How many of you sleep with your dog on the bed - Page 4

My dogs are not allowed to sleep on the bed or get on the furniture. I like a semi hairless experience for people who come to visit (good thing they have dogs too). Ive gone rounds with a couple of rescue dogs who thought it was their right to get on the couch. Kinda hard to drag a 150lb dog of dead weight off the couch. I got a new couch a year or so ago so to keep the mastiff off, I string a baby gate over the couch and he stays away. Last year when I had a back issue, I was in so much pain I bought the wrong bed size and now that I sleep on a full bed, no room for a dog or anyone else for that matter. Good thing I don't have stay overs lol.

Paul your missing out on having dogs in the house. Yeah they get hair in your ice cubes , and are messy with their water (I feed outside) but the trade off are all the funny things they do that are missed when they are just being themselves.

Barb

Barb,  I agree with what you said to Paul G about what he is missing.
I also always wonder whether 'outside' dogs will actually do anything
if someone gets into the house without encountering them.  Since
they don't live IN it, they may not feel a need to protect it ?  Also if your
dogs are all permanently shut outside, what happens if someone
you have let in turns nasty on you, dogs just bark helplessly at the
windows ?  [Yeah, reckon some Protection trained, hard b*****d of
a dog MIGHT break the window to get in, ... but would they all ?]

Re the sleeping arrangements:   my own GSDs do not get on the
bed, or other furniture  (altho' ONE bitch I may have here in the
future has other ideas LOL).  Neither Taz, nor Vida before him,
ever tried, it was understood that they didn't.   I think this is best
as far  as Taz is concerned because he is inclined to try to
be dominant, and I don't need a fight if he gets pushy about where
he sleeps.  I have slept with cats (own and other people's) and
SMALL dogs (other people's) on my bed.  However I really prefer
a less hairy sleeping experience - not in the least houseproud,
but with shedding aplenty everywhere else in the flat, I quite like
to keep it that way.  Also GSDs take up so much space ! 

in the wild dogs run in packs, the alpha male sleeps in a higher, more dominant position..............letting ur dogs on the couch and bed, confuses the pack order, and is a bad thing..........believe it or not most dogs prefer to not b the alpha its less stressful on a dog not to be, its easier to be told what to do than it is to have to decide whats best for the whole pack
Well first off, I own a GSD, not a wild wolf.  A domesticated dog breed, one of the "youngest" breeds at that, not a wild animal from a pack.  Second, *I* am the alpha, not any of my dogs.  There is no confusion here.  I decide who sleeps where, including who I allow on the bed and when.  Sorry I honestly hope some of these posts are kidding, makes me wonder how many dominant male GSDs you've actually lived with?....dogs being a wild alpha because it sleeps on a bed?!?!  Dominant or not, who cares?!  These are GSDs, they are *supposed* to be dominant.  Try to get into my yard or house and see what you think about my dog's level of dominance but when I'm around *I* call the shots and this has never been challenged by any of my dogs. 

It's very easy to raise a dog right from the beginning and not have issues later on where you ask your dog to get off the furniture and it wants to eat you.  That has nothing to do with the dog being dominant or thinking he's alpha or whatever, it's just that the dog has been poorly managed up until that point.

I totally get not allowing dogs on furniture because there isn't enough room, it's too much hair, they always seem to jump on when dirty or wet, etc but not allowing dogs on furniture because you are afraid it will turn your dog against you?

VK - May you never have to live with a dog who lives to get one over on
you all the time !   It is not until one has one of this type of dog that one
realises the effort you need to put in with them to stay Alpha in their head.
It does get better over time - but he is 10 now and I still do have to double-
check I don't let him take a yard if I give him an inch.   LOL

I do know that all Shepherds - all dogs - are not like this !  I have been
around a few ...  PS this one was taken on at 18 months;  if I'd had him
from puppyhood it would probably have been a bit better.

