Should dogs sleep on the bed? It’s a great question that has no simple answers. At The Bed Centre, we believe it is a matter of preference for each individual pet owner to consider. While they may come in all shapes and sizes, the underlying truth remains the same, there is a little bit of wolf that comes out when they are howling at the moon. On the flip side, we have to really look at the positives and the negatives associated with co-sleeping with our beloved furry friends.
In the interest of dispelling myths about co-sleeping with our pets we consulted the journal Human Nature where we found a study entitled “A Multi-species Approach to Co-Sleeping: Integrating Human-Animal Co-Sleeping Practices into Our Understanding of Human Sleep” by Smith et al. In this study the researchers looked closely at the practice of allowing a dog to sleep in the bed or bedroom and compared it to an adult-child co-sleeping.
It’s easy to focus on the down sides of co-sleeping with your dog/s there are obvious health concerns in some folks it may just aggravate your allergies. In some cases there are risks to transmissions of disease from both the dog to the human and the human to the dog, so it is best to let common sense prevail in such cases.
One of the myths dispelled in the study was how the quality of sleep is adversely affected by co-sleeping with our dogs. By nature dogs are polyphasic sleepers that have an average of three sleep/wake cycles per night time hour. While human beings are monophasic sleepers traditionally having one period of sleep over a 24-hour cycle. Dogs also tend to stay alert for sounds, even when they are sleeping, which may make them much lighter sleepers than their humans.
“Should dogs sleep on the bed?”
Studies have shown the many physical and mental health advantages drawn from owning a pet. Co-sleeping may potentially increase those benefits by the amount of time spent with your pet. Co-sleeping with your dog can reduce anxiety, while providing you with a feeling of real safety and security. Rest assured that your light-sleeping canine will alert you to anything out of the ordinary.
In those cold winter nights dogs become the perfect bed warmers as our pet’s body temperatures tend to three to six degrees higher than our own. Snuggling up to our dogs raises the level of oxytocin in our bodies, this cuddle chemical then increases and reinforces our feelings of relaxation, trust, and psychological stability.
We all know balance is important so warning signs to look out for when your co-sleeping arrangements are going bad is when your dog starts getting between you and your partner. In some cases co-sleeping may complicate latent dominance or aggression issues in certain dogs. It is best to not to let dogs jump into bed whenever they wish but rather invite them up explicitly and have a spot specifically for them to inhabit.
Should dogs sleep on the bed? We believe that’s for you to decide. We know we will always have the right bed for you no matter what your co-sleeping arrangements are at The Bed Centre.
