Ahh yes, the ultimate pet parent struggle: Should you let your pets sleep in bed with you? In my house, we have two dogs of different sizes, colors, and breed. But they have one thing in common — they’re both drama queens when it comes to bedtime. Specifically where they sleep, which is usually in bed with us.
Annie, our 5-year-old Terrier/Chihuahua, weighs about 7 pounds, and Deke, our 4-year-old black Labrador, is a solid 65 pounds. They’re not huge dogs, especially Annie. And, thankfully, we have a nice big king-sized bed. But the bed instantly feels much small when you add two dogs. Annie snores like someone with asthma who just ran a marathon, and Deke likes to sleep on top of us, growls when we move an inch to hamper his sleeping, and both are antsy, so they never stay in one spot for the entire night. Also, Annie sleeps under the blankets between us, and Deke sleeps on top. So, it’s basically a literal hot mess of dogs, blankets, and humans.
Why the drama queen moniker? If we dare move them (or politely ask them to move once they’re asleep in bed), they sigh — as in a noisy how-dare-you-even-think-about-asking-me-to-move-now-that-I’m-asleep exhale.
82530_021SQWe love our dogs. We want them to be happy and healthy, and that includes sleeping well. But we aren’t getting a good night’s rest, and ultimately neither are the dogs, because we’re continually shoving them one way to get more covers or waking said snorer up so she stops snoring. It’s a lose-lose for us and the dogs.
It’s a struggle because we both work long hours, so we only get a few hours with them at night before we go to bed, which is the main reason we love snuggling with our fur babies during the night. Plus, they’ve been sleeping in bed with us for so long, it’s hard to break the habit. Recently though, we have been more adamant about Annie’s snoring (she gets “banished” to the luxurious spare bedroom with her own queen-sized bed, which is rough), and we make Deke get off the bed when he jumps up, so he sleeps on the plush carpet or pile of decorative pillows — again, very rough.
Deke is crate trained, and has been since he was a puppy, so — hypothetically — we could put him in there at night, which would give him that safety zone to sleep without us bothering him. But he’s in there when we go to work (before they get picked up by grandma!), so that’s really not an option, at least for us.
Of course, we don’t want to shun our dogs to the cold, hard, scary, lonely floor, but we also have to wake up (and stay awake!) for work the next day. This brings me to my long-drawn-out much-awaited point: I think it’s time to invest in a dog bed (or two). Fortunately, there are a lot of benefits to investing in a bed for your dog:
Beds insulate your dog from the floor in both the winter and summer. In the wintertime, many small dogs love to curl up in a nesting-type bed like a Slumber Ball dog bed, which provides the warmth needed for both comfort and good health.
Beds provide your dog with his own private space and a sense of security.
Beds cushion joints and bones —, especially for older, arthritic, or overweight dogs. (Orthopedic and Quilted Super Deluxe Beds are designed specifically for dogs that need extra joint support and comfort.)61027C_132
Beds control the spread of hair and dander by concentrating it in one, easy-to-clean location.
Many of our customers choose a bed offering two covers, such as our Ultimate Classic Dog Bed, so they always have a fresh cover when the other cover is being cleaned. Drs. Foster and Smith also offers additional/replacement covers for many of our beds
Helping to prevent injuries by keeping your dog from jumping up and down from the furniture.