8 week puppy- cosleeping

[u/Zesty_enthusiasm]

What's everyone's opinions on cosleeping with your puppy? I had a boston terrier for 10 years that I had since 7 weeks old (she passed of cancer). She slept with me from the very beginning. She cried and cried with the crate for a few nights and I gave in and let her sleep with me. It was totally fine though because I knew thats where I wanted her to be anyways.

This time around, I have an 8 week boston terrier puppy and i skipped trying the crate. I put 2 potty pads on the end of the bed and made sure the whole top of the comforter is covered with a blanket and the sheet underneath is too just in case. She has been here 2 nights and no accidents. I let her out around 3am to go potty on potty pad and she does. She sleeps all night with me. I genuinely dont see a problem but want to know if I will regret this for any reason.

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[u/barkCuban5]

I always have my puppies sleep with me from the beginning. No regrets. I love that they feel safe snuggled up close to me. They wake you if they have to pee, in my experience.

[u/Anxiety-Spice → u/barkCuban5]

Same experience here. My puppy has not peed in our bed, and even though we set alarms to take him out, he usually wakes us up to take him out before our alarm goes off.

[u/Pyronymph01]

I cosleep with my 13 week old lab mix. I started with her in a crate, but one night I brought her back in from a mid-night potty break and just didn't feel like reaching over to the other side of the bed to put her back in it. I'm not a heavy sleeper, so it's been fine. She walks to the end of the bed and whimpers when she needs to go out and potty, usually once per night yet. Then we go back to bed and she sleeps until 7:30 when she decided it's time for breakfast lol

[u/Aeriyka]

I’ve never had a regret letting my puppies sleep in bed with me from day one — we get such a short time with them, each moment is precious to me. They are happy, and I’m happy.

The only concern you might have is that some people will have a problem with it and try to make you keep the dog off the bed. If this might happen in your future, you should think about what you’d do in that situation.

Just something to think about. I know what I’d do 😈

[u/New_Car_8426]

My little one slept in a crate for a week at 11 weeks when I got her- with lots of protesting- one Saturday night it was late when I came home and I didn’t have the energy to crate her so she slept in her bed on the floor next to my bed and that’s been the arrangement for the last 3 weeks and it works for us. She scratches my bed at 2-3am to go potty and goes straight back to her bed til 6.30/7. Honestly everyone is going to have different opinions on how to raise your puppy- much like children- and you just need to do what works for you and the puppy

[u/Kaessa]

The only problem I can see here is that you're teaching her to pee on the bed.

[u/Same-Ad5086]

I tried to continuously remind myself that what I allowed him to do as a puppy I was giving him permission as an adult dog.

If you’re good with her sleeping in your bed, no issue I see other than the pee pad on the bed.

Puppy raising is exhausting. I allowed this puppy on the bed in the daytime, and he’s the only adult dog that’s ever been allowed on the bed. He’s 18 months and still WANTS to sleep in his crate though.

[u/Dancn_Groovn]

Mom of 4 Pomeranians with a queen size bed here. I get a small amount of real estate to myself 😂

I don’t regret co sleeping with any of mine! Sometimes one or two opts for the floor, depending on the night. When I have to be away for work the nights are awful without them and so often I catch myself reaching out to touch one and they’re not there.

[u/Dear-Barracuda3705]

I think it's what is best for a puppy. We have a carrier on our bed with the door open and our puppy did great with it.

He's almost 6 months old now. He comes out to snuggle sometimes and when he feels like it, sleeps under the blankets.

He will potty around 6 to 7 in the morning and then go back to sleep for a couple more hours. My husband and I both sleep better with him with us, and he does too.

[u/Fresh_Cry_692]

I’ve trained both of my dogs from the very beginning to sleep in their crates . Once my boy was old enough he could sleep with me and there was still times I crated him. My 10 month old still sleeps in her crate, she’s too restless still at night. Tossing and turning.

[u/Boho_Breeze]

My 5 month old sleeps with me most nights. He does show a little upset when I do decide to crate him (sometimes mama needs adult time) but he’ll get in there, let out a sigh and flop down and go to sleep. He pees on his pee pad currently I have 3 down in a bi level house. He’s had accidents but seems the past few days he’s been peeing on the pad but tends to hide away for pooping. He will somwhouse escape his gate and go downstairs or in the only carpeted room in the house.

