At the moment Otis sleeps downstairs in his crate, he wakes me early about 5.30, with a bark, I let him out he does a wee and a poo, then its back inside till 8, when I give him his brekkie, then out again to the garden, for another wee and poo,he is pretty relaiable and regular with this routine. A lot of you know about his toilet training problems, and I was wondering would I really upset things if I let him sleep on my bed overnight, which I really love and he does too. I would set my alarm and let him out early morning, to avoid accidents, but do you think its a good idea or not ? Im trying to crate him more during the day, so he learns to hold on a bit longer and get the toilet training cracked. Also I want to try and get him to sleep a bit longer as , 5.30 am is a bit early for me ! Im single and sleep alone, so theres just baout enough room for the both of us !Thanks, Maggie x
Re: On the bed or not ? Hmmm....well I think my first inclination would be to not upset the apple cart. If you feel like you are starting to crack the toilet training, I would give it a little while longer until you are confident you are past that hurdle. As for the early rise, he is old enough now to be able to hold his bladder for quite a long time, over 8 hours, for sure. So it's a matter of ignoring the barking, and after a few days it should cease, as he realizes that mum is not getting up now, so may as well go back to sleep. But as always, I will leave some of the others who have gone through this more recently than I to say more, as their advice will likely be better. Once you are feeling like everything is okay on the toilet training, well, whether or not he sleeps on your bed is up to you.
Re: On the bed or not ? If your goal is to sleep in longer then having him on your bed will most likely achieve that. He will happily stay snoozing till you get up (not a guarantee, but very likely!). Continuing with the crate and gradually extending the time will achieve the same goal though - it will just take a bit longer If you like the thought of having him on your bed then, sure, why not. It's what I do and what lots of people do. The downside is that he will always then expect to sleep on your bed - whether you are at your parents' place, at a holiday cottage, wherever. Plus they do take up a bit of room. And your bed cover will get dirty. If all that does not bother you (it doesn't bother me) then go ahead
Re: On the bed or not ? Since Harley has been upstairs with us she tends to sleep longer - on Saturday she didn't wake up until around 10.30am!! . We haven't had any accidents either, but she was very quick at being toilet trained.
Re: On the bed or not ? I think you will find it helps both with toilet training, and with sleeping in. However, once you've started it, you're pretty much stuck with the dog sleeping on your bed for ever, so just make sure it's what you want!
Re: On the bed or not ? When our previous Lab, Cocoa, was young and cute we allowed her onto the bed. Big mistake! As she got older she'd spend the night hopping onto and off the bed. A 30kg Lab landing on you several times a night is not conducive to a good night's sleep. OK, she snored. Not a gentle contented purr like Holly, but a noise a bit like a chainsaw right in my ear. Meanwhile at the other end the gaseous by-products of whatever disgusting object she ate in the woods that day would occasionally pollute the atmosphere. And then there was the kicking. Its really cute when they dream on the lounge floor and their paws are twitching. Its not quite so cute when that's happening on the bed. Finally, Labradors expand to occupy all available bed space. Cocoa's ideal situation was when OH and I formed the sidewalls to this luxury basket. We would each have six inches of bedspace at opposite edges, while she occupied most of the middle of the bed. My advice: don't do it!
Re: On the bed or not ? [quote author=Hollysdad link=topic=4769.msg59135#msg59135 date=1394185853] Finally, Labradors expand to occupy all available bed space. Cocoa's ideal situation was when OH and I formed the sidewalls to this luxury basket. We would each have six inches of bedspace at opposite edges, while she occupied most of the middle of the bed. [/quote] ;D ;D ;D I have to say, Charlie is a nightmare to have in a bedroom. I came back from a trip, to find OH had broken the "no dogs upstairs rule". Then OH went away. So Charlie was in the bedroom. He wandered round half the night, claws clacking on the wooden floor, hogged the duvet the rest of the time (jumping on and off the bed). Then sicked up the remains of a stick he had scoffed earlier. OUT! Back in his pen, and never again.
