis]

Kirby gets up on the bed in the evening, lays at the foot for about an hour (maybe!) jumps off before DH comes in and says "Get off that bed!" and sleeps wherever - you would think that when DH is away, he would stay on the bed....not so, those nights he doesn't even come in the room, stays in the living room. I don't know if that means he only gets on the bed when DH is home to get "away with something" or doesn't when he's not home because he's "guarding"!? Personally I would LOVE a million degree cairn body on my feet or legs! You lucky snugglers!

[remltr]

Sassy is usually on the bed before I get there. She will lay on top of the covers and that keeps me from getting under them without making her move. Sometimes I will lay down on top of them and give her a belly rub for awhile. When it comes time to get under the covers, she jumps off the bed and goes to her crate or out to the front room and sleeps on the couch. I am not sure if she does not like to share the bed, even though it isn't hers to share or I just snore too much for her.

[Tuesday]

Murphy doesn't sleep with us either. I usually go to bed first and read and he has to come to bed for snuggles, and when DH comes to bed, he'll snuggle for a few minutes, but then wants to get to his crate. He loves that thing more than anything. He can totally shut down in there. We tried the Cairn in the bed, but the barking at 1:30 in the morning just didn't cut it w/ us. There is always something outside creeping around and that little bugger can sense it.

In the morning he'll bark once to let us know that he has to go potty, then he comes back to bed w/ us if it's a sleep in day and he'll snuggle and sleep for another hour or so. It's window's open season in FL and the snuggling, sleeping Cairn only lasts until a walker or a squirrel or a leaf or an imagined something comes near Murph's Turf, then the crazy barking begins.

I would love him to sleep w/ us all the time, but I'm a big enough grump when I sleep all night, so getting woke up in the middle of the night makes me a bigger grump.

[Idaho Cairns]

Sleeping with Cairns can be simply divine, innocence personified:

or it can be just downright irritating!

[pkcrossley]

ha ha ha ha! hoo! screaming with laughter

[tomatosandwich]

KShep, I'm with you! I can't sleep with a dog in the bed. Idaho, those pictures are hilarious! Priceless!

[beccadiane374]

Love the pictures, Idaho!!

I have found that I simply do not sleep as well if Tanner is not in bed with me. There is just something so comforting and peaceful about waking up in the middle of the night and feeling his solid warmth. He generally starts out near my face, so he can give me goodnight kisses, then moves down around my knees. And I guess I'm blessed, because if he needs to go out or even if he's feeling sick to his stomach, he will go to the foot of the bed and whine until I get up and let him take care of whatever the problem is.

[Malcolm's Dad]

Love those pictures Idaho. Every now and then Malcolm will decide to sleep on my head too lol. Sometimes he sleeps in bed stretched out along my leg. Most of the time he sleeps in his laundry basket. It does feel good to have a warm little pile of fur to keep you warm on a cool night.

[ScruffynMag]

Great photo's Idaho but you do look very comfortable sandwiched between them. The first photo is so sweet.

I'd have Scruffy upstairs sleeping at the drop of a hat but we have an elderly cat and it's his domain.

[Hawkeye]

hahaha...great pictures Idaho! We don't have ours sleeping with us either. I started to allow them up when my husband was traveling but it got to be too much. They would start rough housing during the night. They both sleep in their doggy beds next to my side.

[KShep]

Love the pics Idaho!

[Sam I Am]

Idaho I had to laugh... Jock also sits on my head when I have a snooze on the couch! Jock has always slept on the bed.... he has his own pillow. Each night before I fall asleep I reach over and rub his ear... he sighs... the world is as it should be... and off to sleep we both go.

[Dempsy's Mom]

You do have the best photos Idaho. Thanks. Demps won't sleep with me. He lays on the bed for a while them jumps down to his bed - but we do have great naps together. I just love having naps with Demps and isn't it funny that he will nap with me, but not an all nighter. I like to listen to Demps breath - and smell him - just like we did our babies.

[gt_mustang_gal]

LOVE the pictures Idaho! So I want to know - why do they like to sleep on top of our HEADS? Cracker does that to me when I'm in a recliner or on a couch. My Westie did the same thing. Cracker hasn't started sleeping in the bed yet. I still put him in his crate right beside me. But I can't WAIT until I think he's old enough to sleep with me. I really miss having a warm furry lump of love cuddled up next to me (or on top of me, or under me, or hogging the bed so I'm hanging off the edge - LOL).