Sharing the bed?

[imported_Matsuro]

At what age do you suggest to allow your pets to share the bed with you? When I had my sister's friend's dog over for two weeks (pet sitting) he was used to sharing and sleeping in the bed with her at night and I wanted to make him feel comfortable in a new strange place. He would lay right by my face (dog smell...), and would get up anytime I tried to toss over and sleep on my back. So finally I had to coax him to sleep at the end of the bed or at my side (by my stomach or my hip/upper thigh) and ignore him. He would settle.

any who, I miss having a animal sharing the bed with me at night. When Ms. Kitty (because I never did know what my AIL and UIL named her, they passed away four months apart from each other) I had the cat a year and she died in April (the year before I think).

When do you suggest is a appropriate age for your pets to share the bed, doesn't matter if you are going to bed, or just laying down or sitting up to watch TV. What age is okay? When do they control their bladder and bowel movements at night? Its been a while since I've had a puppy and I never had a kitten, just Ms. Kitty and I never knew her true age either.

[Kathryn]

Both Maggie and Dakota were 7 weeks old when they got to share the bed with me. Its the only way I would hear them at night. We NEVER EVER EVER had any potties in the house at night ;D . They do know when they can and cant get on the bed so I think thats a good thing!?

[mitziandjudysmom]

Mine also were in bed from day one. Never had a potty accident in bed.

[imported_zoezoe]

Zoe cried in the crate as a puppy ... put her in the bed ... she stopped crying and I started sleeping!! ;D Never had to go out at night; never an accident in the bed!

[Mooselady]

Our two have slept on our bed since coming to our home as babies too. If they needed out at night their rooting around woke me and I could take them outside. They still sleep on the bed, both of them with my husband and I. They also know though that if we invite them up at night to join us.

[cinderbay]

I take it dog by dog, but I never do it with puppies. I think crate training is very important and learning to be in that crate and sleep during the evening in one.
I also like to think of it as top dog status. I am top dog. The bed is mine. They had to earn their place in it.
The youngest has been 6 months with the Labs.

[Mybabymambo]

Mambo shares the bed with me now Mostly when Jerome is not home. I feel safer that way. But even Jerome has been giving in and letting him sleep with us.

[tuckersmom]

Tucker does not share the bed with us. Tuck was crate trained and even now, though he has full run of the house, sleeps in his crate with the door open. During the day he will jump on the bed and lay there but as soon as we both get in, he is off like a shot.

[PhoebeJeebies]

I let Phoebe start coming up on the bed at around 8 months. She has been trained to know when she is allowed up there and when she's not. She will not sleep with my husband and I in the bed at night because we don't like it - there isn't enough room since she sprawls out. However, if one of us is away, she sleeps with the other one in the bed. I agree 100% with cinderbaylabs...that was the theory I was going by when deciding to keep her in her crate from day 1 until she was old enough and had "earned" the right to come up on the bed.

[Novarobin]

Chatham will be 5 monthes next week and we just started letting him sleep in the bed. We haven't had any problems at all. He has woken us up in the morning when we slept in to let us know he needed to go out. Right now he won't even leave the bedroom without one of us. Last night, something woke him up and he got out of bed and went into his crate and slept there for most of the night. I was shocked.