Quote: Willie Tilton

One of the determining factors in pack rank can be sleeping places.
The one in charge gets the best place.
With most dogs it can create problems or add to problems to let the dog in a favored place ie your bed.
Some dogs do OK with it. But it should always be your choice and invitation.
Same reason you should eat first and go through the door first. Pack rank.

That's what I meant to say..... :-)

I think it's natural for the 'pack' to want to be close to the ranking members. So I'm not willing to buy the pecking order stuff so much.
There's only so much room, otherwise I could care less and I've never had any 'rank issues' enre to me past or present.
I only have to worry about stepping on one or both getting out of bed.

Sleep with the dogs, you get fleas.

Have you seen those little Yorkies or Chihuahuas on TV that own the bed? OMG, the husband sleeps on the sofa because the nasty little thing won't let him in his own bed? I can't even comment on what kind of owner let's it get to that point, but I assume that is the nth degree of why many say "no dogs in the bed."

Cali is only allowed on the sofa and on the bed by invitation. She is almost 10 months old, and we just started inviting her up about 10 days ago--so she really knows it's by invitation. She LOVES it, but will completely wait until she is told to come on up.

Personally, I have enough trouble sleeping as it is, and one husband--even in a king size bed--is enough for me. I really don't want a 60 lb snoring dog in there too. That's my reason. Plus, at 8-9 pm, she clunks herself into her crate for the night. She likes it in there, so there she sleeps.

 Quote: randy allen

No room.

For whom?

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs216.snc3/22349_232889625368_583725368_3237771_5218433_n.jpg

 Quote: randy allen

I think it's natural for the 'pack' to want to be close to the ranking members. So I'm not willing to buy the pecking order stuff so much.
There's only so much room, otherwise I could care less and I've never had any 'rank issues' enre to me past or present....

Same deal here. I've only ever had big dogs and I like to have all the room on the bed. I used to allow it years ago, but put a stop to it when one of my (75 pound) dogs got into the habit of sleeping on my head. I sleep like the dead so I never noticed until morning when I'd wake up with a headache.

My dog has his own bed in my room, and never even attempts to get on my bed.

For me it's all about the dog too. I've found most dogs will be fine if it's under invitation only. I choose not to let mine up ever because i want it to be very black and white. I also think the sofa is a bigger problem because now you the dog may feel you have the right to share or take his resting space, but a child, a stranger, or family he doesn't well maybe a different story. I have heard of a lot of bite stories that start with a friend coming to someones house and getting to close to a dog on a coach.

Rob

tried it once with my old gsd, he tried to push me out of the bed and that was it no more he was not allowed in my room period after that

Our dogs sleep on the bed if we say so. They do breath our air. If they are polite and not too much of blanket hogs we let them. IF they give the slightest grumble of not wanting to move or get off or share... it is the last time they get bed privileges. The sites that post ....'don't let your dog on the bed' are trying to make a rule when brains should be working instead.

I started with not letting the dogs in the bed.

At some point when I took in a rescue french bulldog, I let him in the bed as a reward- at first he would bite me if I wanted to get him off the bed (the only way I could do that was to throw a blanket over him and pull him off) so I trained him to stay in his bed until I was done making the bed and was in it and so I invited him over. I was something like 16 years old with only an oldschool training book and my own common sence (as much as a teenager could have one) to work with. But it helped and at some point as I gained his respect I just stopped inviting him.

Then when I moved back home from my boyfriends, I had two dogs with me- a collie mix that my sister quickly adopted into her bed and the doberman that kept me warm at night.

All that ended when I got pregnant so we kicked the dogs (dobe+ dachshund) from the bed.

Now they are allowed up on invitation and that is a fine solution for me. I love to have a dog in my bed but I don´t have much room or like to go sleep on a double sheet of doghair.

I do believe that the dogs should be able to sleep in the proximity of the pack but I don´t think it has to be right besides the leader. For a dog it could make a difference if he is in front of the bed on the floor or on the same level as the owner. But in the end it boils down to what the owner and dog do during the whole 24 hours, not just in the night.

Thanks everyone for answering this question, I feel it helped a great deal.