I recently signed up for Twitter and I’m following some of my favourite bloggers there (check her out @Toby_Pup) mentioned something about her dog still being on daylight savings time.  My dog had issues with that the first couple of days after we put the time back. I found it quite funny to be honest, even though I didn’t appreciate being woken up so early. First of all, Fin does have a bit of a routine. My dad who leaves for work at just be 7am gets her up at 5:30 to go potty, feed her and spend some time with her before she comes back to bed. Fin and I usually don’t get up until 11am, so it works out pretty great.

Well that Saturday, Finley woke up at 5:00am and wanted to go potty, so I got up and let her out. Normally she will sleep in on Saturdays but that weekend, she had the beginning of some digestive problems so she was going potty at unusual times.

I didn’t think too much of it but then we had to put the clocks back an hour before we went to bed on Saturday...and I got woken up at 4:30 this time. I tried to explain daylight savings so I could turn around and go back to sleep. I think this explanation fell on deaf ears cause then she decided it was time to roll around on the floor and play with her hippo. I did manage to get back to sleep only to be woken up an hour later to be let outside.

I have to admit I do find it a little funny that she was so into her morning routine that she naturally wakes up at that time, albeit it was then now an hour earlier. She did the same thing on Monday morning but she fell back asleep quite easy, it was sad though when she went to the window at 3:45pm looking for daddy and had to wait hour. 

One of my favourite things to do with Finley is cuddle up in bed and sleep. I never got used to sleeping alone after my old dog died. He used to sleep curled up at my feet most nights and let me tell you, stuffed animals just aren’t the same.  

It was only natural that I see if Finley would like to sleep on my bed too. I did try getting her to sleep in her crate though starting the first night she was with us. I even left the light on so that she could see me. She was very clingy those first few days and would get very nervous when she couldn’t see me. She whined a lot of though and woke up every time I shifted in bed.  It almost broke my heart but I was strong – that night. My resolved lasted all of two or three nights. Now she won’t sleep anywhere else and I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world.

I had read that if the dog sleeps on the bed with you, it could make training them harder or impossible. I never really noticed any real problems when training her or working on some of her behaviour issues, other than the barking one but that will be something that takes time and lots of patience. So I came up with a compromise, I’m teaching her that she has to be invited onto the bed before she can be on it, and that is whether or not it’s time to go to bed.

I removed the crate from my room and put a nice doggie bed in its place, so when it’s time to go to bed, she has to sit or lie there until I tell her it’s alright to come snuggle up. This behaviour did take a while to stick since she didn’t know how to stay so we worked on stay and since then it’s gotten better.

If she comes into the bed before I’m ready for her, I get up and put her back on her doggie bed. It gets pretty annoying when she won’t listen and I have to do this 4 or 5 times, especially when I want to go to sleep. Some nights, she thinks it’s a game and wants to play instead of going to sleep, though usually she can be pacified with her hippo (a stuff animal that she loves).

Recently, she’s taken a liking to snuggling under blankets. I don’t let her in between the sheets with me since I have some minor issues with dirt and germs, so instead she snuggled between the two blankets on my bed or under her blanket. It’s really cute to watch her arrange the blanket so that it’s perfectly comfortable.

Readers, is it a good or bad idea to let your pets sleep in your bed, and do you let them (if you have any)?