MORE STORIES
Nipper's favorite dog cookies recipe.
Holidays can be harmful to your 'hungry' pets
Exotic pets can creep, crawl and slither into your heart.
Where should sleeping dogs (and cats) lie?
Owners need to practice calm before (and during) the storm.
Everything Pets Expo brings pets and their people together.
Keeping paws warm and pets happy
Caring for a honey of a bunny.
Where should sleeping dogs (and cats) lie?
"What's the matter, getting kinda creaky in your middle-age?" Nipper asked, groggily through a yawn. I was sitting on the edge of the bed, afraid to stand because my right leg had gone numb during the night. "No," I sighed, flexing it to try to get the blood flowing. "It's from you sleeping on top of my legs."
"Don't blame me," he said, turning over and laying his head on my pillow, "You should have moved."
Nipper's right. I should have made him move, but couldn't. In the throes of sleep my common sense goes bye-bye to the point where it'll register in my unconscious that I'm uncomfortable, but I'll be too sleep-addled to do anything about it. So I wake up half-crippled on a regular basis.
It didn't start out that way. When Nipper was a puppy, Tom and I (well, to be honest, Tom) took a "tough-love" stance. Nipper was going to sleep in his own bed. (If left up to me, the puppy would have slept on the pillow next to my cheek from night one). But, my husband who is much more pragmatic bought a human baby play pen. We put it in the corner of the bedroom and that's where Nipper slept.
I wanted to give in the first time Nipper cried, but "Testosterone Tom" stood firm and declared: "Somebody has to be the Alpha here and it's obvious that it has to be me!"
One fateful night when Nipper would not quiet down despite repeated "corrections," Tom avowed, "It's him or us." He put Nipper into his crate and deposited it in the basement. The howling was heart-wrenching. But as responsible owners we had to wait him out, even if it meant sleeping with pillows over our ears to muffle the sound. "Nipper," Tom (whose father was a dog breeder) proclaimed, "Will be what we make him!"
And he was, sleeping on his very own doggie bed until he got old and grey. Then, for some reason (that he won't elaborate on except to say, "He's our guy"), Tom softened up and let him up on the bed. A couple of years ago when Nipper started having trouble hopping up on his own, our ornate, cherry, four poster bed was disassembled and put into the garage. We now sleep on a mattress and box springs on the floor to accommodate the dog.
The things we do for love...
Tim and Jerri Lenz of Independence recently upgraded from a queen to a king-sized bed to accommodate their bed partners Dawn, a 50 lb. mixed breed and Dora, a 40 lb. Corgi mix. They too, started off with good intentions.
"When we first got Dawn," Tim said, "She slept in a crate; but then, it dawned on us (a Freudian slip, perhaps?) that she couldn't be much of a watchdog in a cage. If something happened, how much protection could she be?"
So, to ensure the safety of the family, Dawn was released from the crate. But, how did she end up sleeping on the bed?
"It was winter," he recalls in a sympathetic tone of voice, "And with the programmable thermostat it got kind of cold in the house at night. We have an electric blanket, so she would come up and lay on that. It wasn't a problem at first, because she stayed at the foot of the bed, but then we got Dora."
"And they took over from there," Jerri says. "The dogs pretty much rule the roost. It's sad but true and I admit it."
The couple, who has been married for 20 years now share their extra-firm bed with the grey-green comforter, dust ruffle and coordinating decorative pillows with their two dogs. Dawn sleeps at the foot and Dora snuggles between Tim and Jerri.
"It works now that we have the larger bed," Jerri said, "With the queen it was terrible. I would wake up hugging the edge of the bed and the two dogs would be sprawled out to their full length. So we had to make the change. But I'm not sorry, I enjoy having them up there."
"And we haven't had any burglars!" Tim chuckles, "Don't forget that. Not that we had any before, but that has to count for something!"
So, Tom and I aren't the only ones who lie down with dogs (or other animals. One of my friends slept with her rabbit until she woke up in the middle of the night with him trying to make love to her head, but, I digress.) Bottom line is, is it a good idea to allow your pet to sleep in bed with you?
"The question I would ask you is this," Steven Stratemeyer, D.V.M. of Evendale-Blue Ash Pet Hospital intones, "Whose bed is it?"
Stratemeyer has been in practice as a veterinarian for 30 years and is an expert in teaching people how to train their pets. He believes that there is nothing wrong with letting your dog or cat sleep with you as long as it is on your terms.
"It is only a problem when you think it is a problem," he states. "What the dog wants is a good leader. If the dog wants to get up on the bed or couch or whatever, he needs to earn the right by doing a particular behavior; by sitting down, lying down, whatever. If it wants to be in bed with you, you should make it ask for permission first."
"If you go to bed and the dog is in bed before you, then who is in charge?" he asks. "I have people who will come in and say they rolled over in the middle of the night, bumped their dog and they got bit. When that happens, it has become the dog's bed, not yours and that's where there is a problem."
The doctor concurs with my husband. "The people have to be in charge. There has to be a leader, and that should be you. Believe me, a dog is just a dog and he or she doesn't make the right decisions."
Cats, he admits, are a little different in that they are not as domesticated as dogs. But, training is the same in that you reward positive behaviors and they will continue.
"For example," he said with a mischievous grin, "I've trained one of our cats to bug my wife at night and leave me alone."
