People often tell me they know "you're not supposed to sleep with your dog," but my experience is that it can be pretty wonderful. And this is a very subjective topic. For some people the rule is: No dogs in the bed. And that's just fine (and I get it). It's a personal preference. But for me, coming from a home where my mom's rule was: "No dogs in the house, period', sleeping with my dog is awesome. But here's the caveat: If you're not respected as the sovereign leader of your pack (even if it's just a "pack of two"), you may have issues when it comes to sleeping together with Fluffy. I know of some disrespected dog owners who have actually been bitten in their sleep.

Leadership is based on some ground rules that are well understood by the subordinates in the pack. (That means, your dog.) Some of these ground rules and precepts are: You must stay away from me while I'm eating. Your food and toys are not "your" food and toys. They're mine. You cannot put a paw or a tooth on me. You cannot go through a doorway ahead of me. You cannot tell me what to do (unless it's to tell me "I need to go out to pee"). You cannot lead me on the leash. And a big one, especially as it applies to sleeping in the bed together, is: When I say "move," you have to skedaddle, as no higher ranking wolf would make way for a subordinate. If Fluffy knows her place in the pack as your "follower" because of consistent messages across the board about the pack hierarchy, you should have no problems with her in the bed, if that's what you want to do.

A native of Louisiana, SRQ Daily Columnist Gregg Flowers owns Dog's Best Friend Dog Training Services here in Sarasota, where he "teaches dogs and trains people." Gregg became fascinated by our relationship with dogs as a boy in the '60s, and by 1985 had developed his own unique style of working with dogs and their humans

http://www.floridadogtraining.net