Is this normal?

hermes_lemming

my little etoupe
O.G.
May 5, 2006
12,363
3,632
My puppy always wants to sleep on me. I have had him for about a month now and he is 4 months old. Its been like this since day one. He will crawl up on my feet, curl up into a little ball and fall alseep. Or climb on top of my thigh and just fall asleep.

I have been trying to get him to sleep in his bed. And I learned that if I do it initially he will struggle and come back. But if I let him snooze a bit on me and then place him in his bed, he is too sleepy to come back and just conks out.

Does anyone else experience this. I have his bed close to mine and have no plans for him to sleep in my bed. Help!
 
Our dogs never did this, though they would sleep on us. They learned to sleep in their beds, though. Boxers take up too much room in the bed!

If he were younger I'd say he was taken from his mother too young, but that's not the case. I don't know what to advise, since we've never dealt with it. We've been adopting adult or senior dogs for many years, so we haven't had the puppy issues for a long time.

Good luck.
 
Our dogs never did this, though they would sleep on us. They learned to sleep in their beds, though. Boxers take up too much room in the bed!

If he were younger I'd say he was taken from his mother too young, but that's not the case. I don't know what to advise, since we've never dealt with it. We've been adopting adult or senior dogs for many years, so we haven't had the puppy issues for a long time.

Good luck.

I talked to the breeder and apparently she always let the pups sleep with them. So I have to undo a bad habit.
 
^Ohhhh. Bad on their part. It's harder to change a habit than start the right way. Good luck!

Pet owners owe it to their dogs and themselves to start with good habits. Our rescue boy was wild, but came from the foster home already crate-trained. What a blessing and I silently thank her everytime we use it.
 
we actually love when our animals sleep with us. they all seemed to grow out of it though. right now our rescue doggie will only lay with us for a few minutes then jump into her own bed for the night which is right next to ours.
 
Yea the little monkey is neither crate nor bed trained. It's kinda funny. We will both go to bed in our own seperate beds and when I wake up, there he is right next to me. Little rascal!
 
Our neighbors like to have their dog sleeping in the bed with them--a Springer Spaniel.

At 90 pounds and with long legs, when Sabo stretches out, he can almost reach from one end of the king-size bed to the other. We do let him sleep on the bed when we aren't in it.

I think it's sweet that your dog wants to sleep with you, but as the alpha, you determine if it's ok or not.
 
Our neighbors like to have their dog sleeping in the bed with them--a Springer Spaniel.

At 90 pounds and with long legs, when Sabo stretches out, he can almost reach from one end of the king-size bed to the other. We do let him sleep on the bed when we aren't in it.

I think it's sweet that your dog wants to sleep with you, but as the alpha, you determine if it's ok or not.

Oh trust me, its not ok. I am still making him sleep in his bed and planning to do so indefinitely. I know he is somehow climbing onto the couch (my temp bed cuz his pen and bed etc are in the living room) in the middle of the night. Once he is potty trained and I move back to my bedroom and sleep in my normal (and higher bed), this will stop. The little monkey cant climb that high. He is very cute and sweet but he has to sleep in his bed like a big boy. Lol. All 3 lbs of him.
 
Awww I love it when my pets sleep with me.

In the summer I dog sat for my friend for almost a week. Her one dog slept with me every night. Loved it!
 
My doxies sleep with me. Wouldn't have it any other way. The little guy sleeps next to me on the sofa all day/evening too. They are crate trained, but I only use that for their safety when I am out (the older guy is blind and gets stuck in places).
 
Its rare for me to get cats on the bed which makes me sad as i like having them there. We have the opposite problem although i suspect its easier to get a dog to sleep where you want than it is a cat, even if the cats benefit. Stubborn little creatures.
 
Hmm, it's not too late to start crate training. I'm concerned that when you wake up and he's next to you that it will become a bigger problem when you move back into your own bed. You may have a whiny, barky pup on your hands till he gets his way. I'd break this habit now while he's still little.
 
I have a 65lb boxer/shepherd mix, and she's always slept in bed with me...but generally I have to push her aside a little to give me some room, or she will take up the entire bed. Even better, when staying over at my ex's house HIS boxer would sleep on the bed too, or at least they'd try. Talk about a full house.

Are you crate training? I think that would be the easiest way to get her used to not sneaking into the bed, and it makes potty training a whole lot easier too.