"let Sleeping Dogs Lie!"

[Guest CarCarDawn]

My cairn, Riley will sleep for very short amounts of time during the day. Sometimes when he is asleep it is necessary for me to move him - - put him in his crate, move him to a different room, etc. and he will nip and growl at anyone who tries to pick him up. He seems to be in a very deep sleep and a little bit disoriented when this happens. Has anyone else out there experienced anything like this?? He is a very affectionate little guy except for this one issue.

[Mama Kim]

I've not had that experience with either of my Cairns but I did have a Lhasa Apso that behaved that way. She was that way her whole life.

[bradl]

I always respect a sleeping dog. It would only be natural for them to wake up on Full alert if moved or handled while sleeping. Children in particular should be taught that a sleeping dog is never to be disturbed. Our boy is almost always a sack of potatoes when he sleeps on the bed and I can literally drag him anywhere; even so, I generally poke him awake before moving him.

[CathyAnn]

My older Cairn, almost 13, started doing that a few years ago. Rumbles, grumbles when I picked her up to head upstairs to bed. I have found that as she is aging it has become more and more common. She is definitely sleeping 'harder' than when younger.

As for my puppy, no, have not had that happen, at least not yet.

Brad....your 'descriptive' words are a hoot !

Cathy

[wags]

The living room is attached to the kitchen and refrigerator in our house. If we want Wes to awaken, we open the refrigerator door or the cottage cheese.

[Guest posting as: CarCarDawn]

Hi! Thanks for all the input - - I just hate to wake him up when he is sleeping so sound - - guess I will have to or risk getting bit!! Getting ice cubes out of the fridge always makes Riley run straight to the kitchen - - will have to try that next time he is snoozing away!!!!

[Guest the roo-ster]

Sounds like your dog is nuts...sometimes I move the whole chair my dog is sleeping on so I don't have to disturb him. He gets a little disoriented when he wakes up in the chair and he is in another part of the house but seems to work.

[Scully'sMom]

Our 7 month old Cairn will do the same thing. She is a very heavy sleeper and if you go to pick her up to bring her upstairs to bed she will make this crying type of sound and might get a little snappy. Then again, I'd be snappy too if someone woke me up from a deep sleep.

[Toto times 2]

Both my boys are grumpy sleepers. They wouldn't bite but they carry on grumbling and growling when I have to move them. I also believe they weigh twice as much when they are asleep and I don't know why but they prefer my side of the bed. For some reason they also seem to increase in size when on the bed and take up far more than their fair share of the space.

[Melanie]

I find it so amusing to read everyones posts! Max sleeps very light during day naps but bery hard at nighttime in our bed. Before we got use to him sleeping with us he unfortunately got accidently booted off the bed in the middle of the night. The first time I picked him up and kissed him and he was just sort of dazed, poor guy. For a while he kept staring at the hard wood floor like it was the floors fault, very funny at 2 in the morning. The second time the same thing happened but the third time I actually saw him roll of the bed himself. Man oh man, so for Christmas we splurged on a new king sized bed!! Now hopefully Maxwell will be able to stay aboard all night long. People would think we are crazy!!

Although Maxwell has never ever shown the least bit of aggression toward us or anyone else, I am still not fully trusting. Although he is sweet, fuzzy and extra sweet when he just wakes up...he is still an animal.

Melanie

[Rocky Top]

We have a 9 week old male. He sleeps so sound, the other night I picked him up to put him in his crate and I thought he had died. He was limp as a dishrag. It actually scared me to death. I shook him lightly and he just layed there. Finally, I woke him up just to make sure everything was OK. This was around midnight and he was suddenly set on go and playing for all he was worth. I liked to have never got him quieted down enough to go to sleep. He was bouncing off the walls.

Taz has not slept with us as yet due to his "potty" training and I personally do not want to get that started. I'm sure when he learns to control his kidneys, he will worm his way into our bed. Even though we have only had him a couple of weeks, he has a way of "earning" what he wants. Taz is absolutely one special little friend.

[Guest JHEWITT]

MY LITTLE DEVIL IS TWO, AT ABOUT A YEAR OLD, IF SHE'S SLEEPING SOUNDLY AND YOU MOVE HER SHE WILL GRUMBLE AND GROWL,..

[bradl]

Friendly reminder: no posting in all caps. http://www.cairnterrier.org/forum/index.php?act=boardrules

[wags]

I don't know how you can sleep with your dog- well, at least if he is anything like mine.

If we put our heads down, he is immediately on it, licking our ears. What's your secret?

[springlady]

Our pup Drew is pretty cheerful when awakened, a bit disoriented, but cheerful. Sometimes he actually walks in his sleep! We have been sleeping with our puppy from nearly the start of our relationship. Early days we let him fall asleep in the bed and then moved him to the crate next to the bed. Later we would fall asleep and forget. Never rolled on him nor knocked him off the bed. He has never wet the bed yet - I don't believe dogs soil where they sleep and/or eat. He always gets into bed with my husband and by the time I arrive at the bed he has made himself really comfortable on my side of the bed, sometimes with his head on my pillow. We move him over and he cheerfully rolls onto his back and settles right down to sleep. Good boy!