puppy sleeping in bed good or bad?

[JasonTitan]

I've taught Titan to sleep on 'his blanket' on the floor next to my side of the bed. (between the bed and the door). This is for a few reasons. Firstly, he gets hot at night as its just been summer and moves to the tiles where its cooler. Secondly because he is first and foremost a watchdog. I feel safer that way. And he has a job - guarding the room. (even though the house if fortified its important for him to feel like he's watching out, which at 6 months he seems to understand already).

In the mornings he puts his chin on the bed and flattens his ears, which is him 'asking' to come up. This is enough enforcement of the pack heirachy as is necessary, I then call him up and he gets his morning quality time and a bit of play rough and tumble before I get up for work. Its a bonding time.

And as long as he's asking to come up, and getting off immediately when I say, there is no danger to the pack order. In fact, its stronger because of it.

[goforit]

I made the decision to allow my puppy to sleep in bed with me even before I got her. I am 60 yrs old and live alone. Recently 4 women in their 60's have disappeared from their homes in neighboring towns. None have been found. Emma is now 9 weeks old and is exhibiting an odd behavior. When we go to bed I sleep on my right side. She comes up behind me and gently pulls the sheets all up around my neck before she settles down to sleep. At 8 weeks of age she began putting her food bowl away in the back of a small dog carrier that was kept in the kitchen. When she is hungry, she brings it out. I think we are bound for Hollywood. Ha, ha.

[Iceman330]

I say it all depends. The rule for us was "don't allow any habits to form that you don't want when the dog's full grown." If you won't mind the dog jumping in your bed when its older then it's ok. If your not going to want the dog on the bed later then stop it now. Habits are harder to break than to prevent.

[toby01]

As long as the dog gets down when asked, I don't think it's a problem. My pup, I can't convince him to sleep with me. He wants to sleep on a blanket on the floor that my older dog used to sleep on. Seems my scent isn't good enough for him.

[my guy]

I love my George sleeping in the bed...When my Chance was alive we went out and got a king size bed so she could be comfortable in her finally days..I've always aloud my dogs to sleep with...But if George starts getting silly I say "off" and he gets down. I guess it's up to the individual.

[Diesel4]

I am a new rott owner myself. I just got Diesel two days ago and I have been letting him sleep in the bed with me for a few reasons.

First he whins, no more like howling. The first night I had him I tried the crate and got no sleep, so I broke down and let him in bed.

Secondly it is helping both of us with the potty training. He has been getting me up earlier than I normally get up and suggests he needs to potty. So I take him ouside and let him do his biz. He hasnt had any accidents on the bed yet, so Im hoping thats a good sign. During the day I have been crating him in sessions. he whins at those times too, but at least then I'm not trying to sleep and I can deal with it easier. I'm hoping that over the coming weeks the whining will fade and that I can crate him at night. I dont want him in my bed now, nor do i want him in my bed with my wife when its "my time".

Lastly i totally agree with most of the feedback you are getting, the dog will want to be in bed with you all the time if thats what he knows.

[Shelby427]

I would NOT let a puppy at 9 weeks on the bed. He will then think that it's HIS bed. It was hard to keep Shelby in a crate at night, she would whine and bark and howl, but we had to stay strong. She eventually got over it and was fine in the crate. She's now almost 4 and is allowed on the bed when WE allow it. We didn't let her on the bed until she was done with the crate, i think it was around 1 year old. If you allow him on the bed now, because you can't deal with the whining, what makes you think he'll stop whining when you put in back in the crate? So far he has learned that if he whines, he gets what he wants....not so good when he gets larger and/or more stubborn....just my opinion though...