Is it bad to allow your GSD to sleep in your bed with you?

[fuzzybunny]

I have one that loves to sleep on the bed. She's not allowed under the covers and I have a sheet over top the duvet so that she doesn't make contact with the duvet. It's amazing how much fur gets on the sheet in one week from wash to wash.

[lzver]

Due to different work schedules, my husband and I sleep in separate rooms. Jake starts out with my husband on his bed and gets too hot and has various places on the floor in his room and in the hall where he sleeps. He has a nice comfy dog bed in the hall upstairs as well that he uses quite regularly.

When I get up to let Jake out and feed him at 4:30am, Jake goes back upstairs and then sleeps the rest of the morning on his bed until they get up around 6:30am.

Jake comes and hangs out on my bed while we’re getting ready for bed. I’m a light sleeper, so no dogs allowed sleeping in my bed at night.

[GSDElsa]

IMO dogs new to the house and puppies shouldn't be given free reign of furniture until they are settled and all the rules have been firmly established.

Medo wasn't allowed on the couch until he was about a year old....and I finally relented on the bed when he was around 15 months or so on the bed. I go to bed way before my husband and I used to drag Elsa to bed with me to snuggle....she did NOT like it, but tolerated it because mom said so, haha. Well, at some point whenever I would go brush my teeth, etc Medo started running to the bedroom and would jump on the bed and just give me this look when I walked in the room like "oh PLEEEEZ PLEEEEEZ let me stay on the bed!" It was so stinkin' cute I decided he could be my pre-sleeping cuddle. Now it never fails--as soon as I start the process of getting ready for bed he'll go RUNNING back to the bedroom and just wait there for me. If he's tired and wants to "go to bed" he'll go back to the bedroom to wait, come back to the living room and give this kind of pitiful whine after awhile and then run back to the bedroom.

Elsa likes to jump on the bed sometimes...it is definitely crowed when it's the 4 of us on there!

To avoid the nastiness of having the dogs on the bed, I have a large el-cheapo king size sheet that I put over our comforter that I was once a week or so. It definitely gets dirty.....they would not be on the bed without it! (we also keep the couch covered). And I keep the bed all neat and "put together" so they never have access to get the dirt all over our sheets (I'm one f those weirdos who has to have the bed tucked in and made perfectly every day as soon as I wake up).

[bocron]

I'm heading to Mississippi on Sunday to pick up a new puppy. (This will be number 13 for our household). It will be a Lancashire Heeler puppy (adult weight will be around 12-15lbs). As I do with all our dogs, she will spend the first few months sleeping in a crate. When I feel confident she is clear on the housebreaking thing I will let her sleep loose with the other dogs. My other Lancashire Heeler starts out the night on the bed but usually moves to his "den" under the bed. I'm guessing she will do the same.

[Crimes]

Apollo actually...doesn't really sleep on the bed with me o:
He's much more content either sleeping on the floor by my bed, at the very end of my bed off to the corner, or sometimes he even goes into his crate himself to sleep.

He just likes his own space at night I guess, cos during the day he follows me everywhere I go, even if I just have to go to the bathroom! xD

[Ceasar]

I let all three of them sleep with me, right or wrong. I have 1 lab, 1 lab pit mix, and one GSD. I didn't let him sleep with us for a a while. Now he does. Everybody's happy.

[GusGus]

I have read a lot of times that it makes the dog feel as an equal and not that you are the leader. My dog sleeps in bed with me but if at ANY time I tell him to get down he will do so immediately. So, I feel that tells me he can sleep in my bed whenever and still know I'm boss..so to say.

[zivagirl]

Our Newfie, Bear, would have loved to sleep in our bed-but rules are rules. My dogs have always had their cave (crate) that I don't crawl into, and I have MY places that are inappropriate for my dogtooth get into unless they ate expressly invited.

[PuppyKono]

Kono is allowed to sleep anywhere in my room. Usually she sleeps on my bed but then she sometimes will sleep in her crate or on the floor. I have the crate in my room so if I ask her to go in she will and just sleep there. Usually I let her roam around my room but when she has flea and tick stuff on or if she is making noise I tell her to go in because I want to sleep I think it shows I have authority yet still want her to be around me and comfy c:

[APBTLove]

I happen to think it's BS that a dog will think it's dominant if it sleeps with you. What if you sleep on the floor? O_o Does a dog think it's dominant when he sleeps next to you on the couch while you watch the news, or if you sit on the floor with him? Come on now.

Mine sleeps with me if he wants to, and if it's not hot. Otherwise he can go pant far away from me.