Re: On the bed or not ? Riley has never been allowed upstairs :'( If it was just me I'd break this rule in a heartbeat but OH is adamant (and probably right) :
Re: On the bed or not ? The other reason I have for no dogs upstairs is that my family had a dog that ended up not being able to climb the stairs when he was older. Mum ended up moving her bedroom downstairs! He was so distressed at having to sleep alone.
Re: On the bed or not ? Conker sleeps on our bed during the day, we live in a bungalow. But he goes into his own bed at night, yes another kicker and a fidget, he also snores very loudly and is on and off the bed all night, so not much sleep. He loves our son and if given the chance would sleep on his bed with him all night, but hes never been allowed to sleep on his bed or guest bed. It's our choice to let him on our bed, not everyone likes it. mel
Re: On the bed or not ? [quote author=Hollysdad link=topic=4769.msg59135#msg59135 date=1394185853]Finally, Labradors expand to occupy all available bed space. [/quote] Made me laugh
Re: On the bed or not ? Our bedroom is downstairs. Lilly gets to come up on the bed when we go to bed, gets a few gravy bones from OH for "supper" then most nights gets evicted to her own bed at the bottom of the stairs when its lights out (sometimes needs a well placed foot under her butt to persuade her). When she was younger she would be that wriggly annoying twitchy irritation. Now she just curls up jammed against my legs, rarely moves much (if given the chance) until morning. Only gets to stay up now and again though
Re: On the bed or not ? Being far too mean and stingy to actually heat the MadMudMobMudhut we use an electric blanket on our bed. The DivaDog - - very quickly learned the joys of lying on the bed while I read before kip time but is then happy to go in her ever-open cage.
Re: On the bed or not ? [quote author=MadMudMob link=topic=4769.msg59279#msg59279 date=1394227854] The DivaDog - [/quote] This kills me every time.....
Re: On the bed or not ? Thankyou both .... in my weird old ageing hippy biker way I do enjoy bringing people a smile
Re: On the bed or not ? Living in a bungalow makes bedroom access even easier, but absolutely no way Sam is allowed on the bed , heaven forbid , I love him to bits but he is just far too big to share with
Re: On the bed or not ? [quote author=Naya link=topic=4769.msg59111#msg59111 date=1394183210] Since Harley has been upstairs with us she tends to sleep longer - on Saturday she didn't wake up until around 10.30am!! . [/quote] Oh Dexter,you are coming on the bed!!! Ha ha ha! No,I'm not caving yet! And a lie in really can't happen for me now until November because of the heat!! when I want to sleep with Dexter I sleep on the couch.I never thought that would be a sentence I would type but that is a fact of my life now!This tends to happen when we have had a social late night ,which is a euphemistic way of me saying I'm a bit drunk ;D so it buys me an extra half hour of sleep in the morning and makes sure I hear Dexter if he barked or whined as I sleep a bit deeper when medicated with the sav blanc! ;D Chris is away until Monday and all my visitors have left so I'm sleeping with him tonight ......just because I want to ;D Maggie ,you do whatever makes you happy but Rachael has a point about once you start it,it will be hard to change if you happen to go away with him anywhere x Have just read this back and am modifying to qualify my 'sleeping deeper' ....this does not mean I drink myself into a coma ;D ;D ;D The ac in our bedroom is a great sound masker under normal circumstances,in a slightly heavier sleep you can't hear a thing outside our bedroom door!........wouldn't want to miss my doggies alarm wuff!What about Chris you ask......hmmmmm the house could have fallen down and he wouldn't hear it.....on a normal night!
Re: On the bed or not ? I'm not sure if once you start it's hard to stop, when David is away I quite often have Hattie & Charlie sleeping on my bed to keep me warm ;D but when he returns they stay in their beds downstairs unless invited Enjoy your snuggle with Dexter Angela and always remember life is too short to worry about little things like your best pal sleeping on your bed xx
Re: On the bed or not ? [quote author=charlie link=topic=4769.msg59488#msg59488 date=1394294803] and always remember life is too short to worry about little things like your best pal sleeping on your bed xx [/quote] Here here Helen xxxx
