THE CANINE BEHAVIOR SERIES By Kathy Diamond Davis Author and Trainer

Dog trainers and behavior specialists usually recommend that dogs should not sleep on beds in most households. Yet more often than not, people take it as a given that the dog will sleep on the bed, and in many cases it's fine. How do you know which is best for your family and your dog?

Puppy Time 

A puppy who is not yet housetrained and whose adult temperament is not yet apparent is best not allowed to sleep on beds. It's also best to keep pups off sofas and other furniture. This is the time in a baby dog's life to learn to rest calmly in a crate, and to use soft dog bedding on the floor for quiet times hanging around the house with the family supervising.

Besides the housetraining and temperament issues, baby dogs are best protected from the joint stress of jumping on and off furniture. Small dogs will need this protection lifelong, so if you elect to allow your small dog on the furniture later, you'll need to provide steps or a ramp.

If you were to allow your puppy to sleep on furniture, you'd be setting the puppy up for a rough adjustment later if the temperament turns out to be unsuited for sharing seats and beds with people. The dog won't miss what the puppy didn't grow up with, and training a pup to stay off furniture is simple.

The family may very well decide that no matter what the temperament, it's just really nice to have the dog use dog furniture and keep the hair off the human sofa. This is also life insurance for the dog, because a dog who stays off furniture has a better chance of finding a new home in a time of need. It's also easier for someone to dogsit for you if the dog doesn't spread hair on sofas and beds.

Children in the Home

If you have young children living or visiting in your home, it's safest for dogs to stay off beds and sofas. These perches put a dog's teeth right in a child's face when the child comes running up to the furniture. A startled dog can bite in self defense, even if the dog doesn't have a temperament issue.

Where temperament is a problem, the dog may bite even if not startled. When a child and a dog come into conflict and the child gets hurt, the dog often winds up rehomed or put to sleep, even when parents can't foresee they would ever make such a choice. It's for the dog's own protection as much as the child's to prevent all preventable bites.

With older kids it's sometimes a comfort to the child to have the dog sleep on the bed. Parents need to decide whether or not to take this risk, depending on the ages of other children in the home as well as the temperament of the dog. The emotional benefits of having the dog sleep on the child's bed may outweigh other considerations, especially where the dog temperament is sound and the child gentle.

Prerequisites for Sleeping on Human Beds

Before a dog is allowed to share your bed, the dog's adult temperament needs to be apparent, and clearly not an aggressive temperament. You also need to be able to tell that this dog doesn't defensively leap and snap when unexpectedly awakened.

The dog needs to be fully housetrained. In the case of a dog used to sleeping on the bed who develops problems such as illness or occasional hormonal incontinence, you might want to teach the dog to sleep on a waterproof pad or in diapers. You might elect to do this rather than kicking a dog off the bed when bed-sleeping has come to be normal and comforting for dog and people. Thinking about this possibility may also help you decide whether you want to start your dog in the bed-sleeping habit in the first place.

A dog allowed to sleep on a bed needs to reliably get "off the bed" on command. This requires that the dog be physically able to get off the bed, with the aid of a ramp if necessary. You do not want to have to put hands on the dog to enforce this command if the dog gets upset for some reason. The dog needs to respond to your voice alone. Practice until it's an easy give-and-take between people and dog. Married folk will also use this training to have the dog get off the bed when people want to be intimate.

If you have multiple dogs, you may face the difficult decision of whether to banish them all from the bed or to let some sleep on the bed and others not. You don't want dogs fighting on your bed, but letting one sleep on the bed and others not sleep there can cause conflict among the dogs, too. This is yet another reason some households do better with dogs off the bed. If your situation has gotten complicated, enlist the aid of a behavior specialist to help you sort it out.

Other Arrangements

The best sleeping arrangement for pups is usually a crate in your bedroom at night. During the day you may leave the crate in the bedroom when you're gone to work and want the dog to associate crate time with quiet sleeping. Dogs sleep many hours a day, so this works well for most.

The bedroom with the door shut can also be a good place for the dog when certain people come to the house. This association of the bedroom with calm sleep comes in handy when you have workers or guests with whom it's better your dog not mix.

When changing a dog from sleeping on the people bed to sleeping in a dog bed, you may elect to start with the dog bed in a crate. An alternative is to carefully arrange a tie-down so the dog can settle comfortably in the dog bed but cannot leave it and get up on your bed.

Preferably the crate or tie-down will be temporary, long enough to establish the new habit. Then the dog will be accustomed to the dog bed, and you can continue to reinforce it as a desirable place with treats and praise.

To teach your dog to use a dog bed in family room areas rather than getting up on the sofa, you can simply return the dog to the bed each time the dog tries to get on human furniture, and reinforce the dog bed as a great place to be with treats, toys and praise. Crating or tie-down in these areas is not needed since you're awake.

To keep the dog from getting up on the bed or other furniture when you're not in the room, either close off the room or block off the furniture. Baby gates, exercise pens, and other types of barriers can work for this. Shock devices are available, but undesirable effects on a dog's temperament or behavior can result from shock. Similarly, various booby trap methods that are sometimes recommended should be used only with great caution to avoid traumatizing or injuring a dog. It's always best to avoid causing pain or fear in dog management.

Reasons for Having Dogs on Furniture

Now we come to the good stuff. In spite of warnings, cautions and genuine problems with dogs sleeping on beds and sofas, people love having dogs to snuggle with. Cuddling a dog can ease pain, both emotional and physical.

Studies have brought out some interesting ideas about dogs sleeping next to humans. One study indicated that brain waves of the human and the dog synchronize when they sleep on the same bed. This could be a boon for a human who has difficulty sleeping when paired with a talented canine sleeper. Sleeping tends to be a common canine talent!

Another study indicated that people who sleep with dogs on the bed have more sleep disturbances. Well, the more living beings on a bed, the more stuff is apt to happen, so that makes sense. If anyone is having a bad night, everyone sharing the bed will have disturbed sleep. You have to decide whether for you the bad outweighs the good.

Who is to say how many people's lives have actually been lengthened by dogs sleeping on beds with them? We know statistically that having a dog in the home provides people with benefits, but there is no way to prove exactly how each benefit happens. Banishing all dogs off human beds is probably not a good idea. Besides that, most surveys seem to indicate that you couldn't get the people to cooperate, anyway!

If you are going to have your dog sleep on the bed with you, heed the cautions given here. And sweet dreams to you.

Date Published: 3/13/2004 12:43:00 PM

    

Kathy Diamond Davis is the author of the book Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others. Should the training articles available here or elsewhere not be effective, contact your veterinarian. Veterinarians not specializing in behavior can eliminate medical causes of behavior problems. If no medical cause is found, your veterinarian can refer you to a colleague who specializes in behavior or a local behaviorist.