Sleeping - where do yours sleep?

[SMJ]

Hi Everybody, it's been a while since I've posted. We have been crating Jasper (now 5 months old) at night. On weekends I get up with him to do his business (usually around 7:00) then take him back to the bed for a sleep-in. He sleeps sooo well in the bed that we've been letting him sleep in the bed some nights. He usually fusses in the crate for a few minutes but taking him to bed he finds a comfy spot goes to sleep without a sound. I like having him in the bed but my family all tell me I'm spoiling him. Where do yours sleep?

[caseyk]

I've actually been meaning to post this question too! Shea is such a funny sleeper. When he was really young he slept in his crate, and he never minded it, then slowly as he got older and better housetrained we let him sleep with the crate open, then that turned in to sleeping some of the night in the crate and the rest on our bed. Now we pretty much leave it up to him. He usually chooses the following places:

1) At the foot of our bed, cuddled against someone's leg

2) Under the bed (Cave #1)

3) All the way under the covers, by our feet. (Cave #2).

If he opts for choice 3, I usually wake up in the middle of the night and pull him out because I worry about him overheating. He seems to love it though!

[tlwtheq]

They sleep in their bed. They allow us to use it.

Keep in mind they are 8, 6, and 6 year-olds. What's really starting

to get crowded is that our kitty, Simba, (found at and adopted from my work site last Sept.)

has decided it's his bedroom too.

Aaaahhhh, I love my fur babies....

[tk223]

Kooper sleeps on my bed. For being so little he sure does hog most of it. Started out in the kennel then gradually moved him to sleeping on the bed. Spoiled? I don't think so!

[beccadiane374]

It kind of depends on Tanner's mood, I guess. Some nights he sleeps in the kennel, some nights he sleeps in bed with me. I always start him out on the bed, but some nights he stands at the foot of the bed & whines, so I put him in the kennel (which is in my bedroom) and he goes right to sleep. Other nights, I put him in bed with me & he curls right up & doesn't move for the rest of the night. I, of course, prefer that he sleep with me, but I let him choose. Not quite to the point where I can leave the kennel unlocked the whole night & let him go back & forth, but maybe someday he'll get that freedom.

[josie&holly]

Holly sleeps in her bed which is next to mine....................... well, she varies during the night between that and the furry rug next to her bed! So it is either curled up tight or stretched out full length............... she does not get disturbed by me getting up to visit toilet during night which she would if she was on my bed! also, the one time I tried her on my bed she kept walking round and would not settle. Normally sleeps very well. She goes out to toilet about 9pm and then does not usually need a another trip out until about 7.30am!

When I first got her tried to leave her in crate then bed downstairs but she wanted to be upstairs with me! However, she won't walk up or downstairs ever since she slipped on some of the stairs................. so I am mad enough to carry her up and down! When my back starts to go it will be my fault for indulging Holly! The things we do!

[Idaho Cairns]

Usually in bed with us but that varies--sometimes they like to sleep on the couch in the living room, the puppy will often spend a few hours in her kennel (in the bedroom) or under the bed, and sometimes the older dog will sleep on the floor in front of the screen patio door. No rhyme or reason to the sleeping habits of our dogs, they are typical Cairns--independent, "doing my own thing" kinda terriers.

[Nena]

We crated Nena in our bedroom for the first year to make sure she was trained. I also would get up early take her out and then let her sleep with me for a few hours. But then my DH wanted her to sleep with us so, she would start winning in her crate and he would let her out so that was the end of that. Now she has her own spot at the head of our bed and she usually sleeps there. Otherwise she lays so close to my legs. She can also bury herself under the covers and usually does that in the morning.

I had the best intentions to have a perfect dog who slept in her crate, but that idea went out the window. Oh well she is still perfect.

[Puddlesmama]

Lily the cat allows the girls on the bed. When they first came here the sleeping arrangements were the girls and other dogs in crates and the cat gets the bed since during the day The dogs get way more attention than Lily did. and she was so peaceful to sleep with instead of 2 puppies. But now..2 years later.. The girls get the bed (cat and dogs) and the boys get the floor. I love how they all 3 have to have some sort of contact with me..I have 3 butts touching me one way or the other.. I Love it.

