Where does your dog sleep?

Mine used to sleep in his warm and insulated kennel outside but since the cold spell in December/January, he's been sleeping inside. When I remember to close the doors downstairs, he's happy sleeping on the couch in the living room. Otherwise, he makes his way upstairs to the bed but I think it gets too warm for him as he usually only stays on the bed for an hour and then makes his way to my daughter's bed for a while and eventually settles on her bedroom floor.

Ours started in an insulated kennel outside, but as the weather last year got colder she started sleeping on the landing, she tried for a while to come into the bedroom, but that's a no no. These days we can leave the door open and she's happy in her bed or lying on the carpet on the landing. She does occasionally come in, come round to my side, jump up give me a little lick and and head on back to the landing :-) Just saying hello and I'm checking up on you

My two sleep in the kitchen but sometimes when my BF is away with work they come to bed with me, so warm and snuggly.

2 in the bed, one in the kitchen. only cos that is where she is happiest

When it is mild or I'm not there they are outside, bad weather and when I'm home they are inside

You obviously haven't met my dog or you'ld know he sleeps wherever he wants.

Joking aside, our dog used to sleep inside in the living room by the fire or on the couch. When he started to get very sick we brought him up to sleep in his bed in our room and eventually he slept on the bed (we put a throw over the duvet) - moreso that we could check on him during the night.

Is there really any one definitive answer for this? When he was younger he sometimes decided he wanted to stay out all night during the summer.

They sound like very happy dogs!

blackstairsboy wrote: »

There was always dogs around at home and there was never a dog in the house. Personaly I could think of nothing more disgusting and revolting than allowing a dog to sleep in your bed.

reallly??.... i can think of something....

thebullkf wrote: »

reallly??.... i can think of something....

haha that's exactly what I thought when I read that line too. Really - nothing more disgusting??

mrjacko wrote: »

I wouldnt leave my child outside at night so i wouldnt do it to my dogs.

I wouldn't feed my child dog food or walk them with a collar and leash either but I do that with my dog. People and dogs are different, as long as the dog has warmth and shelther and isn't ignored from one end of the day to the next then outside is fine for them if that's what their owners choose.

Never thought I'd be posting this, but here it goes.

The dog's in the bedroom.

Gus will be seven months on 1st December, and is not a small dog - adult weight will probably be that of a large lab, around 35kgs. He's a random bitsa non-breed called a Bull Arab, an Australian dog favoured for hunting wild boar.

He's a sweet, sweet natured dog, but he is a pup, and he can be badly behaved around my cats. It's been a steep learning curve for them and for him.

Recently Gus has entered his teenaged phase of selective hearing. He ignores me when I call him. He pretends total deafness when told not to do things. He was becoming really boisterous.

Gus had been sleeping in the family bathroom in the middle of the house (open plan bungalow). He was behind a babygate, but never shut away with the door closed. He couldn't be trusted, with his toilet training, to sleep elsewhere in the house. If he wouldn't settle indoors, whinging and whining in the bathroom, I would put him outside to his run with a treat, and he would sleep between the garage and his run overnight, especially on a warm night when he wanted to chase moths.

In my current situation, working a lot, minding seven animals on my own, so on, I felt my bond with Gus slipping because his behaviour was worsening. He was fast becoming 'the bloody dog' and I was obviously becoming 'that woman who tries to make me do stuff I don't want to do'. Gus isn't particularly food driven so he isn't bribeable with treats most of the time - especially not during this teenaged disobedience phase.

I don't have the time to exercise Gus more than he's already exercised, no relatives I could pay around me, and no dog-walkers in this area. I've tried to set up a few puppy play-dates with some folks in our obedience class, but they haven't worked yet - still might, I have my fingers crossed. There are no dog facilities within a half hours drive of us - no dog parks, no beaches, etc.

So what to do? How do I increase my time with the dog and thus the attention he pays to me and the quality of our relationship?

I moved Gus's bed into my bedroom, and let him sleep in there, that's what.

He's slept in my room the last three nights, and I cannot BELIEVE the difference. First, he lets me know if he wants to go out - he fidgets and whines and I can take him out to the toilet and then he very happily trots back to bed with me. He's more attentive and pays attention when I ask him to do something, looking at my face repeatedly for direction (something he had stopped doing). My recall is improving and his body language is happier to see me during the day when we interact.

He's not allowed on the bed, though he tries every night (one paw comes up onto the bed and he gives me the 'maybe?' face, and gets the 'Medusa' face right back).

It appears to be a terribly cheapskate way to increase the time I spend with him, given we're both asleep for most of it, but I can now say that the eight hours a day my dog spends on his own is when I'm at work - he spends the other 16 hours a day with me, and our relationship appears to be improving drastically as a result!

seriously, who the hell would do this?
Outdoors somewhere - wherever it can find shelter.

Our neighbours have their dog locked out at the back of their house 24/7 never walk him or let him indoors
the poor thing has absolutely no shelter, one day it was p!ssing rain I looked out my window to make sure my fella was in his kennel (which is insulated and he sleeps inside but I still wanted to bring him in:o) and the poor dog next door was shivering trying to take cover under an empty sandpit that was lying against the lawnmower
so cruel:mad:

Galway K9 wrote: »

where's that?? i might do something about that.:)

I'll help :mad:

pH wrote: »

I'm not defending animal cruelty, but isn't that the way millions of cows, sheep (and horses?) spend a wet cold November afternoon? (and yes many of these animals are brought into shed for the very very worst part of the winter - but they're all probably still out now) I know we keep dogs for different reasons, my own dogs are indoors with humans pretty much all the day, I'd never leave them out in the rain, they sleep in my bedroom - I'm a huge softie with them -and I really don't see the point at all of suburbanites keeping "yard dogs" full stop - however - I still have to ask - is a dog much less well equipped to spend a wet afternoon outdoors that cows or sheep?

Dogs are domestic animals...cows aren't.

It depends on the animals survival instincts, coat, and what it is used to. ALl animals need somewhat shelter be it a tree / stable / or indoors.

well pointed seamus and deliberatley bred for domestic purposes.