Have I broken all the rules?

[notnotnee]

Got my new puppy last Friday and he is adorable. Put him to bed first night and the crying and yelping was unbearable so I let him in my bed. I know this is not the advice we are given but he is so tiny and I just feel awful leaving him.
As I am not bothered about having him in my bed, is it not OK to continue??

[georgedawes]

Course it is fine! It's not set in stone anyway, if you ever wanted to move the dog from your room I'm sure you could. When we got our dog (not a puppy but 1yr old) She slept in our room initially and now sleeps in a crate as she sleeps a bit better. People talk shit!

[notnotnee]

Thank you. That makes me feel a lot better. I may well move him out in time.

[TrionicLettuce]

Yep, there's no hard and fast rule that you must start as you mean to go on with puppies. They're so tiny when we bring them home and it's such a huge ask to expect them to go from being with mum and litter mates almost 24/7 to sleeping completely alone in a strange place. I'm amazed that's still often the advice that's doled out.

There's no reason at all you can't start with them close to you then, if you want to, train them to sleep elsewhere when they're a bit older and properly settled with you.

[LilCamper]

The most up to date advice is to let them sleep with you.

[NeedACleverNN]

Yes funnily enough the best advice is to have them in bed with you to begin with and slowly move them out if that's what you want to do.

Poor pup has just left all his mum and siblings, taking from everything he knows and plonked into a strange environment with new smells and new people. He will need as much comfort as you can give him.

Think of him as a baby and watch out for pee puddles in the bed

[Booboostwo]

Mine have all slept in the bed with us. As adults they have almost all chosen to continue sleeping with us. I have two rules for the dogs sleeping on my bed, no barking and no growling (e.g. the dogs have to accept the other dogs on the bed and they have to accept that we ask them to move over).

[gingerbreadmanm]

Ours had a night in with us when we first got him. Now he sleeps in his bed in a crate in our room. I wish we'd left him downstairs, massively inconvenient but we treat him like a baby so it's nice in a way too. He loves his mammy oops!

[notnotnee]

Oh thanks everyone for your comments. REALLY helps. I will continue with my bed and see how things pan out. Thanks again

[Daftaboutthecat]

Ours slept in bed with us for the first 3 nights while getting used to us and being away from his mum and littermates. Now happily sleeps in crate in kitchen so def go with what feels right for you.

[ImBrian]

My dog sleeps in a crate in my room and rhough he snoozes on my bed during the day as soon as he knows it's bed time he heads straight for his crate. My new pups coming home on Thursday and as I don't really have room for two crates I may let her on my bed (I'm right in thinking dogs can't share crates aren't I?)

[NeedACleverNN]

It's best to have two crates but you find them curled up in one. It's ok for them to share. It's not ok for you to make them iyswim

[Toooldtobearsed]

Ours both slept with us as pups. They now ( 2 and 1 yr old), come on the bed for cuddles until lights out, then they go off and sleep on the bed in the next room😂😂😂

[GreyHare]

I tried for weeks to settle the dog at night but by about 12 weeks I was frazzled so I let him in my bed, did the same with the second dog, but it all became a bit of a squeeze when she became fully grown so we have the dogs sleeping in the hall now and a baby gate up at the bedroom door and we all sleep happily in our beds. So don't panic you can move them out of the bed at a later date.

[WaitrosePigeon]

My dog always slept with me. We are picking up a new dog tomorrow and he'll be sleeping with me too!

[ChardonnayKnickertonSmythe]

I've never had puppies sleep on the bed, just won ups dogs.

Won't a pup wee on the bed?

[ElenaSummer]

Fantastic thread OP!

I have just convinced DH we will have our pup in our room from the start so I have 2 crates .

I had ruled out sleeping on the bed as I am worried about them having accidents until they are fully toilet trained......

[pigsDOfly]

My dog didn't sleep with me when she was tiny, she slept in her crate but was fine there and happily slept through the night from the word go.

Can't remember when she started sleeping on my bed (she's five years old now) but I love settling down with her when I go to bed; she has her spot that she starts out on every night and I have my spot. It makes me happy to have her there when I go to sleep :)

[GreyHare]

Chardonnay no they never messed or weed on the bed as I woke up if/when they stirred so I could quickly whip them outside for a wee or poop and then straight back to bed, plus they would sleep for 5 - 6 hours on the bed but wouldn't go longer than 3 - 4 hours in the crate.

[NoahVale]

we had to as our dog always pood and weed in the kitchen. now sleeps at the foot of our bed. occasionally sleeps on a bed in another room but 99.9% of the time wakes me to come in with me

[Dieu]

My baby boy pup slept on my bed from the beginning. Like you, it felt like the wrong thing to do at the time! I remember changing my duvet cover for the first time, and seeing all the yellow stains on the duvet! I mean c'mon, he wasn't toilet trained, so what in God's name did I think was going to happen?!? Talk about naive … I then took to sleeping with waterproof backed picnic blankets on my bed, which rustled all night long. I am SOOOO glad he's toilet trained now! And thank goodness I'm a single mum, as I don't think any man on the planet would have put up with the situation!

[Lighteningirll]

My ddog slept on in our bed from night one dh cracked first at about one o clock. Depending on weather ddog now sleeps either in front of the log burner, on his blanket on the end of the bed, or under the covers, or under the covers head on the pillow between us. The only time he was made to sleep on his own he got so distressed he vomited. There aren't any rules do what suits you and your dog.

[coffeetasteslikeshit]

Mine have always slept in the bed. I couldn't leave them to cry it broke my heart that they missed their mum's.

[TheoriginalLEM]

my dog sleeps IN our bed i wouldn't have it any other way.

[Thattimeofyearagain]

We tried to keep our ddog in a crate or downstairs, lasted 9 months of broken nights. He now sleeps in our room on our bed

[hoxty]

Mine comes to bed with me to make sure I'm safe. He then either sleeps on bed, armchair or sometimes sprawled on the floor of bedroom. The huge fluffy idiot 😍.