[little feet zip]

Zip has seven different spots that he choses to sleep. Three in the bedroom four in the livingroom. Every morning when I get up he is in a different spot. Whenever we got Rocky and Coconut they were sleeping in bed with us but we were finding some pee spot on the floor in the morning so now they are in crates at night untill they can adjust to our routine.None of Zip's spots at night is a crate: but he will sometimes go in one durring the day to take a nap.

Rich

[Hagar]

Renny has slept in my bed with me since day one. In cooler weather he will snuggle in under the covers. Otherwise he usually sleeps on the other pillow. When the weather gets hot, he sometimes sleeps on the floor next to the bed.

During the day, he spends a lot of time on the back of the couch napping and performing security checks and alerts on anyone who dares walk past the house.

[Shazza]

Our 2 are still in their crates at night. They are 2 years old now and will take a nap with me on our bed during the day, but I still crate them at night, not sure why really.

They have never willingly gone into their crates at anytime to take a nap, strange.

They are very well potty trained but I guess I just like knowing where they are at night.

[Judly]

my cairns slept in crates when young but now they have their own beds in my bedroom. ozzy sleeps on floor and then his bed, sometimes coming on our bed for a bit. archie sleeps under the bed in our room or in the spare room (but starts off on our bed) and freddie sleeps on our bed or his.

so they pretty much sleep where they want!

[jimnconnie]

Bailey & Sophie both sleep in their crates at the foot of our bed at night. I don't think having them on the bed at night would work out for us. I'm up 2-3 times a night to go to the bath room, and my DW is up a couple of nights a week when she can't sleep, plus I tend to roll over and shift sleeping positions several times a night. In their crates they get a quieter, less interrupted sleep. Also I'd worry about Bailey trying to jump off the bed, because it's pretty high and he weighs about 18 lbs. That could be a leg injury waiting to happen! Sometimes we put them on the bed with us while we are reading before bedtime, but at lights-out they go into their crates with a bedtime treat. On the weekends, they love to get on the bed to wake up whichever one of is sleeping in!

Jim

[cairnsby3]

Both mine sleep on the bed. I would prefer they both slept on the same side, but usually I get one on each side pinning me in. Spring is the snuggler, Shiner more by my legs. If I get up during the night, they stay in bed, although Spring will be in the warm place when I come back. In the morning during the week, they don't bother to get up until they think I am really serious about going to the kitchen and staying there, if I just go get a cup of coffee or jump in the show, they keep sleeping. If I am trying to sleep in on a weekend, they start getting anxious for me to be awake about 7, but if I pull the sheet up over my face, they go back to sleep. They are such a riot.

[Napi'smom]

Napoleon sleeps on our bed, under the covers....we need an addition ot our bed because we have Napoleon 14 lbs, Sammy 50lbs, and Zippy(cat) 11 lbs sleeping in it with the two of us...although Zippy prefers to sleep on my chest, I love having my furbabaies sleping with me.

[Tuckersmom]

Tucker sleeps with me too....I have a very thick featherbed and he sinks - looks like a little bird in a nest. He is really good, I think he'd sleep all day if I did.

[kjwarnold]

Packy (4 yrs.) sleeps glued to my right thigh. If it's warm, he'll stay there until he thinks I'm asleep and then get off the bed and go to his basket in the bedroom. If it's cold, he'll snuggle up higher and wake me to put my arms around him. If it's really cold, he'll snuggle up to DH because he radiates heat!

Kirby (11 mos.) goes to bed with us and lays at the bottom of the bed on my feet. He learned early on that the higher part of the bed was Packy's territory. He's been staying there a while and then will eventually go into his crate. He comes back up on the bed in the morning to snuggle. Kirby has just been allowed to stay out of his crate in the last 2 months. We do still have a baby gate up so he can't leave the bedroom.

