Why you should leave dogs out of your bed!

0:00Monk Reef on News Talk People love their pets, of course. So much so that many find it natural for the dog or dogs to sleep on the bed. Apart from issues around the duvet smelling a bit, it might not be the best way to get a full night sleep for the dog. A Canadian study claims that humans tend to wake up first, thus disturbing their pets. Next step, Rousseau is a dog trainer in canine behavior consultant based in Dublin. Steph, good afternoon. Good afternoon, John. How are you? I'm assuming it's natural for a dog to want to sleep in the bed with their owners. It is, yeah, dogs are social sleepers, so they would naturally choose to sleep with others, they feel safe for that way. And there was another study that found a few years ago that 87% of dogs, when given the choice, will choose to sleep near to their owners. Yeah, and so for them, it's a safety issue, is it?

1:00That's it. Yeah, because for a lot of herd animals, they do sleep like that in a group and they take it in turns of one animal being a bit more alert and sort of keeping a watch out. So for dogs, if they're sleeping on their own, they can feel like it's always their job to be on alert, so they don't sleep as well on their own as they do when there's others around. Okay, to dogs then tend to, well, a dog, you know, the way if you sleep with a human who tends to thrash a room to this, that can keep, can wake another person up. To dogs tend to do that or do they just fall into it, if they're feeling safe and secure, or they're out like a light. I mean, I'm sure if you have a dog you've seen them, when they're dreaming, they can tweet around a bit. But I've shared my bed with dogs for years and I've never found this, doesn't tend to be too much of an issue with them moving around too much. I was saying to your researchers, sometimes as the night progresses, they get too warm and they just get off the bed and into their own beds. But I haven't had too much tossing and turning. All right, okay, well that makes a lot of sense, I suppose.

2:04And this study that found that it's humans who are waking up the dogs. Do you put much store by that given that dogs tend to sleep a lot? They're constantly napping. I'm sure it could well be true, but it's normal for dogs to get 20 to 40% of their sleep during the day. They're polyphasic sleepers, so they don't need to sleep in a big block the way we do. So it wouldn't affect them the same way. If somebody woke us up during the night, we could wake up feeling a bit grumpy or cross, but for dogs, they have lots of more opportunities to sleep. So for them, being woke up during the night is very natural, sleeping in different blocks during the day, during the night. Yeah. Well, dogs tend to be able to sleep. Yeah, I suppose it can depend on the breed of dog, but if you have a dog in the bed who tends to be a yappy dog, if they hear anything, they're barking. Can that be an issue for people? I guess it can be. Now, my dogs have never been that way inclined. Yeah.

3:05And they've never disturbed us. I guess sometimes one of my dogs have heard foxes he could have a bit of a bark, but it wasn't an ongoing issue. What's less disturbing than children, I would say? Yes. And we can hear your daughter there. Sorry, yes. No, don't be sorry. It's lovely to hear. And your experience as well, like various Poles have said, the vast majority of people have dogs sleeping in the bed. And your experiences that ever can it be a bone of contention in a household? Yes. And the same to your researcher, what I would often come across is that one person, usually the woman, is quite happy to have, because I always say to people if they're having issues with their dog waking overnight or waking very early, often the easiest solution is just to let the dog sleep with them. And often the women are quite open to this, but the men are less so. And I was telling you, a researcher, my theory on this is that the men are a little bit concerned that having the dog there might reduce the chance of any late night activity.

4:09Yes. Because it is usually the man who are objecting. OK, that's interesting. But the corollary of that, the women have no problem with no late night activity. Well, I don't know. That's just a pattern I have seen. It tends to be the man objecting. OK, no more. Dogs is a form of contraception. That's a, yeah. Exactly. The novel approach. That's a new one. And have you found any issue about, you know, the bed might smell of dog then and you have to kind of change the duvet cover a bit more? Well, I was, my dogs who used to sleep in my bed were both greyhounds and greyhounds are not the smelliest of dogs. They're quite so short-coated. But I would certainly feel it had smelled of human before it would smell a dog. I just, I think, because dogs don't sweat the way we do. So I would feel the need to change the sheets more because of the human being in the bed than the dogs. Yeah. And the dog, I, is, were the dogs happy to sleep on top of the bed or with the triant tunnel inside kind of thing?

