Do you let the Dog or Cat sleep in your bed?

[Fragile Bird]

People tend to separate themselves into either basically dog people or basically cat people, and I will acknowledge Xray's comments about not using those terms because of the insane comments some people make about the animals they don't like. Most animal lovers love all animals, and many people own both a cat and a dog, or multiples of them. :)

But after reading the two threads about cats and dogs, the many comments about animals snuggling in with them made me think there's another way to divide people, people who let their dog or cat sleep in or on their bed with them, and people who say absolutely not.

I have always been a no pets in bed person, although I tried on occasion to allow my cairn terrier on my bed, but neither he nor I were very comfortable with it and we ended up keeping separate sleeping arrangements.


Do you allow your pet to snuggle up with you at night?

[kissdbyfire]

Oh yeah. :)

When we moved here and went from 2 dogs to 3 dogs and 3 cats, the first thing we did was get a super king size bed - which is ridiculously huge - so that there'd be room for everyone.

[Mlle. Zabzie]

Cats yes (how do you keep them off?  Might as well try to stop the sun from rising).  We did not let the dog on the bed.  Part of this was no matter how often bathed, he smelled like dog.  The other part was that he snored (loudly) and farted (often).

[Dr. Pepper]

I always said no way, never, gross.  But then I got a dog and I was curious so when he was no longer a tiny puppy I tried to let my dog sleep on the bed for a short while.  Never under the covers or anything like that, he'd curl up at the end.  The problem was that he started acting differently.  He would be a tad bit aggressive, he wouldn't listen to my commands, he'd just do whatever he wanted, like jump on on the bed without me first saying he could. So I put a stop to that.  

[Larry of the Lawn]

Try keeping my dog out of my bed.

[kissdbyfire]

Try keeping my dog out of my bed.

Exactly!

We did draw the line at letting them go in the garden at night though. We used to leave doors/windows open all the time, even at night. But sometimes in the morning it felt like we'd had full body exfoliations coz the bed was covered in dirt - not dirty, just soil from the garden. But that was a bit much, even for us. So now we get everyone inside in the evening and close the doors. The dogs will go in the garden before bedtime to do their business, but then they come in and we wipe their paws clean.

[deleted01]

Is this about Nala taking up the entire bed? :lol: My cats don't always sleep upstairs - like all cats, I imagine, they have certain spots where they like to sleep for an amount of time. Kiara never comes upstairs, but Nala will have phases where he's scratching at my door every night. Cookie, the cavalier that belongs to my SO's mum, can be very irritating, his fur gets absolutely everywhere, and he smells, so he sleeps on the floor by the bed. When we were on holiday, we brought his dog bed in and laid it next to our bed, which was fine. Cats are cleaner, and my cats' fur doesn't erupt into the air and cover every visible surface, so that's why I'm more lenient with them. Cookie kicks my allergies off like crazy.

My general rule is, you piss me off and you're out of the bed. So as long as the pet is quiet, just goes to sleep, or does whatever it needs to do without annoying me through the night, it can stay. That goes for my SO too, mind :P

[jarl the climber]

I let my cats sleep in my bed but not with me, when I go to bed its time to go.

[NoneofYourBiz]

My cats let me sleep in their bed

[Prince of the North]

Our cat comes and goes as she pleases.  Sometimes she's in the bed with us, sometimes not.  

[Whitestripe]

Our cat gets shut in his own room at night. (The sun porch) otherwise he wakes us up at 3 am and it's not pretty.

[Astromech]

I allowed my sister's dog to sleep in my bed one time. Never again. He laid on me or against me most of the night and was expecting me to take him out and play fetch every time I rolled over.

[Kelli Fury]

Guava, Hugo, Vinny, and I have designated places in an interspecies sleeping pile and nobody will sleep unless all are in and stay in their proper place. These assignments were mostly made by the feline delegation to the pile

[Stubby]

We would have liked Guinness to sleep on the bed, but one of his alternative names (of which there were many) was Captain Fidget.  He let us have our bedroom at night and he got the rest of the house.

[cdawnb]

Yes, I do. And I would like someone to explain to me how a 12lbs dog can take up an entire bed. I usually end up hanging off the edge.

[Lily Valley]

Dog is NOT ALLOWED in the bed. Kitty sleeps under the blankets. Nobody but me touches the pillows. I've shared beds with dogs and they are serious space hogs with flattus fantasticus.

[SkynJay]

Our older dog used to share the bed with us.  It started with her whining at night too much and not being able to take it.  When we we got the little dog I had had enough and this time I have been through a kid so know what a lack of sleep really feels like.  Both dogs sleep together now and I sleep much better. 

 

Though the 4:50 wake up call each morning gets old.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

Yes, the cats let me sleep in their bed.

[Tears of Lys]

Benny always used to ask before jumping up on the bed. Like I said, he's the Gentleman Hound. Very polite. He'd stand at the opposite side of the bed with a yearning look on his face until I'd say, "Up! up!" and only then would he jump up and lie next to me. He has velvet ears, by the way, and it's very comforting to reach out and caress them.

I have to lift him into the bed now. I don't have the heart to kick him out of the pack just because he's got arthritis so bad. Besides, it's good for his joints to sleep on a soft, supportive surface.

Our cat used to sleep with us too, but he had a nasty habit of wanting to wake us up at odd hours of the night. A particularly sinister habit of his involved him jumping up to the armoire then pouncing down onto my husband's chest. It's a wonder he lived as long as he did.

[Eponine]

We have an open floor plan one bedroom apartment, so I have no idea how we would keep the cat off the bed. A six foot tall extra-wide baby gate?