This is the look a get every night when I put the baby gate across the steps and go upstairs to bed.
I know, pathetic right?
Let me explain: When we first got Jersey, I wanted to keep her primarily downstairs. Mainly to give the kitties a “dog free zone”, but also because I’m not a big fan of dog hair. My logic was, if she stays on the main level it will less vacuuming.
Now that the cats and Jersey are buddies, I’m starting to feel like a “dog free zone” isn’t really necessary any more.
I’ve been doing a lot of research on the internet and in my “dog bible Good Dogs, Great Owners. Its suggested in many sources that its the dogs “pack mentality” to want to sleep in the same room as you. Also, when you’re not around apparently dogs like to hang out in the master bedroom because it smells like you.
One thing that came up over and over in my research was that you should not let them up on your bed, or on the furniture as it lets them assert their dominance, and could potentially let them think that they are ruling the pack not you.
The question of Jersey sleeping IN the bed is out of the question. She weighs 56lbs and isn’t exactly a little dog. She is already a little dominant, so we don’t need to emphasize that. Plus dog hair in the bed? Ew.
But, what I have been thinking is that we should buy her a second bed to let her sleep on the floor in the bedroom.
Where does your dog sleep?
If in your room, what does it do during ummm sexy times? *Bow chicka wow-wow*
Should I just rid our house of the baby gate during the day?
I realize this could be a rather touchy subject as many people feel very strongly about their dog training methods. I’m a firm believer that dogs are DOGS and need to be treated like a dog, not a person. Some call my training methods harsh (not letting her on furniture, not picking them up, making her sit while I walk in the house first, no human food, making her sit/stay when guests enter the house) but the end result is a very well behaved dog, and I’m very proud of her success. For those who don’t know we got Jersey from a family who thought she was the “devil dog” but with a perseverance and a lot of hard work, Jersey is now a wonderful, well behaved dog!
25 comments:
We have always taken the same tact with our dog (65lb female choc. lab). Our dog was crate trained from the beginning, and so slept in her crate in the porch. This of course doesn't work as well in the winter, so she sleeps in the main bedroom with my parents then. They have had no trouble with taking this step in terms of her dominance. I should also note that we don't need to use the crate for her anymore, because she has gotten used to just going to the porch when we go to bed or leave the house.
I don't have a dog at the moment but when we did we let her sleep wherever. The last day I had was a miniature dachshund so she was in the bed. When it came to "sexy time" we pushed her out of the bed and into the other room. ha ha. When I was a kid I had 2 large dogs a German Shepard/Golden mix who never attempted to sleep in my bed and a Golden who slept in my bed (this dog was HUGE too). But everyone is different so you are going to get different things. I think now that I am an adult (really) I wouldn't want a dog in my bed. The cats sleep in the bed with us though. Which is awkward when the try to climb in with you during our romantic evenings. lol
We have a Boston Terrier--he's our first dog and I believe we should do a lot of things differently in the future. Soba sleeps with us in our bed---it helps that he's 21 pounds and only has a little hair that doesn't shed much. I wanted a dog since I was five and by the time we got our dog at age 29 I was not thinking down the road. He whimpered the first night (he was four months old), I slept next to the crate downstairs for all of 20 minutes, and he's been in our bed ever since--total lack of self-control on my part and cuteness on his. He does love the large pillow bed that we bought him and having his own bed upstairs (in the room next door) and downstairs has helped when we don't want him around. :)
We have 2 dogs (border collie and golden retriever) and 2 cats. The dogs are not allowed on the furniture or allowed to sleep in the bed, not there would be any room for them anyway. The cats on the other hand do whatever they want. The dogs do sleep in the bedroom though. We also have a baby gate for the day time, ours keeps them in out of the main area of the house though and they can spend their days sleeping in the bedroom in their beds.
We have 3 labs and all but one wants to sleep in our room. We have a dog bed in there that one always sleeps on, the other one sleeps on the floor by the window. The youngest likes to sleep in the living room. They don't care what is or isn't going on in the bed so there has been no need to kick them out or anything. Getting rid of the baby gate during th day might be fine...but then you might find Ms. Jersey sleeping in your bed when you aren't there - maybe she won't since she isn't allowed on your furniture but you never know. I'm sure she'll be happier to sleep in the same room as you guys - but you never know she might come in there in the beginning of the night then go back downstairs after you fall asleep. Another thing you'll have to see about - is if she will try and wake you up in the mornings...our dogs don't - but I hear that some do :) good luck and let us know how it goes!!
