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2nd Trimester
APendola
member
Dogs and Sleeping Arrangements
APendola
member
For those of you who have pets...where do they sleep? Will that change when the baby comes?
We have two little dogs (10-15 pound range) and they sleep in bed with us right under the covers. They are really quiet and good at night. My husband wants them to continue sleeping with us...but he also wants the baby to sleep in our room for the first few months.
I kinda feel that the dogs should sleep downstairs for a bit. My dogs are used to being the "babies" of the family...and I don't really want them crawling all over me when I'm trying to comfort the baby in the middle of the night. But my husband keeps saying that if the dogs sleep somewhere else ... he is too. The dogs are really special to him and he's having a hard time setting boundaries. He doesn't realize that some things that are cute (ie. jumping up on us) isn't cute if they do that to a baby or small child. A small dog is still big to a baby.
Anyway, I'd be willing to still have them in our room if they sleep in crates for a bit. Eventually they could go back to sleeping with us too...
Any thoughts? Would you keep the dogs and baby all in the same room?
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Re: Dogs and Sleeping Arrangements
We have 2 smaller dogs and they will stay with us in the bed. They mainly sleep at the foot of the bed and tend to be incredibly lazy so I'm not really concerned about them bothering me or the baby. The one who likes to snuggle more doesn't mind being picked up and moved while sleeping. She's 11 lbs and completely used to being constantly handled, picked up, etc.
We plan to have the baby sleep in a pack n play in our room for the first few months until she doesn't need to be nursed so much during the middle of the night. We do not care to bedshare, anyway.
When DD was born we had 2 cats. One slept in the bassinet or crib before she was born and stayed far away from them after she was born. Otherwise both slept on our bed.
The crib cat has since passed, my other still sleeps on the bed.
We has 3 big dogs when my first was born. Two of them slept in the bed with us (70+lbs labs). When Mathieu arrived, I was up and down and moving so much they decided to sleep on the floor. Then we started bed sharing and they continued to sleep on the floor. He started sleeping in his crib at 6 months and since then only 1 of our dogs sleep with us.
The only reason I see to change sleeping arrangements is if you plan to bedshare.
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We also have 2 dogs, only one sleeps in bed with us, she also sleeps under the covers, usually spooning with me...lol, we bought her a bed and tried to get her to sleep in it before DS came, but it never happened, our other dog sleeps elsewhere. I ended up with a c-section with DS and I did force her to sleep on DH's side of the bed for a little while, but I do remember carefully climbing over her to get to the baby. She was used to being the baby and had no interest in changing that, I felt if I pushed too hard I would make her dislike the baby. You just have to do what works for you, my dog, although a Boston Terrier and very energetic, is not interested in much of anything when she is sleeping, so jumping on the baby was never a concern.
Good luck with your decision.
Our two Rottweilers sleep in the bedroom across from ours. They eat there, their beds are there. That bedroom is GOING to be the BABY room. And I would like to train them not to go in that room at all... simply because I want to cut back an the enormous amount of shedding that goes on in baby quarters.
Sooo that means that their "new" doggy room will be downstairs.... which is also an issue because we've trained them not to go downstairs without permission. *sigh* Help!
Thanks everyone for sharing your stories.
It's a good point that the dogs will have a lot of change with the baby...so maybe its not good to change their sleeping arrangements too much. One of my dogs is crate trained so we might put her in the crate in our room at night. She's very quiet in the crate and sleeps well in there when we use it. Our other dog is older and calmer and he'll jump off our bed and go to his dog bed if we give him the command. So he should be okay.
That's a tough one.
Luckily for us, our dog had always preferred to sleep on the couch downstairs. Every once and a while he will wander upstairs and pop up on the bed (he's 110lbs). If he tries to settle in, we have him get off the bed. I don't mind if he sleeps in the room, but if he's not on the bed, he goes back downstairs.
Sounds like you need to work on setting boundries now, so that if they become an issue on the bed once the baby is here, they will understand what getting off the bed means and stay off. This may mean bringing out a crate (even in your room).