5:10Both of my greyhounds were happy to sleep on top of the bed. I told your researcher I did have a foster dog for a while. She'd come over from Greece and she was some sort of a, a galgot-type mix and she was used to the hot weather. And she used to get right down under the duvet and she'd curl up in a bowl between myself and my partner. But that was unusual. Most dogs, as I say, that I've had on the bed have slept on top of the duvet. And often they'll, even then, they'll be bit too warm and they'll get off at some point. Okay. Yeah. And would they sleep at the bottom of the bed or would they be kind of, you know, like, oh, I want to put my head on the pillow. Mine were not so much pillow bed or head on the pillow dogs. But they kind of go wherever they could get the most comfortable space. So it might be beside your legs or at the end of the bed. Yeah. So. But I know my friends, well some of my friends' dogs would actually sleep with their heads on the pillow like, like humans. Really? Wow. Yeah. Okay. Some do the brachisophalic breeds, the breeds with the shorter faces, like bulldogs

6:10and pugs and boxers. They will often be very big snores. And I know I've had some clients of mine say they'd be happy to have their dog in the bed. But the snoring was just too much. So my greyhounds did not snore. That's not a greyhound. All right. Okay. So if the dog is snoring, who's getting out of the bed? Is it the dog or the human? I don't know. I guess it varies. The dog will probably fall right here wherever you end. Yeah. Do people, and now it's supposed to, your speciality is dogs. But I would assume people do this with cats as well. I would assume so. And cats obviously are a lot smaller. So they're probably a little bit less offensive, maybe in terms of, you know, taking up a lot of space than dogs would be. Yeah. But yeah, cats tend to be kind of, they can sneak into the bed without you even knowing it. And I'm not a cat, but I don't have cats, but I would personally prefer a dog than a cat because I'm always worried the cats will have fleas because they go out so much in

7:12there. There's so much more kind of free-ranging than a lot of pet dogs are. Yeah. So I would personally prefer a dog than a cat in my bed. Okay. So dogs can get fleas, I assume. They can, but I mean, I've had dogs now for decades. And I'd say two or three times I've seen a flea. It hasn't been, I don't think it's as big of a problem as people maybe think because dogs they tend to be interacting less, I guess, with sort of wildlife because they tend to be walked on lead, tend to be living in the house, and be sleeping in the house. So I think generally I have not found fleas and dogs to be a big issue. Okay. Where would they get the fleas from? Is it from other dogs? I recall correctly. I think the fleas that dogs get are cat fleas. Oh. So I guess if you had a dog who was maybe out in the garden a lot and like lying down where a cat had laid down, that might be where they'd get them or if they were in, if

8:13they were not to cast as versions on doggy daycares, but if they were somewhere where they were sharing beds with other dogs or that sort of thing, I'd imagine. It would be more likely. Ah, yeah. A lot of dogs. It's like children get nets when they go to school. Exactly when they go to school. They don't tend to get them at home so much. And just because dogs, a lot of dogs, especially urban dogs, are just, they're not, they're not having that much interaction with other dogs that would probably lead to them getting fleas. Yeah. If our doggy fleas would, would a doggy flea attack a person kind of thing or, or they would? They would, they'd bite you. I don't think they would live on you. Right. So they could, it wouldn't take a residence in your hair, but they would, I think they would bite probably any warm blooded creature is probably fair game to a flea, but again, please not my area of expertise either. No, a staff, I'm strangely itchy now. I'll tell you something. I talked to us today. That was a staff russo there, a dog trainer and a canine behavior consultant, a staff and

9:14her daughter who were both there, a present for that interview. I've the wife on one side, says no, the dog on the other side, both snore in their heads off. I haven't slept in 13 years. Someone else says I woke up one morning with one of the cats in bed with me, head on my pillow. The interesting thing is that he's the most vocal cat in the history of cats. He knew if he made noise or anything, he wouldn't have got to the pillow. Yeah, we see they're sneaky like that. If she advises to let the dog in the bed when they're, are restless, is that not just creating a bad and breakable habit. Well, obviously, if you assume you let them in, they'll be trying to get in the whole time. Dogs are not meant for the bed. It says another taxer. It is surely wildly unhygienic to have a dog in the bed. Well, a staff argument is you heard there is that the big issue would be fleas and dogs don't tend to get fleas as much as cats might get fleas because cats wander in the place. Don't really agree, though it says this taxer.

10:17As my dog mizpickles a 15 year old rescue and tiny Jack Chi, sleeps with me, but when I have a disturbed sleep, she will get up and go downstairs and sleep on the couch, much to my other halves amusement. I'm a bloke by the way and I'm hoping the sheets will walk off the bed in Washington. Okay. Yeah, this may be, isn't it an issue? We had a Norwegian forest cat who lived in 19. One October came, she would start to sleep on our bed at night and expect a hot water bottle under the covers. We did it once and she never forgot says John. That cat was playing you like a piano. Cat owners treat their cats for fleas just the same as dog owners, rabbits spread at fleas a lot. Okay. So every, all the species are blaming each other. Monk Reef weekdays at 2 on News Talk. Conversation that counts.