Where does your dog sleep?

[kristin0713]

We have always had two beds for the dog, one upstairs in the hallway and one downstairs. Our new house has no room in  the upstairs hallway for a bed. It’s pretty narrow and we have 7 doors and there’s no big landing. I feel bad…she always sleeps upstairs for at least part of the night. We don’t want her in the bedrooms. I don’t want to put her in the guest room and then kick her out when we have a guest. Will she be nervous sleeping away from us? Do other dogs only sleep downstairs? Am I overthinking it? 

[rebcoola]

Our dogs sleep in their crates which are on the main floor of the house away from the bedrooms no problems.

[Pawz4me]

Our dogs have always slept in our bedroom. That's sort of a non negotiable for me. The current two are small and non-shedding, so they get to sleep in the bed with us. The previous dogs, all much larger and shedders, had beds on the floor or slept in crates.

[JustEm]

My dogs sleep in our room on the floor. They are fine sleeping outside the bedroom door but would be devastated to sleep downstairs. One dog in particular would have major issues because she has separation anxiety. The other would likely be fine if dog one was good downstairs

[ktgrok]

At the old house they slept in the living room or my bedroom - all one floor. New house they sleep downstairs on the couches or in their crates on memory foam beds - their choice. We have a gate on the stairs so they can't come up. We didn't plan on that, but the upstairs is carpet and before we got the fence put up they thought the carpet was indoor grass...so many potty accidents later we put up the gate. 

Now they have a fenced yard, so less worried about potty issues, but our oldest dog can't manage stairs, and I don't want him to feel left all alone at night if the other dogs were upstairs sleeping. 

Edited April 14, 2022 by ktgrok

[Jaybee]

We used to have a dog who slept downstairs in her closed crate. She was fine with that, no problem. She didn't whine or bark during the night, and settled to sleep just fine. However, we now have a dog who must be with a human. Must be. He is a velcro dog. It's cute sometimes, but drives me bonkers sometimes. He started out in a crate in ds' room. Then ds let him out to sleep once he was consistently house trained, and he was much happier. So guess what? Of course, he sleeps with ds. But when ds travels or is really late coming in? Yep, he sleeps with us. Not our preference. But much less disruptive to us all than trying to get him to do anything else. At least he usually sleeps at my feet rather than up at our heads. So I'm probably not much help. She may be fine sleeping downstairs.

[kristin0713]

So I definitely wouldn’t gate or crate her downstairs. She could come up and sleep in the hall if she wanted. Just no room for a bed. Maybe she’ll just come up if she wants. 

[Loowit]

Our dog sleeps in his crate downstairs in the family room.  He has a spot upstairs in our bedroom next to DH's desk for during the day, but at night he is downstairs.

[KidsHappen]

Ours sleeps in our room on her bed or in her cage. All of our dogs have always slept in our room.

[itsheresomewhere]

Our dogs sleep in our bed and in the kids beds.  

[Selkie]

Ours all pile in our bedroom with us. There is a minimum of two dogs on our bed at all times.

[Jean in Newcastle]

My 80 pound dog pushes me out of bed. . .

[ScoutTN]

Current dog sleeps on Dd’s bed at night. During the day, he also sleeps on his dog bed in the living room, in his crate in our family room, or on my son’s bed.

Previous dog, the one in my avatar photo, slept on a dog bed in my bedroom. 

[ScoutTN]

8 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

My 80 pound dog pushes me out of bed. . .

Juliet takes over! 😉

[MercyA]

She sleeps in my daughter's bedroom in her crate. I'd be happy to let her sleep on my daughter's bed, but I think they both sleep better this way. 🙂 

ETA: That's at night. During the day she sleeps wherever she wants on the main floor. She doesn't go in the basement. She takes a nap with me on my bed almost every day. Other times she might sleep in her crate in the office, on my daughter's bed, on the sofa, on the chair...

Edited April 14, 2022 by MercyA

[Faith-manor]

Lewis is on the bed with us now. He will be 13 in August and seems to need a lot of cuddling to feel secure. He no longer sleeps well in his crate, and I have a feeling that our heavenly mattress from the Westin is a balm to his achy bones. I wish it was not this way because I don't sleep well with him on the bed, but he is my baby, and he doesn't have a lot of time left so I can't bear to kick him out.

[Wilma]

Doggo is in his crate with a nice dog bed. Downstairs, away from all the bedrooms. He does a LOT of grooming and slurping during the night, so this is best for all.

