Dogs are men’s best friend – however, is it a good idea to let your best friend snuggle up in a private place like your bed? Where should you draw the line?

“A place beside you!”

It is indisputable that your four-legged friend is a great help for you in your life. And not just by putting a smile on your face day by day, but also by having a positive impact on your health: having a dog does not only strengthen your immune system but may cause significant improvement to people suffering from mental illnesses.

So, it is no wonder that we all would like to ensure the best possible life for our beloved one. One of the most frequent questions is whether we should let them sleep beside us in our bed. Well, this is a really delicate issue for there is a line that should not be crossed without careful consideration. If you let your dog sleep in your bed, then your relationship with him will certainly become stronger. Moreover, you can have a more relaxing sleep, possible sleeping problems can be eased and your blood pressure and stress level can also be reduced. It is a common problem experienced mostly with dogs adopted from shelters that the little friend is basically anxious and shy. Sleeping in the same bed however, can be a great help in such cases! This solution can be ideal also in the case of puppies, since they (hopefully) have got used to the proximity of their mother and siblings, which means that not only bonds and trust are formed more quickly, but this can also ensure that the dog behaves in a more relaxed way as early as the very first day. However, it is very important that he should have his own place as well and have the freedom of choise.

My bed, my place!

You must draw the line – and not only in the dog’s best interest but also in yours. Authority plays an extremely important role in the human-dog bond. If your dog does not consider you to be the pack leader any longer, then he will not respect you and listen to you that much. Just like with children, keeping rules is important with dogs as well, for this is the way they learn what their bounderies are.

There is also the issue of hygiene as another con. For example, even if you wipe your dog’s paws with a wet towel after each walk, it is far from giving him a thorough washing. This will provide good opportunities not only for bacteria but also for parasites hiding in the fur of your dog, for it is not a real challenge for a tick to get to a human from a dog (ticks are especially dangerous because the Lyme disease they spread is a serious threat not only to pets but also to humans).

There is usually very little talk about how much your romantic relationship is affected by the fact that your dog sleeps in your bed. Although the conflicts arising from situations may seem funny in comedies, it can easily happen that your furry friend will push one of you out of your bed or, if the dog was not adopted and raised by the two of you, then jealousy may also appear and might escalate to violence.

Each human-dog relationship is different: just as there are no two identical human beings, there are no two identical dogs. Before making a decision on whether to share your bed with your little friend or not, take your relationship with your dog into consideration, keeping the potential risks and all the pros and cons in mind.

Afrodite Szeleczky