5 Tips For A Good Night Sleep With Your Dog

There are many pros and cons to having your dog sleep at the end of the bed. If you have a small dog, you might not have many problems, but if you have a large dog, things may not go so well.

Here are our tips for how to get a good night’s rest when sleeping with a dog on the bed!

1. In This Post:

   • Exercise Your Pet
   • Change Bedding Regularly
   • Feed Your Dog Well
   • Make Sure To Toilet Your Dog
   • Use A Rug Instead

   Exercise Your Pet

Make sure you give your dog plenty of exercise so that it is ready to sleep through the night. Dogs need at least an hour of active exercise per day to ensure they don’t become restless at night. It’s especially good if you can take the dog out for a walk or run right before bedtime. He’ll be ready to sleep right through after that!

2. Change Bedding Regularly

Change the bedding regularly to ensure the sheets and covers are kept very clean. If you have a dog sleeping on the bed, we recommend changing the sheets at least twice a week. It’s also a good idea to have a specific quilt or blanket for your pet to lie on at the end of the bed. You may get away with changing the entire bed so often if the dog sticks to his blanket. See these patchwork quilts for examples.

3. Feed Your Dog Well

Make sure you are feeding your dog a healthy and nutritious diet. If your dog is being fed a poor diet, it may suffer from allergies, stomach problems, anxiety, or restlessness. Good food can help give a dog a good night’s sleep. Pet Plate is one example of a healthy meal delivery service for dogs – see this Pet Plate review for more information.

4. Make Sure To Toilet Your Dog

Don’t forget to put your dog out to the bathroom before bed. The last thing you want is to be woken up at 3am and have to let the dog outside to go to the toilet. Even worse, the dog might go toilet inside somewhere! Best to get it out the way before bed, and limit the amount of water they consume after that – a bit like a child!

5. Use A Rug Instead

If you can’t get a good night’s rest with the dog on your bed, don’t feel bad about putting it out in the kitchen, hall, or just on a rug in the bedroom. It’s more important for you to sleep well, than for your dog to sleep in a nice warm human bed! See our guide on how to choose the best rug for your bedroom, but keep in mind it may only be for the dog!

Those are our tips for how to survive the night with a dog in the bed. Like we said in the beginning, it may be better not to even try with a big dog – that’s a recipe for disaster. 

It’s great to have a dog nearby to alert us of anything suspicious, to keep us company, and provide companionship, but at the end of the day, they don’t have to be in the bed with us!