For example, a dog with resource guarding issues might growl and bark to protect his sleeping spot on your bed. Sometimes, the issues are unrelated, and co-sleeping simply highlights already existing problem behavior. However, did the co-sleeping create the excessive attachment or did the dogвЂ™s excessive attachment cause the owner to let him into the bed? For example, a dog that shares his ownerвЂ™s bed might have problems with separation anxiety. While there can be a link between bed-sharing and behavior problems, itвЂ™s not known whether co-sleeping creates the problem or the problem leads to co-sleeping in the first place. For example, your dog will think heвЂ™s dominant to you or he will become spoiled. Urban myths abound about dogs sharing their humanвЂ™s sleeping spot. Dogs also stay alert for sounds, even when sleeping, which may make them lighter sleepers than their humans. One factor that may explain this difference is that dogs are polyphasic sleepers and average three sleep/wake cycles per nighttime hour, whereas humans are monophasic sleepers (one period of sleep over a 24-hour cycle). Previous studies have shown that owners sharing a bed with their pet report greater sleep disturbances than people whose pets did not sleep in their bed.

There is also the risk of transmission of disease, from both the dog to the human and the human to the dog. Human allergies can be aggravated, for example. ItвЂ™s true there are some health concerns related to co-sleeping with your dog.

Unfortunately, modern culture tends to focus on the negative aspects of co-sleeping rather than the benefits. For example, Aboriginal Australians often slept beside their dogs and/or dingoes for warmth and protection from evil spirits. In fact, some traditional cultures considered co-sleeping with animals as beneficial. The study pointed out that sleeping in the same bed or bedroom as our pets is not just a modern phenomenon. entitled вЂњ A Multispecies Approach to Co-Sleeping: Integrating Human-Animal Co-Sleeping Practices into Our Understanding of Human Sleep.вЂќ The researchers looked at the practice of allowing a dog to sleep in the bed or bedroom, comparing it with adult-child co-sleeping. The journal Human Nature recently published a study by Smith et al. However, according to recent research, there are many benefits to co-sleeping with your dog, and there is nothing to be ashamed of.

Even so, you have likely been told by at least one well-meaning person that your dog should sleep on the floor, in his crate, or in his own bed. Do you let your dog sleep in your bed with you at night? Research has shown that slightly less than one-half of all pet owners share their bed or bedroom with their pet.

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