By: Kelly Marshall
Submitted: 2009-09-11 20:08:28 | Word Count: 536
Many dog owners find that they enjoy allowing their dog to sleep in bed with them. While this habit is one that may seem harmless, there are many important issues to consider. If you are a dog owner who shares the bed with the dog, you may find yourself rethinking this. You obviously love your pet so it is important to make sure that you are thinking about whether or not allowing the dog to sleep with you is really helping or harming the dog.
Sleep Cycles
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To start with, you may be disturbing the sleep pattern of your dog without even realizing it. You may not notice it but you might toss and turn throughout the night more than your dog would like. When you toss and turn there is a good chance that you are waking your dog up, disturbing its sleep cycle. On the flip side, if you have a dog that is doing all of the tossing and turning, your sleep cycle could be the one that is disturbed. Either way, it is important for both you and your dog to have adequate sleep.
Anxiety Issues
It has also been found that allowing your dog to sleep in your bed may in fact help reinforce behavior and even some anxiety problems in the dog. But that is not where it ends; your health could also be in danger as well. By allowing your dog to sleep in bed with you, you are placing yourself in possible danger every night.
Allergies
Those who suffer from allergies might find some relief when the dogs are kicked out of the bed. Your dog brings in grass, dirt and pollen from the outdoors and then jumps on your bed. This cannot only be unclean but it can be a great way to make sure that your allergies act up. To help with allergies, the bedroom should actually be completely pet free. Also, there is a chance that your dog can bring a tick into the house. While this will happen whether or not the dog sleeps in your bed, you have a higher chance of having the tick find its way to you in the middle of the night than at any other time. This is because you are sleeping so closely together.
Leadership
Training and authority can become problems to deal with when you allow the dog to sleep in your bed. Dogs are pack animals by nature. They view you as a part of the pack. When you allow the dog to sleep in your bed, the view your dog has of you changes. You are not its equal, not its leader. This could lead to aggression towards you when you try to correct your dog. You have to make sure that your dog knows who is in charge all of the time.
As you can easily see, there are many reasons to keep your dog out of the bed at night. This does not mean that you can never snuggle with your pet. It simply means that bedtime is the time for everyone and every pet to go to their own beds. Both you and your dog will benefit from such an arrangement.