[Pam in CT]

Ours has a dog bed on the floor right beside our bed, and he usually sleeps there. When my (college) youngest is home, he sort of wanders between her room (no dog bed; I rather suspect she allows him on her bed, which is theoretically against house rules) and ours. When the other grown kids (but who once lived here with the rather elderly dog) are visiting, they sleep way at the other end of the house, and he wanders back and forth somewhat forlornly all night long, why can't you people just all sleep in the same room together, this is very stressful to me.

He has two identical dog beds for downstairs, one in the kitchen and one in the room with my computer, and he basically trots around all day following me between those places and out in the garden.

All of which to say: he really likes to hear the sound of his peeps breathing. He would NOT be "settled" downstairs, though perhaps he'd eventually get used to it (?) if we forced the issue. He'd probably be OK out in the upstairs hall if we kept the door open.

[ktgrok]

I will say that I often end up "getting the dogs to bed" now that they sleep downstairs and we are upstairs. I let them out one last time, then turn off most of the lights and hang out down there until they are all snoozing. then I come upstairs. 

[klmama]

Ours sleeps on a dog bed in the basement.  She and I head to the basement around 8:30 or 9:00, and she dozes on the floor near me while I read a book or work at the computer.  When I'm ready to go to bed, I wake her up and take her over to the dog bed, and she lies back down and goes to sleep.  She sleeps in the basement all night and sometimes half of the morning.  Being alone at night doesn't seem to bother her.  Being in the basement reduces how many noises she hears to bark at, so she doesn't wake us up as often as she would if she were upstairs.  

[Spryte]

In their crates on the main level. Kid here has dog allergies, we have air purifiers and do all the things — one of those things is keeping the upstairs hall and bedrooms dander free. 

Our dogs often put themselves to bed when it gets dark, so they don’t seem to mind.

I do miss dogs in our bedroom, often on the bed.

[Ting Tang]

In bed between us. She’s a 48 lb smooth collie. Birth control, lol. 

[Lisa]

One dog sleeps in my son's bedroom in his bed. The other dog sleeps in my bed.

[Tap]

She sleeps with my daughter, either on the bed or floor. She is 40lb, but non-shedding. 

If my daughter is not home, she sleeps on the floor, right beside my bed. I sleep on the edge of the bed, and she makes sure she is within arm's reach (to take advantage of any petting) at all times. Haha. 

She would rather sleep with me, but dd insists that she sleep in her room. The dog can get out of my daughter's room if she wants, but she has to work at it (even if her door is shut, it doesn't latch so the dog can open the door).  We can't let her roam free at night in the downstairs of the house, or she will bark at anyone or any animal she sees, waking us up through the night. (She watches out the side-lights on the door, which doesn't have curtains) Even if I leave my door open, I still call her back to my room if she tries to leave the upstairs.

 

[Laura Corin]

Our dog sleeps only downstairs in the kitchen. She seems fine.

[Carrie12345]

When our big dogs were alive, they slept in their crates right outside my bedroom door.
My tiny dog slept with dd before she moved out. Then he slept with us, which is NOT what I wanted. I tried to have him sleep in his regular crate downstairs, but that’s not what HE wanted. He finally sleeps in a crate in our room, which is super awkward for our space, but much better for my sleep!

He does still have a bed on my bed, and he does still sleep in it, just not overnight.

[Melissa in Australia]

outside. I don't believe in having animals in the house at all

 one sleeps in a dog kennel on the verandah, the other gets locked in the shed every night he has a bed in there, and water and the shed is huge, bigger than a house. - otherwise he chases kangaroos all night and keeps the neighbours awake with his excided barking. they roam around our 5 acre property all day and dh takes them for a 10 km walk just about every day.

I have never understood people being so mad at me for not letting the dogs in the house but they lock their dogs in tiny cages  or creates or whatever they are called in their house . My sil is always crazy about it. She has something like 14 dogs in her house, some of them giant things called newfoundland  and has cages stacked one on top of the other where she keeps them shut in at night. they can hardly even turn around. 

[Ausmumof3]

Outdoors 😞 in a kennel.

He does come inside sometimes during the winter but he is the Fox guardian for DDs chickens who aren’t in fully predator proof runs yet. He does have a pretty good life most of the time with a farm to run on and a dam for near daily swims etc.

[wintermom]

3 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

outside. I don't believe in having animals in the house at all

 one sleeps in a dog kennel on the verandah, the other gets locked in the shed every night he has a bed in there, and water and the shed is huge, bigger than a house. - otherwise he chases kangaroos all night and keeps the neighbours awake with his excided barking. they roam around our 5 acre property all day and dh takes them for a 10 km walk just about every day.

