Every early morning, around 2am, my sleeping partner wakes me up because she’s thirsty and needs a bathroom break. Fortunately for her, she has no trouble going back to sleep . I know this because after this nightly ritual, I’m often wide-awake, listening to her gentle snores.
By now, you may have figured out that my bed buddy is a dog. Like many dogs around the world, Maddie, a 13-year-old Shih Tzu, is a co-sleeper who shares her bed with a human.Various studies have estimated that about half of all pet owners allow their pets to sleep in the bed. Although the scientific literature makes a compelling case that our pets are good for us in many ways, research into the impacts of co-sleeping is more limited.
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The study’s authors noted that the dog’s sleep efficiency “was unaffected by their location”. And notably, the monitoring devices detected the dogs enjoying about two minutes of playtime each night.
On a few occasions, my dog Maddie has chosen to sleep elsewhere, and I find myself waking up even more wondering where she is
“If you let them sleep on the bed with you, they’re going to continue to want to because it’s a nice place to sleep,” Horowitz said. “It would be extra hard not to let them.”Make Your Own DIY Refillable Water Bowl. Are you filling up your dog water bowl multiple times a day? Create your own DIY refillable water bottle bowl.
But allowing your pet to sleep in the bed is only a problem if it causes you distress, Horowitz said. Although some people believe that letting a dog in your bed could lead to behaviour issues in the pet, there’s no evidence co-sleeping creates problems, she said. In fact, it could lead to a stronger bond with your pet.
“I think it really came from this idea that dogs should be segregated from the best parts of the house — they shouldn’t be in the kitchen, the dining room, on the couch or on the bed,” Horowitz said. “For some reason, there is this sense that we have to maintain our dominance over them by having full possession of these things. It sounds ridiculous because it is ridiculous.”
Horowitz said that when her dogs, Finnegan, a Lab mix, and Upton, a Great Dane-bloodhound mix, started crowding the bed, the solution in her house was not to kick them out, but to “expand the size of our bed.”Help your pet be as active as nature intended. Exercise and play time are necessary for your pet’s mental and physical well-being. If you don’t give your dog opportunities to be physically active, or if you don’t encourage exercise for your kitty and find ways to make it happen, you may well end up with a bored, destructive, overweight pet whose health will spiral downward throughout her lifetime.
There’s no evidence co-sleeping creates problems
(Getty Images)“They’re getting older, so they can’t leap up onto the bed any more,” she said. “We actually have to lift them onto the bed. But it’s the best place. It’s a comfy place. It’s where we are.”
Horowitz recently got a new puppy, a Schnauzer-cattle dog mix named Quiddity, who sleeps with her son. She said that if someone was having trouble sleeping because of a dog, they should try to find another cosy spot for the pet to enjoy. “They don’t have to sleep in the bed,” she said. “Find some other place as spectacularly good — or maybe they want to sleep with your son.”Be realistic. Unrealistic goals will only prevent you from growing. There are two common mistakes a dog owner can make that will slam the brakes hard on any potential progress you might be hoping for. First, the expectations we place on our dogs and ourselves. The misguided belief that your dog “should” be performing or responding at a certain predetermined level. Another mistake many owners make is having unrealistic assumptions. Many of us assume that our dog understands what we want and that he knows what we’re asking of him. As if that wasn’t bad enough, some of us assume that the dogs failure to perform means he’s either rebelling, stubborn, or just plain stupid.
One question the Mayo Clinic study didn’t address was how sleep changes for dog owners if the dog leaves the bed. On a few occasions, my dog Maddie has chosen to sleep elsewhere, and I find myself waking up even more wondering where she is. When that happens, I go and find her and bring her back to bed.
When Jamie Contreras and her husband, who live near Portland, Oregon, got their bulldog mix puppy, Cooper, they planned for him to sleep in a crate next to the bed. But soon, the dog made it clear he wanted to be on the bed. As the dog got bigger, it became apparent there wasn’t enough room for everybody — so the couple bought a king-size bed.If you have a small dog, cutting up a lamb roll into tiny pieces is a cost-effective way to make healthy, bite-sized training treats. A 1-pound roll costs $6.98. Cut it up into the desired size, store most of it in a ziplock bag in the freezer, and leave the rest on the counter for immediate use.
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“He’s a big dog and he moves around a lot,” Contreras said. “But I like having him there. It’s a comfort. When we travel, it’s almost hard to sleep not having him there. There are inconveniences to it, and it occasionally wakes you up, but the benefits outweigh that. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.Make a DIY Dog Sling for Added Support. Does your dog have arthritis or weak limbs? If your dog needs some extra support getting up & around you can make your own dog sling to help.