letting sleeping dogs lie

[GobblersKnob]

Question inspired by the other thread, my children are taught not to disturb the dogs when they are asleep, something they mostly adhere to, however quite often the dogs will choose to go to sleep on them, (sighthounds always seeking the warmest spot) and when they do this I wouldn't stop them from continuing to strike them while they slept. I do this too and also rearrange them occasionally when we are sharing a couch or bed, neither of them ever appear to mind in the slightest, is all of this okay?

Mine are the same, but aren't allowed on the furniture, so can only snuggle up to dcs when/if they're on the floor, which helps limit it.

My rule is no dog and child are to be left in the same room if I am not in there, so I have a gate on the kitchen and the dogs go into the opposite room if I pop upstairs or something. It does mean I tend to store up things I have to do in another room, rather than pop in and out constantly disturbing the dogs to move them into the other room though - also wait far too long to visit the toilet sometimes.

To be honest, neither of my two mind being fussed/stroked while they sleep and actively seek out a human to stroke them to sleep, but I still reinforce the rule with the dcs, as you never know what might happen if they were ill or in pain and the dcs accidentally touched a sore spot etc.

So, basically the rule here is no dogs alone with dcs and never disturb or start stroking a dog that is sleeping, but in certain circumstances it's ok to continue to stroke a dog that deliberately cuddled up to you to sleep, as long as I am right there to supervise.

Your dogs are choosing to plonk themselves on your DC, not the other way round

If I have to disturb mine (I can think of an example when we were at my brothers and had to leave to collect DS), I talked very calmly to the puppy but made him very aware of that I was there, then gently lay my hands on him before picking him up. I did know that he growls a bit in this circumstance, you can pick up ddog1 whenever.

Both of mine will generally initiate cuddles when they want it, usually in the evening, then slink off to bed when they no longer want human contact.

Reckon all is fine with you guys.

Plus, all dogs have different tolerance thresholds, it's probably about respecting those

ps - my DC are teens, so do get left alone with the dogs, although I wouldn't let DS alone with a pan of boiling water, and he's nearly 15

... aaand as if to deliberately show me up, my eldest has just walked in from school and stuck his head under the dining table to say hello to Pip. He KNOWS that he should never approach the dogs in their beds, but he is 12, has ASD and needs constant reminders, particularly as he adores Pip so much.

Fortunately Pip is so laid-back and friendly and adores the dcs that it wasn't a problem, as he was half up coming to say hello to ds anyway, but I do regularly reinforce the rules - with accompanying stories of what could happen and why.

It is hard to get the dcs to understand when they've always lived with good-natured dogs that they've never seen show any sign of aggression. I tend to take the squeaky wheel approach and remind them of the rules and reasons - oh, about 50 times a day or so!

Ds and I have now had the 'never approach the dogs in their beds' conversation for the umpttillionth time this week and he says he's not going to do it again - ever ... until the next time.

Ds2(10) and dd(5) are thankfully much better at remembering and following the rules.

Thanks, that's okay then. I do leave the dcs with my older dog, but only for the length of time it would take to nip to the loo, they are sometimes all together in the living room when using am in the kitchen, but we are open plan and the two rooms are next to each other.

I have a question about cats and dogs.

My dcs know to leave the dog alone when sleeping and basically, ignore him unless he comes to you for cuddles.

But our kitten does not follow this rule. He will pounce on the dog, playing with his tail, paws, face, ears. The dog doesnt respond, he just lets the kitten do it but should i be preventing it? I kind of take the idea that the dog will move if he doesnt want the kitten doing it. Is this right?

I think dogs often afford kittens with the same license and they give to puppies, allowing them to get away with all manner of naughtiness etc that they'd never take off another adult dog.

If the dog lets the kitten do it, I would leave them be, at some point I'd guess the dog will decide enough's enough and tell the kitten off.

Yes that's what i'm thinking- i'm hoping the kitten will grow out of his naughty phase before the dog gets too impatient with him.

Yes, up to now my older dog has been super tolerant of new dog, almost as like us, he wanted to give her time to settle in. But in the last couple of days he has firmly told her of a couple of times once for continuously chewing his back legs when he was trying to sleep, and then last night for trying to steal his chew, amazingly she then went and got her own (identical piece of pizzle) and laid it carefully next to his head so he had two and she had none, she then just laid next to him and looked hard done by

that is very cute!

Aw Gobbler that is so cute, bless her.

Four sighthounds here, all liking beds and sofas. The four all vary considerably in their tolerance of sharing/being handled. Smallest female will camp on the bed and will stick on like a limpet while DH and I will wiggle about trying to get some room. One male gets grumpy if you disturb him while he is sleeping, but actually prefers to be snuggled while he goes to sleep. One male doesn't like sharing a bed but will happily lie full length on top of DH, pinning him to the sofa and looking soppily and adoringly up at his master. One female loves being cuddled on the sofa but prefers at night to make a nest with her extensive collection of cushions.

The two girls will often lie together on a bed, but rarely the two boys. One of the boys will with one of the girls. I could spend hrs doing Venn diagrams of it all.