I have never understood people being so mad at me for not letting the dogs in the house but they lock their dogs in tiny cages  or creates or whatever they are called in their house . My sil is always crazy about it. She has something like 14 dogs in her house, some of them giant things called newfoundland  and has cages stacked one on top of the other where she keeps them shut in at night. they can hardly even turn around. 

This is exactly like my sister. They're on an acreage and the dogs and cats are always outdoors. It's very common on farms and such in Canada. They have heated facilities in the winter, as it gets really cold. There are predators outside as well as prey. My sister's dogs are not tied up or crated. It's just normal country life here in the 'wild west.' Us city folk may think it's strange, but I guess we're the weirdos who put up with potty training, throw-up on the floor and chew- and stratch-damaged stuff in our homes.  🤣 

Edited April 14, 2022 by wintermom

[wintermom]

Our guide dog puppies-in-training all sleep with their human 'Puppy Walker' at night either in a crate, mat or floor. When my dd was the puppy walker, her dog slept in her bedroom while mine slept with me in mine. It's an expected part of their socialization as they'll be sleeping in the bedroom with their blind client when they are guide dogs. Never up on any furniture, though. Also part of the training process.

Our former personal dogs used to sleep downstairs in a crate. Our current personal puppy sleeps in our bedroom in a crate.

[Jenny in Florida]

Mine sleeps in her crate, which is near our bed. She's an older pup and is used to this arrangement, so I think she would find it very difficult to adapt to being away from us (okay, me) at night. However, selfishly, I would also feel pretty sad at having her not close.

We started her off sleeping in a crate when she was a puppy, because my husband really didn't want her in the bed (he has a bad back and needs to be able to turn over and move around without worrying about worrying about the welfare of a small being) and because we didn't want her to fight with the older cat who liked to roam the house at night.

We always had her in a fairly roomy crate, since the goal was just to keep her out of trouble. When we moved into this house, I was able to upgrade her to an even larger one to give her plenty of space to get her older joints as comfy as possible.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Jenny in Florida

[DawnM]

It has varied through the years.

When we had 2 dogs in our last house, they stayed in the kitchen/dining area penned in by gates.   Then we eased up and they slept in our room on the floor.

Our dog slept in our room for a while, but then when we had that visiting dog, he liked to sleep downstairs and so our dog started staying down there.   Now he likes it down there on a dog bed.

[SKL]

Our pup sleeps in his crate in a downstairs back room with the door shut.  He is fine.  I think he sleeps better since distractions and opportunities are limited.  But that's all he's known.

[Selkie]

5 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

outside. I don't believe in having animals in the house at all

I’m like that but about people, not animals. Dogs in the house? Sure! People in the house? Yuck. (with the exception of dh and kids, of course) 😉

[JennyD]

Our dog is not allowed upstairs at all, so at night he sleeps on the main floor, in a crate.  

The crate is huge and unattractive and sometimes I wonder if it's still necessary, but I get up extremely early in the morning to work out and I don't want to have to let the dog out before I leave the house.  As it is, he (of course) knows I'm there -- I can hear him shifting in his crate -- but if I keep the lights off he will just keep snoozing until I get back and DS14 gets up to take care of him.

 

 

[ktgrok]

I will say, I thought about letting the two younger dogs come upstairs once the older one passes away, but then realized, eventually they will have trouble with the stairs too, someday. I think it will be easier for them to accept being downstairs when they are older and the stairs themselves are difficult, if they are downstairs now. Same with dogs on the bed - when they get older and have joint or back issues jumping up and down on the bed can be very hard and painful, but if they are used to it from a lifetime of doing it training them not to anymore is hard. So better to not start. I say this as someone with big dogs - if I had small dogs that were easy to pick up and put on the bed, or carry upstairs, that would be different. But I'm not going to be able to carry  95lbs of wolf/goldendoodle up the stairs when she's got bad hips in her old age, so better she just think downstairs is where she should be. That way no trying to retrain her when she's old. (BTDT with a stubborn dog with a back problem who grew up sleeping on the bed, refused to use doggy stairs, and kept reinjuring herself)

[Tanaqui]

One dog always sleeps on human beds, snuggled up to the nearest human. (He has trauma from previous neglectful owners, and if we minded this we'd have had to let somebody else adopt him.) The other often does this but sometimes sleeps by herself like a weirdo, in all the weirdest places. Like right next to the back door in the unheated back hall in the middle of winter. She's a chihuahua! Doesn't she get cold!

