How to Stop Dog Sleeping in Bed With You?

Do you want to stop your dog sleeping in bed with you, as he snores, drools, or overheats your bed?

If your pet is sleeping with you then he may affect your sleeping pattern. He can make you wake up tired, and you have to end up taking a day nap. Therefore, it is important to know how to stop your dog sleeping in bed with you.

I have included all possible and practically effective methods to how to keep dogs off the bed and how to train them to sleep in his bed. You should also know the side effects of sleeping with your pooch so, I have included that too!

Are you ready to know five ways to how to stop your dog sleeping in bed with you?

5 Ways On How to Keep Dog Off Bed

Given below are five useful, practically tested and certified techniques to stop your dog sleeping in your bed.

1. Surprise Your Dog With a New Bed

Yes, you read it right! A new bed for your dog.

Give a new bed for your furry friend. While buying make sure it is made of strong material so that it can long run and won’t fall apart easily. Better quality sleep is highly important. When you choose dog beds you must know prior to how does your dog sleep or the pattern of sleeping. Observe how he sleeps, in what position he sleeps.

If your dog needs stretching space then you need a large rectangular memory foam bed for him and if he curls up like a donut shape then you require an oval shape bed for him.

If you have a dog that is suffering from some kind of muscle pain, or if you live in cooler weather, then you should get a body heat or heated dog bed to keep him warm.

Once you get mattresses now you’ve to choose the perfect suitable spot in the house.

When you’ve chosen the perfect, then place the bed beside your bed because it is the best place to keep it. Or if you don’t want that you can choose the same cool pleasant comfy corner in your house. And, then train dog to sleep in dog bed.

Remember: To train a dog to sleep in his bed you must choose a comfortable spot, otherwise, it will not be an easy task to keep dog off bed.

2. Teaching Your Dog “off” command

Training your dog to sleep in its bed can be taught be by teaching him the “off” command. When you see your dog coming to sleep near your bed, guide him with an “off” command. You must refrain him from rewarding and must not pat him for this behavior.

Slowly teach him the “off” command by your verbal and hand moments too! This will train dog to stay off bed.

Tempting them with a treat is the most common trick yet useful trick to stop your dog sleeping in bed with you. So our next method is …

3. Tempt Him With His Favorite Treats

A dog likes treat and training a dog to stay off the bed with off command with the help of treats can actually work. Although it will not be that simple in the starting you can lure him by place his favorite treats on his bed.

Using treats as rewards can be an effective way to bring the dog’s interest back to their new bed. The dog will connect bed with a positive connection when given rewards, and he will enjoy and the dog won’t get out of bed his bed.

Once he starts adopting and liking his bed, stop rewarding him treats. Instead, use the off command to get your dog off the bed.

4. Restrict Access to Your Bed

Your next move will be to limit your dogs’ access to your bed. I personally make my bed inaccessible to my dog. Either by giving my bed a height, so it becomes unreachable for him. If you are someone who does not like their bed at a height, then you can even try using a pen or some other barrier. This will stop your dog sleep in bed with you.

You can keep dog out of bedroom or if your dog jumps you can put laundry baskets or other obstacles too! Or you keep the bed by keeping things on it so, he finds no spot to come and yes it will interest him to come to your bed.

5. Use a Crate

Keeping your dog off the bed might be difficult if the above-mentioned steps don’t work for you don’t need to worry. You can still break this habit. For this, you may need to crate him at night.

You have to keep his bed inside his crate and shut the door quietly. To calm him you give your dog his favorite treats or toys it will help to build a safe and positive space for him. Later when once he becomes used to it, you can leave the crate unclosed, or you can remove the bed from the crate. By doing this dog will stop sleeping in with you.

Do you by using a crate you can also teach how to keep dog off bed when not home?

This is the best way to teach your pooch to sleep in his own bed!

Where are you going? Don’t you want to teach your dog to sleep in his bed?

Train Your Dog to Stay In His Bed

By following six steps you can successfully train your dog to stay in his bed and stop your dog sleeping in bed with you!

1. Walk Before Sleep

Now it’s time to make him tired by taking him with you on a bedtime walk. Or play with him to make him more tired. By doing this he will be exhausted and there will be less chance of fight to sleep with you.

2. Use a Leash to Guide His Way to Bed

Give the treat to lure him and encourage him to go over the bed. This will link him to relate positive reinforcement.

You must never pick your pooch and hold and place him in his bed because he will have negative experience which will make him more stubborn.

3. Use a Command

It is time to use your commands effectively. Be clear with the command you give to him. And offer him the treat only when he obey your commands. Whenever he tries to get up out of his bed just say “no” and peacefully walk her back to his bed.

Then, repeat the “go to your bed” command. Eventually and deliberately increase the amount of time you use the command and then reward her only when he obeys your order by lying down on his bed.

4. Don’t Give Close Attention to His Whining

I know this he will try to give you sad eyes when you will try to go to sleep. He may also vocalize his annoyance at his new sleeping bed by whining or moaning in the night. But, you must avoid his actions if you want to keep the dog off the bed while away.

Because, if you couldn’t then it will only encourage him to do more of it.

I can understand that this point could be a tough one for you! But, for the best, you must not yell at him. Because it will agitate him and force him to whine even louder. You have to ignore it several times. Meanwhile, you can ask him for a walk. If his answer is yes and gets enthusiastic, take him outside for a walk.

