We started to get in a bad habit of having Wrigley sleep in our bed. This is something I thought I was going to stand strong on before we got him. I thought people were crazy who let their dogs take over their bed. I want my full bed and I didn't want his dog hair all over my sheets. Sounds like pretty good reasoning and that I wouldn't break right?
Well at first we would put him on the bed when we were just watching T.V. and then when we were ready to go to sleep move him to his crate. We also put him on the bed in the morning so that we could get more sleep time. My husband and I both enjoyed this since we got more time with him, he is always so cute snuggled up in the bed, and it was easy to move him to the crate in our room from the bed. But then Wrigley got used to being in a huge comfy bed, who can really blame him for that!
So once we put him in the crate he would stay there for a bit but then start to whine. We thought he had to go potty outside but instead he put his paws on our bed and we indulged him. Hey, it was 3am and it seemed way easier then listening to him whine. Wrigley curled right up next to us and went right to sleep. The slippery slope was in full slip.
Other problems that started was Husband wants him to sleep in the bed. So when I was gone one night the boys had a slumber party. Another time Husband and I fell asleep with Wrigley in the bed so he just stayed there through the night. I can see why Wrigley is confused when we do put him in the crate.
Somehow we (or I) have started to transition to having Wrigley sleep downstairs in his crate. He really does enjoy going to his play pen and sleeping in the bed that is in there. So if he is sleeping when we are ready to go upstairs I decided to just leave him. Of course Husband was sad about this decision since he wants him close to us. Other times he stays downstairs is if he is acting crazy upstairs and wont settle down. The play pen is a good way to contain him so I know he wont get into anything. Wrigley actually sleeps longer when he is downstairs which is a huge plus!
So hopefully we can stand strong on keeping him off the bed and in his own space. It is hard when he is so cute and we do enjoy him being with us but in the end I feel it is the right thing to do for us. Although I can see writing in a couple of months that he always sleeps with us now!