But, you know, I think most dogs who weren't abused and/or neglected can understand just fine that they have a designated sleeping spot, and that spot is not in a bedroom. It may take a few tries to convince them, and perhaps some discreet bribery ("training") but... they're dogs. They've been bred over thousands and thousands of generations to understand simple things humans want to communicate to them, things exactly like "YOU SLEEP HERE NOW."

[Jann in TX]

Both of our dogs sleep downstairs- the upstairs belongs to the cats!

Our hound puppy (about 35 pounds at 6 months) sleeps in DH's bedroom literally half-way on his dog bed-- usually his 'back half' is on the bed and the 'front half' is off the bed (he is weird!).  Our white GSD weighs just under 150 pounds-- he has never been allowed on furniture/beds because he would take up all the space!  He sleeps in a dog bed in living area OR (majority of time) he sleeps directly outside of DH's bedroom door-- like if someone needs to enter or exit at 11pm they have to step OVER or AROUND the big white floor rug (dog)...

I'm still needing to sleep upstairs with grandson (room next to his)- he often wakes up in middle of night (fun...).  Occasionally I share my bed with one of the cats-- but not by my choice!

[Jean in Newcastle]

25 minutes ago, Tanaqui said:

One dog always sleeps on human beds, snuggled up to the nearest human. (He has trauma from previous neglectful owners, and if we minded this we'd have had to let somebody else adopt him.) The other often does this but sometimes sleeps by herself like a weirdo, in all the weirdest places. Like right next to the back door in the unheated back hall in the middle of winter. She's a chihuahua! Doesn't she get cold!

But, you know, I think most dogs who weren't abused and/or neglected can understand just fine that they have a designated sleeping spot, and that spot is not in a bedroom. It may take a few tries to convince them, and perhaps some discreet bribery ("training") but... they're dogs. They've been bred over thousands and thousands of generations to understand simple things humans want to communicate to them, things exactly like "YOU SLEEP HERE NOW."

And some humans just choose to let their dog sleep in bed with them.  This isn't a contest for which dog sleeping arrangement is the "most righteous".  There is no reason for some of the posters to be defensive and no reason for some to be self righteous either.  If the dog sleeping arrangement works for your household then it works. 

[Tanaqui]

Of course! I don't think any of us is openly judging others who prefer to sleep or not sleep with their pets. Cats and dogs certainly aren't.

[mommyoffive]

We had a velcro dog that slept on the floor of our room.  It was horrible.  I would get such awful sleep if I had them in our room.

Our old dog we adopted when she was 7.  She decided that she would sleep on the main level on the couch and that was that.  I am so glad that she did that.  No messy beds.  No bad sleep.  Once we got the new dog, that was just what we did with her too.  Only her in a kennel as she wasn't potty trained.  Then the older dog seemed to want a kennel too as a way to escape the kids and everything.  So now they both sleep in kennels at night.  The dogs aren't allowed upstairs.

[Lady Florida.]

We don't currently have a dog but I've had many throughout my life. They've always slept in the bedroom bof either the adults or kids. They usually slept on the bed with their favorite human though some chose to sleep on the floor at the foot or side of the bed.

[ktgrok]

To be clear - no judgment from me about upstairs/downstairs/etc! I was just adding in some other things to consider when deciding this - like the future abilities of the dog to safely access upstairs or high beds, etc. Honestly, my ideal would be to have my dog in bed with me, and not another human, lol. But DH would frown on that, and I know my big dogs may well end up with joint issues later that make that a bad idea for them long term. My last dog had back and knee issues and it killed me to see her hurting after jumping down off the bed, which effects that decision. (jumping UP doesn't hurt them, so they keep doing it, even though jumping DOWN causes pain and compresses the disc space in their neck when they land)

That said, I will admit to sleeping on the couch many nights when we first moved in, to help the dogs get used to sleeping down there, away from us. Cause I'm a sucker that way 🙂

 

[ktgrok]

I do think puppies sleep better if they have someone nearby at night - be that another dog or a human. So if I had a new puppy, and long term wanted them to sleep downstairs, I'd set up a crate down there and sleep on the couch for the first week probably, to help them settle in. 

[Pawz4me]

6 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

To be clear - no judgment from me about upstairs/downstairs/etc! I was just adding in some other things to consider when deciding this - like the future abilities of the dog to safely access upstairs or high beds, etc. Honestly, my ideal would be to have my dog in bed with me, and not another human, lol. But DH would frown on that, and I know my big dogs may well end up with joint issues later that make that a bad idea for them long term. My last dog had back and knee issues and it killed me to see her hurting after jumping down off the bed, which effects that decision. (jumping UP doesn't hurt them, so they keep doing it, even though jumping DOWN causes pain and compresses the disc space in their neck when they land)

That said, I will admit to sleeping on the couch many nights when we first moved in, to help the dogs get used to sleeping down there, away from us. Cause I'm a sucker that way 🙂

 

Well, I have small dogs now, and always will going forward, because I recognize the limits of my own abilities. I don't have to worry about the dogs being able to jump or climb stairs, because I can lift or carry them. I can no longer do that with larger dogs. And regardless of where a dog sleeps, I won't have one that I can't pick up and carry in case of an emergency. I know other people don't take that into consideration, and that's their business. But it's something that I've always had a niggling concern about.

