O.K. to sleep on the bed?

Im sure you'll get some different opinions on this subject. We do allow sarge on the bed. We actually have a name for it..lol

If my wife or I are napping or just laying on the bed someone will call....family time!!! Sarge knows exactly what that means and runs and jumps up on the bed. Sarge lays between my wife and I and gets a lot of pets. He stays for 5 minutes or so and then jumps down and goes about his business.

Sarge is afraid of thunder so when there's a storm we can expect him to join us on the bed. I see no reason for any of this to be a problem. Sarge is well behaved and understands whos in charge.

If I tell him to get down he does without hesitation.

I would say as long as your dog understands whos in charge and follows your instructions as far when hes allowed on the bed I dont see it as a problem.

Well I am going to be 43 in a couple of weeks and have had dogs all my life and they have all slept on my bed. I have always been alpha to all my dogs have been very well behaved and can go anywhere. Jesse has been sleeping with my husband and I in our king size bed since he was 10 weeks old with no problems except he seems to take more room in the bed than my old Saint Bernard who was 3 times his size....

Alpha I mean: I make sure I am first out the door, he sits and waits for food till I say ok, he never goes up stairs ahead of me, he heals on walks when I say "heal" and doesn't break till I say "release", he doesn't get anything he wants until he does something for me (command), and has to sit or anything else I tell him before I let him up on the bed (my husband thinks I am too controlling but if I let him have the reigns Jesse would be out of control and bad behavior would show up I am sure)

Depends on the GSD:

1. Some GSDs are fine with it. How will you know if yours is? You won't-- for a few months at least, untill all is well as usual, or, she develops a behavioral issue.

2. Some GSDs have emotional stress from being allowed in The Alpha Zone. This may or may not show up as nervousness now-- or as bratty behavior issues later.

3. Some GSDs are Mousolini enough to attempt world dominion just because they were granted time on the exalted bed. You'll know what a mistake this was when this type of GSD becomes growly, posessive, and "But she never did THAT before!" kinda thing.

I couldn't sleep without my three up in the bed with me!!!! In fact, I'm buying a new bed and it would be really nice if I could get away with just a Queen (due to size of room) but nooooo way, not enough room. I'll just have to get a King!!!

Our dog is almost 6 months and usually before she goes in her crate which is in our bedroom she gets to lie on our bed with us for 5-15 minutes. Typically she will lie down but after a short while she wants to go in her crate probably because she gets too much petting from us. I think it is OK as long as your dog gets off the bed when you want.

I allow all the dogs on the bet for visiting and snuggling--it's a nightly ritual. But only our little dog sleeps all night on the bed. Otherwise, there would be no room for people in the bed! LOL

I think, as others have said, that it depends on the dog. If you won't mind sharing your bed with her when she's 80 pounds and hogging the covers...

If at some point in the future, there are "leadership" issues, you can decide then if she needs to have bed priviledges taken away. But there are lots of ways to demonstrate leadership to your dog besides where you sleep.

When Grimm lays down, he simply PLUMMETS EARTHWARD with a DEAFENING CRASH. It sounds like an 85 lb bag of elbows hitting the floor from a great height. We had to buy a special thick carpet with chubby carpet pad for the bedroom, because Grimm hurls himself bodily to the floor to lay down, and we kept waking up, thinking someone had tipped a beaureau over.

Thus, if Grimm slept on our bed, the shockwaves alone would send me into orbit.

Even as a child we allowed our dogs to sleep on our beds. In fact, we had a Labrador that made rounds and slept on every bed, every night.

My husband and I let our pups sleep with us. Brutus sleeps between my husband and myself and Pax sleeps at the foot of the bed. The only issue we have is that Pax walks the edges of the bed and whimpers for about a minute before laying down and going to sleep. We think it's due to the height of the bed (about 3'6''). But, again, after a minute he settles and goes to sleep all night.

The only other issue we have is Brutus is a bit of a pillow hog. Every night the pups get put on the bed (too high to jump) while we change into our jammies/shower and Brutus immediately goes up and lays on my pillows until I put him where he goes.

My dog is three years old, and she's been on the bed maybe a half a dozen times. Now, my husband is adamant that she not be on the bed. But he leaves the house at 5 a.m., and I generally don't get up till about 8. Sometimes when the dog has just had a bath and I want to sleep in, I'll let her up on the bed, and we'll both go back to sleep.

One time, I had let her up on the bed and we were both just about falling back to sleep, when I heard the key in the front door. Allie looked over at me with her eyes open wide. I looked at her with my eyes open wide. And we both jumped off the bed!! When my husband walked in, she was acting very nervous and excited. He wanted to know what was wrong with the dog, and I was, like, "She's just surprised to see you home so soon!" Close call.

Okay, all you dog experts out there. What kind of horrible dynamics am I setting up in my home?

Our dogs come up on our bed. Apollo will come up and sleep at the foot of the bed for a while, but then he will get down on his own because he's more comfy on the floor, all stretched out! But if he feels especially snuggly and misses me, he will come up and snuggle next to me for a while. I agree with Lauri and the Gang, if the dog gets down without a problem, go for it!

My Ava sleeps on the bed when there is room. She gets up and snuggles and gets down and up several times a night. It is never a problem, if I ask her to get off, she complies immediately. Of course she may sneak back up after I drop off to sleep....

Onyx use to sleep on the bed, since puppyhood, but now is on the floor next to it. She will come on when DH leaves early for work, and I have no problem w/it. But then the dogs will start wrestling if I stay in bed past 7:00 and that is a problem for all,they want breakfast! Some of our best bonding time was when I massaged her as a pup til she went to sleep! She has anxiety and has a hard time settling so the TTouch is really helpful to relax her.

Bear never slept on the bed. It had nothing to do with being alpha.

Of course, there was dog hair everywhere. Didn't really bother me, on the floor, on my clothes, in my car.

Sometimes, I would wonder what color the carpet was, because of Bear hair. I didn't like to vacumn. At times, you could even open my refrigerator and find Bear hair.

But...I couldn't have it in my bed. That's just me. There were times, I thought real hard about inviting him up. But couldn't do it.

Kathy