My dog is about 40 lbs, and the biggest spoiled brat I've ever met. She's allowed on the people bed when I'm napping, or in the mornings if we're sleeping in...or I suppose, when we're not home and I don't know what she's doing.
But, she also has a dog bed in the bedroom, and sleeps on it every night, no matter what. Even if she's up on the bed with me when I fall asleep, she abandons me for her own bed well before mister man comes to sleep. And if we're up too late, often she just goes to her bed around 10 when she's had enough and is sure we're not going to sneak out to the park without her. She also has no interest in what's going on in the bedroom unless she thinks that we're headed for the treat jar upstairs.
I have nothing to offer because I've never had dogs and probably never will but I do have two things to say:
1. that is indeed a pathetic look! LOL. I'm not surprised she's got you re-considering things.
2. Whatever you decide, it makes me happy to see that you will do it thoughtfully. Being a great dog owner is a big responsibility and I wish more people were like you. My brother and his girlfriend have a dog and they are so extremely inconsistent in dealing with the dog that she is a nervous wreak half the time.
Well I don't have a dog, but if I did it would sleep in the room with me. Webster (my kitty) sleeps in the bed with me every night. Usually on the pillow right by my head!
My mom has a bed right beside her bed for her golden lab and he likes that. He cries if she doesn't let him in the room with her!
I want a dog!! Oh how I want one!
My uncle had a dog named Henry. He always let Henry sleep at the foot of his bed. And though Henry wasn't allowed on the furniture, he would sneak up there when my uncle wasn't home.
Anyway, it seemed that even though Henry was able to sleep in the bed upstairs, he still very much knew that my uncle was the leader of the pack.
Interesting post! Thank you for sharing it! Your dog is beautiful!
~Kellie
We have a 25lb cocker spaniel. She sleeps on our bed. I wish I never started this. Half the time she is up near me and in the middle of the night I have to pick her up and put her back at the bottom of the bed.
Last night she had to sleep right on top of my legs!!
Our dog rules the roost in our house!
I grew up with a dog and a cat and this post makes me wonder one thing....why do we as humans think it's okay for cats to be on our furniture, but not dogs?? Seems unfair doesn't it? I mean, same rules applied in our house, no dog on the couch or on the bed...but the cat got to rule the roost....and our cat during certain times of the year shed just as much as our dog!
I could build a new cat with all the hair my two shed daily, yet they rule the house! They sleep in my bed (both are there right now, as a matter of fact!), on my couch and usually are doing their best to push me out of their way!
When I was growing up, we had a very large german shephard who slept in the hallway, between our three rooms. She only ever tried to crawl into our beds during thunder storms. She was a scardy-cat!
One time, I was vacuuming and cursing at the cats for all the shedding they did. As I was on my hands & knees, pulling the "fur" up by hand, I realized it was a rather reddish-brown colour, and not the black or white of the cats!! Oops...I curse them no longer!
I believe a dog should not get on the furniture. Nothing worse than going to a house of leaving with dog hair all over your clothes. I really believe the dog should sleep in your bedroom, on his own bed, on the floor. My dog had three beds. on in the living room, one in the bedroom and one in my office. As far as people coming over, kudos to you. Not everyone wants to be greeted by a jumping, licking dog. Another thing, my dogs walk at my side and do not sniff and pee on other peoples properties. When we go for a walk, we do just that... walk. Peeing and pooping can be done at home. So there you have it Congrats on having a well behave dog.
I too have a golden retriever, Love her, hate her hair, she is not allowed on the furniture, she does sleep in my bedroom, not in my bed, and she gets the boot during those private times :-)
I loved all the commnets, thanks guys!
What is definitely interesting, is that you're right about the cats.
Our cats can do NO wrong. And the have just as much hair as Jersey does (if not more because they're 2!)
I think my adversity to dog hair is because my dog growing up never slept with me, and I'm a cat person at heart.
