Ollie had to be kept downstairs by a stair gate till he was at least 18 months old going up and down the stairs would not of been good for his joints.

We moved the stair gate by the time he was 2, he didn't come upstairs for ages then one night decided too and claimed the bed so we put a stop to that, it is hard to share even a king size bed with a bernese. He took to sleeping on the floor in out room, we didn't have a problem with that.

sometimes now he comes up with us at bed time and starts off in the bedroom then onto the landing and most early morning about 3am he decides to go downstairs how do I know this we currently have no carpet on the stairs and he makes a bit of a racket going up and down the stairs.

So they may not decide to come upstairs at all or it may take them a bit if time.. Eventually they find their own spot and I don't find it a problem Max always slept upstairs too.

Well...I left them downstairs as usual and left the gate open.Cosmo looked a bit suspicious! They stayed put.
Well they stayed put untiln 6 when I was Flat Coated by her ladyship, swiftly followed by Cosmo!
Cosmo jumped on the bed a few times...as did she but I told them no and they got down. My son got up for a wee...more excitement then they settled down, Cosmo lay by my side of the bed and Tango was in the hall or my son's room(carpet there for her you see..) I woke them up about 15 minutes ago That's unheard of!!!
So it was a sort of success. I will see how we go tonight and perhaps think of putting bed up here for them, even if it's just a bit of vet bed...we shall see.Poor Cosmo did look offended when I chucked him off the bed though bless him!

wooo they had a nice lay in then

Sounds like it might work. when the initial excitement is over they probably won't even bother to wake you up.

Poppy is allowed upstairs when we are home, but the baby gate is closed when we're out so she can't get up there. She has her bed just inside the door of the spare room where she can see my bedroom door and mum's bedroom door, but during the night she will move onto the landing so she is facing down the stairs and can see the front door.

She is not allowed to sleep on my bed as such, but occasionally at weekends she is put on my bed for an hour or so for a cuddle if we are having a lie in.

millie dosent even realise that the bathroom isnt for her....

i canbe in the bath and she comes in if im even more unlucky - she tries to get into the bath



OP
its entirely upto you, my dogs have free run, mil sleeps in my room and on my bed lol!... until she starts squrming and annoying me...and then she gets chucked off

Voted yes as mine have all my life been allowed to chose where they slept, but not on the furniture. We've had dogs since I was 5 & father's philosophy was always, why have a dog to guard your house & then shut them away so they can't.

i like having an area dog free
ATD x

Mine all sleep with me, on the bed unless they get too hot, [ two of them occasionally will move to the floor for that reason, for the other four there is no such thing as too hot over-riding the comfort of the bed ].
For me I like knowing that they are completely relaxed because of being in the place where I appear relaxed to them, I think it gives them the confidence to sleep deeply rather than sleeping lightly and waking instantly for the slightest reason. From the moment I get into bed they are settled for the duration, they don`t budge til I do, they wait for me to open my eye`s and start moving to get up before they get up themselves, they never disturb me without good reason ie noises outside which my Fluke will alert me to if he deems them to be of concern.
I have found it the fastest way for each new dog to settle in easily as they can see from those already there that it`s a `safe zone` as it were.
I don`t care a hoot about bedding having a doggy scent, [ my lot only ever seem to have a noticeable but normal scent if they have got wet and that wears off quick enough so I feel no need to be precious about it ], I spend all my time with them so don`t see a difference in `breathing` them when I`m awake to when I`m asleep

We never intended on letting Monty sleep upstairs with us but then after some thought i realised that when Rich went away onto his course and would only be home at weekends that I would prefer him in with me for security.

For a while he slept on the bed and we didn't get much sleep but as he got bigger there wasn't enough room for him and he took himself off to his own bed which is by my side of the bed.

He sleeps there nicely all night or he sleeps under our bed. In some ways i wish we'd persevered with making him sleep in the kitchen because now he cries if we leave him in there and come to bed.

The current situation works well for us and Monty knows that he has his own bed and can't take up ours even though he does sleep in Rich's side when he's away!!