I feel like little dogs get away with way more than large dogs. I mean, I don't think a dog jumping on me is cute at all...no matter the size. It is just poor behavior.
Good luck.
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We have 2 hairy little snugglers too...And they're the lights of our lives. My husband, who never had pets growing up, is so in love with them...It's adorable. Any my attachment to them clearly surpasses anything healthy
They're just so wonderful!
However, they're stretcher-outters and 4 of us in the same bed was just not working, they like to sleep under the covers, all stretched out, of course, horizontally (how does someone so small take up so much room?!) so, even though it broke my heart, we got them one of those really big crates that are just metal bars with a door, big enough for 9 of them. We put all kinds of pillows and blankets in there and they LOVE IT. They snuggle in the bed with us before they get in their box and when we say "time to get in your box" they hop right out of our bed and into theirs.
That way, we have space and they have theirs but they're right by our bed so no one's heart hurts
Totally worth trying!
Technically, ours sleep in their crates. But since I have been unable to get comfortable at all, DH has been couchbound for... a few months. Our couch is VERY comfy so he likes it. But when he's out there, he likes the dogs with him. Especially our first dog, a 30 pound whippet mix, who will contort himself to the best possible snuggle position. It's ridiculous and leads to many goos photo ops!
Our other dog, a 50 pound Australian shepherd/border collie mix, tends to love her crate. For some reason. She's also... uh... not a very smart animal. Very sweet, but not too smart, so we like to keep her in there at night to keep her from hurting herself.
Her crate is currently in the nook area where most of the baby stuff will be in the living room--toys, a dresser/chest of drawers, and our rocking chair is currently there as well. So her crate will need to be moved and unfortunately we're not quite sure where to yet! We have a fairly small one bedroom apartment... it's actually huge by city standards, though, and we love it. DH will have to make room for her in his "lair" which would be a dining room, technically.
We have loved having the dogs in bed with us but they're just too big and they shed WAY too much.
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IMO, it's a big change for an animal to bring a new person into the house, and I don't think you should expect the dogs to also adjust to sleeping somewhere else. DS slept in our room, in a co-sleeper attached to our bed, for about 6 months after he was born, and both of our cats continued to sleep on our bed with us. I imagine the same will be true after this LO arrives. Unless you plan on bed-sharing, the dogs shouldn't pose any issues to the baby by sleeping in the same room.
I have three giant dogs (two Great Pyrs and a Newfoundland) that sleep in our room most of the time. They are still welcome to sleep there (on the floor in their beds or otherwise) once the baby gets here. After my daughter was born and was sleeping in our room for the first few months, they decided to sleep in the living room.
Mine are too big and generally have too much dirt and dust in their coats (they are inside dogs, but love to sleep in the pyr pits they dig) to be anywhere near my bed.
I have a large german shepard who sleeps right next to my bed .. or where ever I am. He has separation anxiety. We talked about having him not sleep in the room when the babies come but I don't think he could handle it. He is an older dog and I think it would cause too much stress and anxiety on him. If he is shut out of my room he usually lays at the door .. or plays with the door knob trying to get in .. or whines. He is a gentle giant so we decided it would be best for him to leave things as they are. I am expecting twins. He loves babies but I think he might get jealous when they are here too. Or he will try to be over protective of them like he is with me and my other kids. He would never hurt a baby or kid though. It's different with him though because he doesn't get on our bed or jump on people.
It sounds like your dog are little and will jump on you and the babies. If your going to change where or how they sleep you should start now. OR if possible teach them not to jump on you. I imagine when your trying to heal from having the baby your not going to want them jumping all over you either! Dogs can be very emotional so whatever you choose do it slowly!
Good luck!
THIS! It is important to teach dogs boundaries early on. If you have a dog that does not listen to you then you need to start to achieve dominance now. I trained my rescued dachshund/pit mix as soon as we got him in order to let him know that I am the boss. He gets plenty of loving and has a very healthy life because of it. Luckily he likes to sleep in our living room on a chair, but even if he does jump onto the bed, one simple 'off' command and he's back to his comfy chair. Good luck!