You must make this trip useful, a time to take him to go to pee and not for playtime.

Now, if he still continues to whine then continue to ignore him whining. If you accept his demand then this will increase eventually. Not paying attention to this behavior will discourage him and won’t create behavioral problems.

You have to prepared for even worse and louder whining before he actually stops doing it. But you keep committed to ignorance. Because this will help him to keep him long in his bed.

5. Use Positive Reinforcement Training Techniques

Just like the other training technique in this also you have to lure him and reward him to bring changes according to your wish. Some pet owners use a spray bottle filled with water to spray on their dogs when they don’t obey their orders. But, I believe positive reinforcement works effectively rather than punishing him for bad behavior.

Praise him if he goes to his bed without misbehaving and instantly listening to your “go to bed” command! It will aid her to connect all the positive dots. You can give your dog favorite toys and treats too!

6. Daily Practice Inviting Him On His Bed

Just like the saying “practice makes things perfect” you have to keep practicing the same.

Allowing your dog to enter your bed without your concern or knowledge should always be discouraged. If he does that once, he will associate the bed is in his charge of bedtime.

So, remember that he only acts on your command and when you wake up.

Do you sleep with your dog then you must know about its side effect!

Side Effects of Your Dog Sleeping in Bed With You

To sleep with your dog has many perks of but, you cannot deny the fact that there are risk too along with that!

Given below are possible side effects of your dog sleep in bed with you.

1. Disturbed Sleep Quality

As dogs are always on alert mode they are light sleepers. And, having a dog in the bed might increase human movement. This is prone to disturb the sleep cycle. But, those people every rarely remembers waking up due to the dog movement.

If your dog sleeps in bed with you, you may wake up with less energy and wish to take a daytime nap.

2. Prone to Allergies

As we know dogs are active animals they enjoy playing outdoor games and indoor games. But, when they go play outside they are not alone when they are back home. They carry many bacteria, parasites, and fungi along with them which they can spread to us.

These germs can possibly spread through touching, feces, scratches bites, or licking the face or, open wounds.

3. Risk of Injuries

If your dog is dominant or aggressive, sleeping with him in the same bed might not be a good idea because there is a chance of your getting dog bites, especially in case if you have children with you.

Hang on! It is not over yet!

FAQs

How to keep my dog off my bed?

To stop your dog sleeping in your bed, you can follow the given down steps

• Get him a comfy, soft bed so, that he can have peaceful sleep.
• The bed is to teach him it is not his bed and should sleep on the bed which is bought for him.
• Find a shady warm spot in your house to place his bed it gives him comfort and warmth.
• Take him for a bedtime walk this will make him tired, and he will sleep in his bed without any fight.
• You can place his favorite treats and toys on the bed, so he is tempted and attracted to sleep there more often.
• Always use positive reinforcement instead of showing anger because it will them the wrong message.
• You can restrict his access to your bed by either increase the height of your bed, so he can not reach it or put some barriers around your bed.
• You can also go for the crate. Place his bed inside the crate and once he sleeps close the crate swiftly.

Why do dog likes to sleep in with their pet owners bed?

Dog do enjoy sleeping with their pet parents because they seek protection, warmth and, closeness. But the foremost reason is that they are pack animals. Not only did their ancestors (wolf) hunt together, but also used to sleep together at night for warmth and security. And, hence you are his leader, he wants to sleep in your bed with you.

Why does a dog not sleep in their bed?

The answer to this can be because there is not enough room for that means there is not enough space on his bed to sleep, to stretch, to lay sown freely. Another reason could be you have unintentionally encouraged him not to sleep there, or he is being protective or might have found a new place that is extra comfy to sleep.

Is it unhygienic to sleep with your dog on bed?

Yes, it is true!

Dog carry germs with them, they are animals, and they are free from everything. When they play outdoors they unknowingly collect allergies from the grass and pollen. And, if he sleeps with you, it may worsen your allergies. It may not be a good idea to allow him to sleep along with you. So, give him his personal bed to sleep.

Summing It All Up!

Training a dog to sleep in its bed to sleep in his bed is important. You sleep in the bed you make and let him sleep in his bed. You can try doing this by following the above-listed steps to have a more good night’s sleep. You have to make your dog to understand that he should not sleep with you.

You have to make sure that you don’t unintentionally encourage them to sleep with you because then he will show his authority and that time you have to establish your dominance because if not then training him to get off your bed might become tricky and difficult task!

I hope you have understood how to stop dog sleeping in bed with you easily. Other than that if you know any other effective way to stop your dog sleeping in bed, you can tell us by commenting down below.

We would love to know about it!

Till then enjoy your training!

References:

1. Osmond, C. (2021, December 22). How to Stop Your Dog from Sleeping in Bed with You. The Sleep Judge. Retrieved August 25, 2022, from https://www.thesleepjudge.com/how-to-stop-dog-sleeping-in-bed-with-you/
2. Pietrangelo, A. (2020, October 13). Is It Good to Sleep with Your Dog in Bed? Healthline. Retrieved August 25, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/sleeping-with-dogs
3. Breus, M. (2022, July 1). How Much Do Dogs Sleep? The Sleep Doctor. Retrieved August 25, 2022, from https://thesleepdoctor.com/animal-sleep-habits/how-much-do-dogs-sleep/