Bed Buddies?
Just over 40% of pet owners allow their pets in their beds. Pets and Pet owners alike enjoy and often gravitate toward sharing the same sleep space. However, there are many underlying issues associated with a pet in your bed that owners should consider before permanently cuddling up with their critter.
Pillows compromising pack leadership
While it’s less of a concern in cats, animal experts contend that dogs are pack animals. Dogs often seek a pack leader which you, as the owner, need to be in order to have a respectful pet. There are many suggested methods and styles for establishing pack leadership; surprisingly enough sharing your bed with your dog is not one of them. Within pack behavior, the leaders often choose the highest elevation to look down on the pack. When humans are on the bed, and the dog is on the floor, it reinforces the relationship of the human as the pack leader. An arrangement with the dog in the bed may undermine the human’s role as pack leader.
“Three Dog Night”
This 1970’s Rock Band, with hits including “Joy to the World” and “Mama Told Me Not to Come”, took their name from a custom credited to Australian Aborigines or indigenous people. On cold nights in the Outback, a traveler might sleep with two dogs for shared body warmth. If it were especially frigid, it was a “three dog night.” Do you have “three dog nights” in your house?
The fact that the discussion of sleeping arrangements with pets even occurs highlights their domestication. We have been civilizing dogs since before Egyptian pharaoh. Yet the pack mentality remains intact. For better or worse, pack mentality is based on status and exclusivity. Humans seek rank and acclaim, from pharaohs to film stars, making us pack animals as well.
Whether it’s through nature or nurture, pack mentality is still very much alive and plays a key role in our relationships with our pets. The presence of the pack mentality in your bedroom may still depend on your dog’s perception of you. More specifically, it can be contingent upon how you reinforce your pack leadership successfully in other areas of your daily life with your dog. Our dogs should respect us and it’s easy to tell when they don’t. If you have a dog that is bucking the system of pack leadership perhaps it’s time to consider moving the furry family member to the floor or to a pet bed. Teach your pet that any time they spend on the bed or furniture is a privilege you extend, not a right of the pet.
Bed Bugs
The bone of contention (if you’ll pardon the pun) on bedding down with your dog doesn't end there. While we might share our bed with our pets but we probably don’t share the shower. Our pets don’t come in contact with a bar of soap on a daily basis and are, therefore, carrying dust and pollutants on their fur and feet. If allergies are a concern in your home, your siesta situation with your pets could be a contributing factor. Increasing the frequency of washing your bedding and your pet’s baths can help reduce the presence of pet-related pollutants in your bed. Sources also recommend washing your pet’s feet with a pet-safe disinfectant to help reduce allergies for both you and your pet.
Will you still love me tomorrow?
Our pets often give us instant gratification; affection and joy seem to flow from them. But it’s also important to think long term. If, today, you are single or you only have one pet, it may seem like a small matter to share your bed. But adding another person or another pet to the family could change the situation and cause someone to be relegated to the floor. This type of change could cause resentment between the pet and the new addition. To keep the peace in your household for the long haul, don’t be hasty in your dozing decisions. If you think there may be a time when you don’t want your pet in your bed for any reason, set the standard now and stick to it. Your entire family, present and future, will thank you.
You choose your own bed based on your preference for firmness, size, height, etc. Your bed is designed for a human body’s comfort to ensure you get a restful night’s sleep. And while our beds aren’t designed with a pet’s needs in mind, but most pet beds are. Many dogs circle or paw at their sleeping place before lying down. This ritual creates a den-like depression in which to sleep. Most pet beds create this depression for your pet. With as much variety as in human beds, you can choose the perfect pet bed to give your pet better comfort.
Sleep quality is also an important factor. Dogs enter REM or their active stage of sleep during which they will often whine, whimper, bark or jerk their legs while dream-galloping after a tennis ball. This can sometimes be entertaining to watch but can also disrupt your sleep. Not only will you be groggy the next day, but YOU might start to resent your pet. When you both have a comfortable space for sleeping everyone can catch their fair share of z’s. It might be a tough decision and even tougher to reverse, but consider what best for both of you when it comes to sleep with your pets, you might be doing more good for relationship than you know.