Sleeps with Dogs

Recently I was chatting with a dear friend who was discussing her inability to sleep with a dog next to her in a bed. Now she likes dogs - she is a dog lover, let's dispel any thought otherwise. But the thought of a four pawed creature in the bed with her gives her the heebie-jeebies and keeps her awake. A few weeks ago she and her spouse were pet sitting for her sister and she actually left her husband in bed with the dog to go to the guestroom for the night.

How bizarre, no?

I can't sleep without a dog in my bed! It seems unusual not to be contorted in some unusual pretzel shape to accommodate the dog. After all their comfort is what's most important. I am very confident in the fact that all my dogs truly believe the bed is theirs and out of the kindness of their big setter hearts they allow my husband and I to snooze there on occasion.

Sleeping with dogs is nothing new to me. Oh - I've slept around with many a dog. It started early with me. Our family dog Sparky (a setter mix ironically) slept in front of and under my crib according to my parents. He couldn't get close enough to me as a sleeping infant I am told. As a youngster it was a badge of honor that of all the beds in our house of 4 kids and 2 parents our Cockapoo named Boo slept with me. No small feat on my part in the summer when I slept in the converted attic with no air conditioning and a furry four pawed heater snuggled up close to me.

When I moved out and couldn't have a dog in my first apartment I got Henri the cat and she nicely filled the role of creature to snuggle with at night. My husband quickly learned the art form of having no blankets and leg cramps with our first dog together. Fergus was especially skilled at taking up 3/4 of the bed with a patented Head-On-the-Pillow-Labrador-Sprawl that kept Alex and I perched off the very edge of the bed shivering with no covers nightly.

Through the years I have taken classes and read books and had trainers give the sermon of "No Dog in the Bed" (da-da-dum) "Dogs won't respect you as the BOSS and alpha if you sleep with them!" While this is probably true in the world of wiser dog folks than I, it is something I just can't get behind. I think it just bonds you closer to your dog. So there...I said it. Sue me.

Since I was a little girl there has been a comfort to having a dog or cat near me as I drifted to sleep. As a little girl Boo listened to my secrets and stood by me through nightmares - I'd often wake up to touch his curly coat to feel secure enough to go back to sleep. As a young singleton it was nice having something sleeping with me that would indeed love and respect me the next day. I wish I could say the same for all entrants to my bed during that phase.

Adulthood and marriage has led a trail of dogs and cats to my bed which my husband has embraced with good humor and chagrin. When Alex was enlisted in the Navy and out to sea for months on end I would have shriveled up in sadness not to have a snoring dog near and making me feel not so alone. Even now when Alex works an off shift or is out of town it is a treat to have 3 dogs lounging on my Posturpedic all night.

We currently have a revolving door schedule with dogs and cats on the bed. Dugan usually sleeps down on the living room couch all night or the guest room. Ever the watch dog, he seems to like to have view of the front of the house for us. God knows if a rabbit enters the neighbors front yard at 2:00a.m. we will need to be immediately alerted! Brody the cat enters the bed with Alex for some purr time as he reads nightly and then leaves. Caelan and Fiona also start on the bed each evening with Alex and leave when I enter. Don't think Alex doesn't snicker with pride when his little Caelan (our female Irish setter) gives me a dramatic sigh and snort when I tell her to move out of my spot when climbing into bed. Somewhere in the middle of the night Caelan sneaks back on the bed to be close to Alex. Sully the Siamese perches on my head every night until I fall asleep and then he goes off to do whatever cats do running all over the house at night. When Alex gets up very early for work Caelan deserts me like the shrew she is and Fiona comes back on the bed from her dog bed in our room for snuggles and setter snores. Then around 6:30a.m. Dugan hops up to start the slow creep to my face where the licking begins to wake me up for breakfast duties. Unlike my alarm clock, the fully automatic and self charging Dugan-Irish Setter-Awakening-System has no snooze button no matter how many times I roll over and cover my head with the duvet. I've tried tapping his head like a snooze button but he doesn't turn off damn it.

Yes, I wash my linens, yes I bathe my dogs. No, we don't have a bad tick problem here in the Midwest and yes they use flea/tick protection religiously. Not that any of it matters. My name is Shannon and I sleep with dogs.