Plenty of people who have lots of dogs allow their dogs on furniture and they don't have any confusion about leadership and hierarchy in the household.   I've seen many households like this.  There are many more factors that go into a dog having dominant aggression problems, simply being allowed on the furniture does not cause it.  

In my home, I have 8 adult intact dogs (3 males, 5 females) 3 of the females are small dogs (2 mini-doxies and a chi/rat terrier mix)  those 3 little dogs are at the bottom of my household pack, yet those 3 little ones are the only ones allowed to sleep in bed with me.  The GSDs sleep on the floor.  This arraingment has caused zero issues among my dogs, my dominant shepherds do not care if my submissive lil dogs get the bed priviledges.  

My shepherds used to be allowed on the bed too, but I got tired of hanging off the edge of the bed, being stepped on, squished, suffocated or periodically landed on by big dogs, so now they can only be on the floor and sometimes allowed on the couch.  

Since it's winter, I'm very greatful to have three bed warmers sleep with me.  lol 


p.s  what hundmutter says is true, if I had a dog like what she describes, then I would have to make adjustments to what I let my pack do.  

Hundmutter, that's why I prefer to get my male GSDs as puppies, I'm pretty particular about how they are raised being that my dogs are indoors and are in a "pack" (I don't do crate-and-rotate).  My male's brother was put down by his owners for acting like what you describe, so in a way, yes I know what it's like to have that sort of dog but like you say, I've had him since 7 weeks so it's never been any issue for me, but he's the sort of dog I wouldn't really trust with anyone else and I wouldn't change a thing about him.

I lived with a GSD that challenged me 24/7. He would jump on the bed, refuse to get off and when I was still  stupid and tried to pull him off by his collar he'd lift his lips and put his teeth on me. That taught me to use a noose or a lead to get him off. He was like that when I got him at 8 weeks and he died the same way 9 years later. Not a fun dog to live with. HundMutter is very correct, some dogs are not responsive to any sort or hierarchy training, I don't care how skilled the trainer. He was neutered at a young age, I took him to many OB classes for many years, we saw a behaviorist, he lived on NILIF and had few house priviledges, we always ate first, you know the drill. Still he nailed me twice and my husband once. If I would raise my had to him, he'd growl and snarl. The one upside about Blitz was he had excellent bite inhibition and none of the bites were serious. My current GSD will not get on the bed until I tell her it's OK, she always looks at me before she jumps on the bed looking for my direction.She will get off immedaitely when I tell her to. Otherwise, she'd not be allowed that priviledge.

Of course letting dogs on furniture doesn't create dominance but it does make it worse in dogs with that tendency.

animals left to their own vises, over time can/will undimesticate. the bed alone may not do it, but if u let ur dog (especially a strong minded GSD) do to many ALPHA things, IE SIT as high or higher than you, eat before you demand playtime/ petting time, dont be suprised if u start to get your ALPHA spot question by that animal

Thanks Blitzen.  Fortunately Taz has not tried to bite me, but oh can
he be stubborn.  He is still entire as every time I have been going
to get 'em taken off something has happened that I couldn't go
ahead, and his high testosterone may account for some of his
behaviour over the years.  Yes VK no doubt I would have preferred
a puppy, but sometimes events mean a dog needs a home and
ya gotta provide it.  He has been harder work than any other dog
I have known, (and I've known a few 'problem dogs' one way &
another !);   and ideally I would have been able to provide a more
workcentred life for him, that might have got some of it out of his
system more.  I wouldn't have NOT wanted to live with him, how-
ever.  Difficult dogs teach you more than easy dogs.  And he can
show his 'sweet' side too;  like I said its got better as he has aged.

After a long day at work, coming home and making dinner, doing the laundry and taking kids to hockey, the last thing I need is to try and out think my dog. If and when I decide dog has to get off the bed when I say I swear I would boot it into next week if she ever tried to challenge me. Wouldn't be my dog for long. Maya gets away with alot of petty little insignificant little stuff but when I say anything and really mean it, she knows what to do. ( I am such a bad dog trainer but it works for me )