My son allows his 13 week old puppy to sleep in his bedroom. What are the disadvantages/advantages, if any?

I see no inherent problems with letting the dog sleep in the bedroom, and as long as there are no pack status issues, I see letting the dog sleep in the bed as a matter of personal taste. Because of the prevalence of pack status issues, many experts advise against letting the dog sleep in the bed.

Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete (http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/) For more on being top dog, see Establishing and Keeping Alpha Position, Letting your dog know you are the boss (http://www.dogbreedinfo.com./topdogrules.htm) Rule #13 is against letting the dog sleep in the bed.

The many experienced, trained people I know keep their puppies in crates at night, sometimes in the bedroom. Nearly all dog experts advise using a crate. I certainly do in the sticky starting at https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/information-articles-our-dogs-expert-labman-53153.html#post251802

You started in you answer condemning confining a dog. I never heard of that Stanford study and it is clearly out of the mainstream. Do you have any links to the methodology in that study?

Dos are pack animals. They are social creatures and would love to be with you. When my friends get new pups I always tell them to sleep in the same room with them to strengthen the bond. I personally feel nothing is wrong with the crate as long as it is used as a tool to help potty training and not as a punishment. One of my labs used it as her little den. After she was potty trained, we removed her door and she was able to come and go at will and she loved it.

I will not debate this issue. I know others have very strong opinions on this matter and they are intitled to them as I am intitled to mine.

If you private message me, I can send you the PDF document.


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Why do I need to PM you? My email is available.

My son allows his 13 week old puppy to sleep in his bedroom. What are the disadvantages/advantages, if any?
As others have noted, the advantage is that dogs are pack animals. It is natural for them to sleep with their pack and gives them a sense of belonging and comfort.

The disadvantage in doing this is that if your dog never gets used to a crate, he/she will have a very tough time if there is a need to spend the night at the vet's for any reason, or if you go away on vacation and need to leave your dog at a kennel. You will find that other people that have to deal with this issue will view your dog as a problem dog, and may not be willing to take on such a challenge. Crate training is a very effective tool for overcoming these problems, along with the fact that your dog will have his/her own special little den to go to for those times that he/she is overwhelmed or just simply needs down time away from everyone. Labman brings up a good point in that you want to make sure that the puppy never views your son as being on the same social level that he/she is on. As your puppy grows into a dog, he/she will start to challenge your son for parental attention. Teaching everyone in your household how to be the pack leader and be the alpha over your dog, will avoid any future problems. If you haven't done so already, enroll both your son & the puppy into training classes. It is not only a wonderful bonding experience for both of them, but doing so will teach your son the proper positive reinforcement training techniques. It is well worth the money. The sleeping on the bed can be something that is done at a later time, after your puppy accepts the crate as his own space. As danielnoahsmommy states, you can take the door off or just leave the door open so your dog can go in and out as he/she pleases.

How old is your son? With somebody the right age in the family, 4-H dog training is a great idea. In my area, clubs form soon after the first of the year. Even many urban areas have 4-H. For info look in your phone book under government listings for extension or cooperative extension offices. Ask specifically about a dog or canine club.

The dog should be old enough for a formal class by the first of the year. I would start obedience training now working out of a book. Keep the sessions short, only a couple of repetitions for now at a time. Neither your boy nor the puppy will have a very long attention span. I start obedience training for my 7 week old puppies on my way out of the kennel the day get them. By the time we make it home, they have several lessons in heeling, housebreaking, and riding on the floor of the car.

In the adjoining county one of my dog mentors is the 4-H leader. Every year she recruits 4-H members to show the dog guide foster puppies in the area she is in charge of. At the recent show, our Holly took second of a class of 7. After the parade and picnic yesterday, there was an extensive discussion of the advantages of crates. Nearly everybody in 4-H uses them at least some.

Just to mention if your son is asleep and your dog can not get out of the bed to potty, or you son does not wake up the dog could pee or poo in the bed with him. Grass is soft and so is bedding so you may have a problem. While I think that it is a good idea to have the dog sleep in your room. At first a crate is good for reasons already mentioned in other post. Sleeping in the same room with your family may help the dog to develop your schedule. On a personal note. I would not let a dog sleep with me until it has been potty trained and spayed/neutered. Even after those issues were resolved, it would have to be well established who the alpha was before it could share my bed.