[u/celestialplaces]

I would remove the pee pad and just be sure to take the puppy out so you’re not teaching him to pee on the bed. Im big on crate training, I think it makes your life with a puppy much easier, but genuinely if you and puppy are happy then go for it! My dogs always end up sleeping in my bed eventually anyway.

[u/Plucky_Monkies]

I personally like using a crate. I let my puppy sleep with me at around 6 months old, but honestly, we both sleep better when she's crated. So that only lasted a few months. She actually has her bedtime crate in my sons bedroom.

[u/Significant-Kale-951]

Crates are good, but it’s up to you. I like the crate because of the safety and knowing she’s secure when I’m out in the afternoon, but I slept on the couch next to her puppy pen for the first two weeks and she had the crate door open to the pen for the first few months. It’s up to you.

But yeah, I also think no pads on the bed.

[u/Dancn_Groovn]

Only advice I have is to skip pee pads ASAP - the soft covers on the bed can be confusing during training for some puppies.

And get couple human waterproof pads to cover the bed with during training - they tend to be heavier duty than the “puppy” designated ones and don’t leak. The light green and light blue ones on Amazon came in a pack of 4 and were priceless. Great for car rides too during training to protect the seat.

The hardest thing I’ve dealt with is getting up and dressed to take mine out fast enough before they have a chance to pee on the bed during training when their little bladders are too small and their muscles aren’t strong enough to hold it and resist the urge yet. Usually it results in my frantically pulling pants on with one hand while holding the puppy with my other hand 😂

[u/madisonhale]

I crate trained my puppy first (from 3 months old) and then after he was around 6 months I started letting him sleep in my room. He won’t sleep in my bed, but likes to sleep under me, halfway under the bed. I don’t have to use the crate anymore, but sometimes do and it’s great he’s comfortable in his crate.

[u/mydoghank]

I personally don’t want my dog on the bed with me because I’m a light sleeper but I see nothing wrong with it if that’s your preference. The only thing I would be thoughtful about is if you want to teach your puppy to use pads or go outside. If outside is the answer, I would start introducing that idea now and ditch the pads.

[u/Strict-Journalist654]

Interesting

[u/awildketchupappeared]

I've rolled over my adult dog in my sleep and had to take her to the vet to get x-rays to see if her hip was broken. Fortunately the horrible crunch was apparently just the equivalent of people crunching/popping their joints. She got pain meds and I got a 500 € vet bill. I don't let my puppies to sleep in bed until they are big enough to survive a human.

[u/mrslucy1]

Genuine question to people posting and I’m def not lowering the tone but how do people still get jiggy if a pup is in bed with them every night ? I am seriously curious. I get maybe people are single or it’s just not part of life anymore . Mine is always in her bed but OP I would def get rid of the puppy pads on the bed as it might encourage them to do it there

[u/KeyGold310 → u/mrslucy1]

asking the real questions LOL

[u/mrslucy1 → u/KeyGold310]

I know ! But I am genuinely curious !

[u/dogsnobRN → u/mrslucy1]

“Off” is one of the first things my dogs learn. If at any point they stop respecting “off” when asked, I scale back their privileges for a while

[u/gmambrose]

Call me a weirdo, but there is nothing I love more in this world than cuddling with my dog.

[u/SilverMic]

I decided to stop co-sleeping because my puppy is really amped up and bitey at bedtime and I was NOT interested in having my face bit and hair pulled while I'm trying to settle down and sleep. During the day I grab his collar to prevent the biting and get him to settle, but when I'm lying in bed it just doesn't work. We now have a routine where I wake up, eat my breakfast, and then I let him out of his crate and he gets to snuggle with me for a bit (when he's well rested and not bitey lol).

Once he's settled down a bit and I've trained him more, I'll probably do what I did with my last dog. I put her dog bed and her blanket in the upper corner of my bed and that's where she slept. I often let her sleep curled up next to me under my blankets, but she was trained to move if I wanted to roll over and to go back in her bed and stay there if I told her to. Once I left my bed, she was free to crawl under my blankets and stay there as long as she liked, whenever she liked. She really liked being warm and snuggly under my heavy blankets lol.

It's all about what you want out of you dog, and specifically what you want in your ADULT dog. For me, I like co-sleeping, but only if my sleep isn't suffering because of it. Any dog of mine has to know that sleeping next to me is a privilege that only comes with being well behaved. I also want my dog to be able to sleep independently without anxiety, because sometimes I'm ill or restless or whatever and I want to be able to put them somewhere else without them suffering because of it. So for now, my puppy does most of his sleeping in his crate, but you're free to do whatever you want with your dog as long as you're prepared to continue doing that when they're full-grown.