[avlsarah]

Maxwell (5mo. also) and the cat, Nomad, sleep in the bed. My last dog, a Lhasa, always slept in the bed with me. Maxwell started off in a crate as he was unable to sleep through the night; I'd wake up around 2-4am and again at 6am to take him out. Once he was able to sleep through the night for one solid week, he was up on the bed in a flash. We started practicing during nap time for an hour or so every couple of days to get him used to being on the bed and not jumping down. He's superbly smart too, if he wakes up in the night and needs to go outside he hops down and goes to ring his door bells which wakes me up. Most of the time he makes it through the night and we get up at 6am; on weekends we go out and then climb right back in to sleep a bit longer and as long as I'm there he doesn't seem to mind. My Pete loved sleeping on the bed so much that he would routinely sleep in on the weekends until 10am sometimes, even if I had gotten up at 8am and gone about my business!

I find that both Maxwell and I sleep better on the bed. Some people say that this could cause dominance issues, or that it's spoiling, but I don't really see it that way.

Just for giggles, here's a picture of Pete hiding in the covers.

[Autumn & Lola]

I was starting to feel badly about putting Molly in her crate at night until I read Jimconnie's post.

We got Molly 2 months ago. She is 14 months old. The shelter told us she was crate trained, so as we had a crate already, we put her in there at night, mostly because we didn't trust her in her new enviornment. (Those first 2 weeks we learned quickly how to Cairn-proof the house!) Still, I feel better knowing where she is. She never puts up a fight or whines/cries in her crate, so I assume she likes it. I couldn't have her in my bed anyway, for a couple reasons. First, she has very thick nails and I have a waterbed. Also, I don't think she'd get a very restful sleep as I am up many times during the night. Her crate is in the kitchen, just off the master suite, so I could hear her if she needed me. Only once she seemed annoyed. I got up and realized that one of her must-haves in the crate, "Purple Puppy" was not in there, as I had washed it that day. I put him in, and she snuggled up to him and fell asleep.

[Vivian]

Oscar now sleeps wherever he so chooses!

Sometimes he sleeps in his crate, sometimes in my bed (he prefers sleeping at my feet), and most of the time he sleeps beneath my bed.

He was only allowed the liberty of choosing where he sleeps once he turned 1... Had to be sure he was completely potty trained!

[OzGirl]

Mine (they are 3 yrs old) get to sleep on our bed until the last person in the house goes to bed then they go (willingly) into their crate for the night. In the morning who ever is up first opens the door and sometimes they don't even come out, choosing to "sleep in".

Even though it would be nice to have them in bed all night they are happy to sleep in their crates so I figure I might as well leave things as they are. I like that I have the option of using the crates at other times if needed eg when my elderly neighbour come over.

[sheila and Misty]

If Misty is upset or cold she wants to snuggle with us in bed head on pillow body under covers.if shes hot she sleeps on the bathroom floor the pne in our bedroom. if I fall asleep in the spare room she is under the bed.when Im on the computer she sleeps under the desk.

Toby sleeps In his crate,down the end of the hall, in the livingroom under a table or with Misty under the spare room bed or under the desk with Misty. He will only sleep on the bed after Larry goes to work and puts him there

[Malcolm's Dad]

I've been keeping Malcolm in a crate. We are still establishing whose house it is (so far he is winning). I've read that letting a dog sleep in your bed can give them the idea they are the alpha dog and it is their house. This isn't why I first put him the crate though. When I first brought him home I didn't know what he would do at night so to be safe I got out the old crate and put him there. He didn't mind at all, went right to sleep, but then he was used to being in a crate at the shelter. So I've been putting him in the crate at night ever since.

I'm not sure about letting them sleep in bed causing dominance. He just plain doesn't listen to a thing I say, so sleeping in the crate isn't giving him the idea he is not the alpha dog one bit.

I did buy a dog bed but I brought it back, it was too small lol. For such a little dog they like a lot of room when they snooze. Malcolm will stretch out and his legs were hanging off the small size bed. I'm finding you don't buy anything small for these dogs, I have to get medium size dog toys. Oh well, next time I look for a dog bed I think I'll look at a large one.

[SparkyJonesMom]

Sparky sleeps in his crate, except on the rare occasion we let him sleep in the bed with us. I wish we could let him sleep with us every night, but that will have to wait until we get a bigger bed. Apparently I take up most of the room, and Sparky will start in one corner and end up on my DH's legs. After a couple sleepless nights for him, he banished Sparky back to his crate.