We have two golden retrievers, both 80+ lbs, and they both sleep in our bedroom, one on either side of the bed. My older golden, who I had before I was married, cannot be persuaded to sleep in another room; we tried it once when my husband and I first lived together, and the dog outlasted my husband!
I'll confess that, before I was married, my dog slept in the bed with me. It was a queen-size bed, so I wasn't crowded, but hair was a definite issue at times.
During "sexy time," the dogs just kind-of chill out and mostly ignore us. Occasionally they will come to the bedside for some petting when we are finished. LOL
BTW, I wanted to say that if Jersey's prior family thought she was a "devil dog," perhaps it was because they did not give her the exercise and discipline that you do. Goldens are wonderful dogs, but they are not for everyone. In addition to their shedding, they need a lot of exercise and human interaction. Not everyone is prepared to give that!
I please guilty to letting the dog on the couch/chair/bed with me. However, he does not sleep all night - just gets a snuggle and then sleeps on his doggie bed beside ours.
In the past, I have always let dogs sleep on the bed - pack mentality and all that - and not had an issue with dominance. However, I think that also depends on the dog.
Molly, our little lab has a bed in her room that she sleeps on at night, but when my husband gets up early she hops up onto the foot of the bed to be with me. When I get ready for work in the morning she lays on her blanket at the foot of my bed, and there she stays when I'm at work. She never gets up without first being told 'ok' or 'up' and like you mentioned, she loves being near our smell while we are out so I don't mind her being there. I would never dream of leaving her downstairs (as I once though I would due to dog hair, etc). As long as they know whose boss and are obedient, it can't be that wrong. xo
I have two dogs weighing in at 70 and about 50lbs. I alo have 1 cat. My dogs sleep on their pillows in the living room unless the girl feels the need to be a little closer. She sometimes walks in my bedroom at night and sleep in near the door.
My cat chooses to sleep in the computer room.
My dog roams around at night. She's sometimes on a mat in our room, sometimes on a bench looking outside (her bench), and when she's not feeling good, I wake up and find her snuggled into a blanket on the couch. She is allowed on the furniture, but it's supposed to be when we invite her. We kenneled her for the first year, but now she's kenneled during the day when I'm at work so I just feel bad about locking her up for so many hours.
I am so behind on this post but I REALLY feel the need to comment!!
First of all - we TOTALLY let the cats roam the house and I agree, we give them a "puppy-free" zone of the upstairs (Charlie won't even go up the stairs). But there are honestly times that I would love to have him up there with us...
Our bed is COVERED in cat hair because they sleep with us...but I don't think it would be a problem to let Charlie roam the house at night...this is the problem right here...Charlie sleeps in a crate still (A GINORMOUS crate, but a crate nonetheless).
I don't want to get bashed for that, because I AM a good puppy mom. We do all the things you mentioned that you do for Jersey, but we also do all the GOOD things too, he is WELL loved and well taken care of...it just took him a LONG time to outgrow his puppy "chewing" phase...which he now seems to have done...
I feel that the more freedom we give him, the better he is in fact. So I might be letting him sleep outside the crate a little more and just using the crate for travel and for a "safe place" for him...
Unfortunately. At 100 lbs, with 2 cats (one weighing 15 lbs herself) and the 2 of us + a queen size bed...um, not going to happen...but I don't really see a problem with the dogs staying in the bedroom...
Wow, that was so long and I don't know how much of it made sense...
Growing up our dogs always slept wherever... usually in the bed with us. Or, my first dog would sleep in under the covers with me! EEKS!
My fiance, however, had always trained his dogs growing up to stay in the kitchen/porch/garage area and she did and did so very well.
Now that we are getting our own pretty soon, we've had to come up with some ground rules. We plan to use a baby gate across the stairs and keep her downstairs and off the furniture. I also have allergies, so it will be good for me to have a fur-free zone for sure. We also plan to crate her at night and when nobody is home... at least while she is in the destructive puppy phase!
PS: I totally agree with teaching your dog to sit/stay while you are opening the door for guests. Wish I had thought of that with my dogs growing up! Instead they just barge on through wanting to say hello... no jumping, but still... Mom's dog right now, a 75-lb husky, can be quite intimidating for guests! LOL
we have a miniature schnauzer who sleeps in his kennel, which is in our room.
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