Do You Allow Your Dog On The Bed? We Did... Then Didn't... Now We Do Again

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dog-eyes-new-pillows-for-bed.jpg Subtitled: "Just Who Did We Buy Those Expensive Pillows For Anyway?"

We recently invested in a new set of down pillows for our master bedroom. Actually two sets of pillows -- one King size and one Standard size. And these are some super-duper pillows, too.

They're a premiere line of hotel-quality pillows from Hampton Inn. (And yes, they were expensive.)

The only thing is... sometimes I think our dog enjoys those pillows more than we do!


Okay, not really. We actually love our new Hampton Inn pillows.

But by the looks of these pictures, you can see that our dog thinks they're the cat's meow, as well!

Tenor (our dog) never used to spend much time on our bed. That is, until we got these pillows.

dog-watching-tv-on-bed-with-pillows.jpgNow, he likes to prop his chin on one of the pillows while he's watching TV. Or lean up against one when he's just hanging out. And whenever he's ready for a good snooze, he'll hunker down and cozy right up to one or two of these pillows. It's the cutest thing.

i-woke-up-the-dog.jpg dog-on-bed-pillows.jpg dog-snoozing-on-bed-pillow.jpg

 

 

Before we got these pillows, he would just make his space on top of the comforter on the bed...

dog-on-bed-with-no-pillows.jpg



To all the dog owners out there...
I'll be honest, there was a period of many many years when we didn't allow any of our dogs to get up on our bed. The reasoning was partly practical: we had 3 dogs at one point, and there wasn't any room left for us. But mostly out of necessity: it's a fact that dogs learn their place in the household from the cues you give them. If you allow them on your bed, it's as if you're saying, "You and me... we're equals. You have a lot of rank in this house, dog."

Which isn't necessarily a problem with less-dominant dogs. But when you introduce a more dominant dog into the mix (like we did), if you still allow your dogs on your bed, then they're getting mixed messages about who's the boss and what their place is -- in terms of rank and the dog pack hierarchy.

That's why we made a point of keeping our dogs off our bed for several years. But when we eventually got down to only one dog (a very submissive dog at that), this simply wasn't an issue anymore. Plus, I have to admit -- and as silly as it sounds -- I think we missed the "cuddle time" with our dog.

If we should ever get another dog -- meaning 2 dogs in the family once again -- then I'm pretty sure we'd go back to "the no bed rule" with our dogs. Because we've learned firsthand how difficult it is dealing with dominance issues when you have more than one dog.


But I'm just glad our new Hampton Inn pillows are such a hit in our home. They were certainly worth every pennny!

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1 Comments

Jeffrey said:

when my wife and i rescued our 2 black lab mix puppies almost a year ago, we made the decision to not let them on the furniture or bed too. We did so after learning about the pack hierarchy and how in the wild, the alpha dog of the pack sleeps at the highest point.

here in the past month or so, however, there have been several times we've said, "awww i just want to pull them up on the bed and snuggle"...but we have resisted.

they're just getting so much more submissive and cuddly as the (only) begin to grow out of their puppy stage...it's too cute.

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  • Doggie Walk bags and dispenser. My favorite one.
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  • Notice the reflective strip on the back of the Poop Patrol dog waste bag holder?
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  • What this pooper scooper looks like with a bag pulled outside of the container and wrapped around the scoop itself.
  • Example of one bag (still attached to the roll of dog waste bags inside) as it's dangling outside the pooper scooper itself.
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