Edited April 14, 2022 by Pawz4me

[Jean in Newcastle]

22 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Well, I have small dogs now, and always will going forward, because I recognize the limits of my own abilities. I don't have to worry about the dogs being able to jump or climb stairs, because I can lift or carry them. I can no longer do that with larger dogs. And regardless of where a dog sleeps, I won't have one that I can't pick up and carry in case of an emergency. I know other people don't take that into consideration, and that's their business. But it's something that I've always had a niggling concern about.

I had to carry Libby the Disabled Wonder Dog up and down the steps for the last five years of her life.  She could flop around on three legs on level surfaces but could not do steps.  And we live in a split level house so there is no floor that doesn't require steps.  I don't know what I would do with Juliet (80 pounds) though.  Maybe work out with my personal trainer more! 

[Pawz4me]

11 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I had to carry Libby the Disabled Wonder Dog up and down the steps for the last five years of her life.  She could flop around on three legs on level surfaces but could not do steps.  And we live in a split level house so there is no floor that doesn't require steps.  I don't know what I would do with Juliet (80 pounds) though.  Maybe work out with my personal trainer more! 

Yeah, well. I've got a laundry list of diagnoses that make it challenging to work out or build strength. Plus I'm a munchkin. I'm doing okay now, but I do worry about the future. I'll probably be one of those tiny old ladies with a tiny old Chihuahua. But as long as I have a dog . .  that's okay. 😉

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Pawz4me said:

Well, I have small dogs now, and always will going forward, because I recognize the limits of my own abilities. I don't have to worry about the dogs being able to jump or climb stairs, because I can lift or carry them. I can no longer do that with larger dogs. And regardless of where a dog sleeps, I won't have one that I can't pick up and carry in case of an emergency. I know other people don't take that into consideration, and that's their business. But it's something that I've always had a niggling concern about.

I think I said in one of my posts that those with smaller dogs can just carry them 🙂 

And I think it is a good thing to be concerned about - able to lift your dog if need be! My 95lb one should be lighter - she gained weight stealing cat food, but we now have it in a closet with a small cat door so she's losing back down to her more appropriate 80ish pounds. I can lift her if I have to, like into the tub when she refuses to get it, or if I had to I could get her into the car, but I can't carry her any distance. And that IS a concern of mine. I had a 77 pound dog that had a back injury and was paralyzed  in the rear for about 48 hours from it, and I had to lift her to tke her potty. I swore after that my next dogs would be lighter...but here I am. Sigh. the NEXT ones will be smaller though. Ideally, I'd have dogs I could carry out on a hike if they were injured, but since I don't I'm grateful that at least DH can carry them if need be. A dog that was more like 50lbs I would be able to deal with more easily on my own.

 

18 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

Yeah, well. I've got a laundry list of diagnoses that make it challenging to work out or build strength. Plus I'm a munchkin. I'm doing okay now, but I do worry about the future. I'll probably be one of those tiny old ladies with a tiny old Chihuahua. But as long as I have a dog . .  that's okay. 😉

And I do think as we age, sizing down is very smart. The vet I worked with planned to do that, and was vocal about why, and encouraged others to as well. In fact, my big girl came to me because she was too big for her older owner - she grew bigger than planned and jumped on her owner and broke her owner's back. That's how she ended up in rescue. Even just being bumped into by a very large dog could be disastrous to someone with poor reflexes or balance or osteoporosis. When my mom is over I keep the dogs kenneled until she is sitting down and stable. 

I plan on an old terrier mix or something when I am an old lady - something I can put right in the sink to bathe without hunching over! 

[sassenach]

No dogs allowed in the bedrooms here. We have always lived in 1 story homes and the dogs sleep on beds in the living room. Ours are big, shedding labs.

[JFSinIL]

Our previous Lab was a chill sweetheart, and slept either on the old couch downstairs or shared my youngest daughter's bed.  Our second Lab sleeps in her crate at night - if roaming freely she is more apt to bark at invisible monsters, etc.  in her crate she deep sleeps til morning.