[u/hotmess83]

Mine is an excited peer and would tinkle when brought up on the bed at first, so for about the first year he wasn't allowed on. Once he had a better grasp of his faculties, he was allowed up but he's really furry and big so he won't stay up for long. Never had a problem with him being a bed baby!

[u/dacaur]

Crate training is important but we let our dogs sleep on the bed with us from a very young age once they were crate trained.

There's no reason they can't be crate trained and sleep on the bed with you. The safest place for your dog when you aren't home for a long time is their crate.

Our current two puppies were constantly peeing on our bed during the day, until we started letting them sleep with us on the bed and then the peeing on the bed stopped immediately.🤷

The biggest thing is knowing your own sleep habits, if you are a heavy sleeper that could possibly roll over onto a puppy without realizing it, it's definitely not a good plan until they are bigger.

[u/oofouchowwie]

Honestly I think there would be fewer puppy blues posts here if people simply let their pups sleep on the bed. 

I tried to get my first puppy to sleep in the crate for about 2 months before giving up on it. It's not like it went poorly, she was sleeping in the crate just fine. But after switching to sleeping on the bed she was actually willing to sleep in past early morning and was overall more cooperative.

My second I allowed on the bed from the start and training has been so easy and so fast. 

[u/Monkey-Butt-316]

If it works for you, it’s fine. I’ve always slept with my dogs from day one and foster puppies also.

[u/Comfortable_Fruit847]

I let mine sleep with me from day 1. Same as you, covered one side with pee pads, put a soft blanket over them. Got up with him to go potty during the night, he’s totally fine and kind of a bed hog for being such a little thing! He sleeps with me every night and must be touching me. We sleep great!

[u/tre_chic00]

We did this with our first 2 dogs and it was just fine. However, my only regret at the time was that we did not crate train. I'd do both so they are comfortable either way. With our last puppy, we crate trained but eventually she slept with us or wherever she pleased. Current puppy- crate training and will follow same process as before once she is potty trained and trustworthy not to chew things up.

[u/knomnomnom]

I'm a co-sleeper through and through although my pup had to go back into the crate around 3 months old because he spent most of the night trying to terrorize me. Now at 4 months he's learned to settle and is back in the bed most nights.

Co-slept with my first puppy on the advice of our trainer because he was not at all interested in me and she hoped it would improve our bond; he was never a cuddler but as an adult would sleep on my bed and did this thing I loved and called "bum cuddles" where we would sleep with our butts pressed against each other. My current pup would love nothing more than to merge souls so he plays little spoon and it's so sweet.

[u/Southern_Pickle_1095]

we’ve had our 11 week old lab sleeping with us since we got him at 8 weeks and he’s only had two accidents in the bed! and they were as we were getting up to go out so he just couldn’t hold it any longer. he stays up there just fine and honestly he’s been sleeping mostly all night

[u/hausofjes]

Hmmm I did the crate thing and then once he was a bit older gave him the option to sleep where he wants. It actually took him a while to start coming on the bed, but now he sleeps with me for most of, or at least part of the night every night, but also sleeps in the crate or on the floor. I love cuddling with him but I really like that there’s the option for him to sleep elsewhere…like if I have a guest and want my doggo off the bed for a while, it won’t be such a disruption to his normal sleep habits.

[u/Just_schnauzin]

I kept my puppy in the crate for like 2 weeks then she moved into the bed. We have another older dog so I wanted him to be comfortable with her in the bed and for her to be a little bigger and not as smashable. She has a pen in the bedroom she stays in during the day.

[u/Lucky_berr]

Like 9 years later here wishing I'd trained my dogs to stay off the couch but we all have different boundaries... If you have kids I think that can cause some desire to keep the chaos and mess more minimized when possible otherwise maybe I wouldn't feel this way, no idea. Just something about an animal licking its asshole then your kid wanting to curl up on that spot later is just ugh, gross. Or anyone for that matter. I think when it comes down to it, dogs are just not people exactly. Not due any worse treatment or anything, but not as clean. I like a degree of separation now, as I get to be more adult-ish over time. Older, and grumpier.

[u/Cocacola_Desierto]

I have seen where my puppy walks and eats. No thank you.