Should Your Dog Sleep in Your Bed? What Studies Show About Sleep, Hygiene and Dominance

In brief

Whether a dog should sleep in the bed is one of the most common everyday questions. The evidence is limited, but it supports a few clear statements. First: dogs in the bed are common; in a large Australian survey, almost every second dog slept in its owner’s bed. Second: measured objectively, people sleep slightly less efficiently with a dog on the bed than with a dog in the room, but the difference tends to be mild, and in surveys many people don’t experience a dog in the bed as a disturbance. Third: the idea that a dog in the bed is trying to take over the pack hierarchy doesn’t hold up to research. Fourth: health risks from pathogens are rare but documented, and stricter rules apply to young children and people with weakened immune systems.

This guide shows what measurements and surveys say, how dogs themselves sleep, what to watch for with hygiene and children, and how to teach your dog to come up onto the bed when invited and to get off on a cue.

1. How common is it for dogs to sleep in the bed?

In a survey of 1,136 dog owners in Australia, 49 percent said they slept with their dog in their bed. For another 20 percent, the dog slept in the bedroom but not in the bed, and for 31 percent outside the bedroom (Hoffman et al., 2021). People who were older, had a larger bed, a smaller dog or no human bed partner were more likely to share the bed with their dog.

In an online survey of 962 women in the United States, 55 percent shared their bed with at least one dog and 31 percent with at least one cat (Hoffman et al., 2018).

Dogs seek closeness, too. In a large UK longitudinal study, owners described their dogs’ sleeping behavior at 16 weeks (2,332 dogs) and at twelve months (1,091 dogs). Of the dogs that had access to people at night, almost 87 percent at both ages slept near them (Kinsman et al., 2020). These are owner reports, not measurements.

2. Do you sleep worse with your dog in the bed?

2.1 What measurements show

Patel et al. (2017) fitted 40 healthy adults without sleep disorders, mostly women, and their dogs with activity monitors for seven nights. On average, the people’s sleep efficiency was 81 percent. When the dog was on the bed, however, it was lower than when the dog simply slept in the room. The authors conclude that a dog in the bedroom does not necessarily disturb sleep, but that the dog’s position on or off the bed makes a difference.

Smith et al. (2018) monitored five women in Australia and their dogs, who slept in the same bed, in the same way for seven nights. The dogs were active for about a fifth of the night, and during that time the women were awake considerably more often than during the dogs’ rest phases. The authors describe measurable but relatively mild reductions in sleep quality that need to be weighed against the benefits of sleeping together.

2.2 What surveys show

In an analysis of the Australian Sealy Sleep Census with more than 10,000 participants, ten percent slept together with a pet. Compared with people of the same age and sex without a pet, they took longer to fall asleep and were more likely to wake up tired. There was no difference, however, in total sleep length or daytime tiredness (Smith et al., 2014). This survey covered pets in general, not just dogs.

In the survey of US women, there was no strong relationship between pet ownership or bedsharing and sleep quality as measured with a standard questionnaire. Dogs in the bed were perceived as less disruptive than human bed partners and were associated with stronger feelings of comfort and security (Hoffman et al., 2018).

In the large 2021 Australian survey, whether the dog slept in the bed was not associated with self-reported sleep quality. Owners whose dog slept elsewhere were actually more likely to report frequently waking up tired (Hoffman et al., 2021). Among 74 pet owners seen at a sleep center in the United States, more than half let their pets sleep in the bedroom; 20 percent described their pets as disruptive, and 41 percent as unobtrusive or even beneficial to sleep (Krahn et al., 2015).

2.3 Measured and perceived sleep aren’t the same

The measurement studies find mild disturbances, the surveys often find none. That isn’t necessarily a contradiction. Smith et al. (2018) describe exactly this gap between measurement and self-assessment: brief awakenings you don’t remember in the morning show up in the data but not in how you feel. Conversely, closeness may be worth more to many people than a few percentage points of sleep efficiency.

If you sleep well, these studies give no compelling reason to move your dog out of the bed. If you sleep poorly, your dog is one factor you can look at. The result from Patel et al. (2017) suggests a simple compromise: the dog in the bedroom, but on his own spot next to the bed.

3. How do dogs sleep?

Dog sleep is well studied. A review summarizes that dogs meet all the criteria of sleep, have a day-night rhythm and recurring sleep cycles, and that their sleep is shaped by their social and physical environment. In dogs, too, sleep is linked to memory performance (Bódizs et al., 2020).

👉 Sleep and learning in dogs

Baranyai et al. (2025) recorded nine family dogs sleeping twice in an unfamiliar environment, once with their owner present and once with a friendly but unfamiliar person. With the owner present, the dogs fell asleep faster, slept more efficiently and spent more time in non-REM sleep. This concerns an unfamiliar setting, not the bed at home, and the sample is very small.

What happens before sleep matters as well: after an unpleasant social experience, family dogs fell asleep faster and their sleep stages were distributed differently than after petting and play (Kis et al., 2017). That says nothing about the best place to sleep, but it does argue for a calm bedtime without conflict.

In practice: some dogs love the bed, others become restless there and move to the floor on their own during the night. Watch where your dog chooses to stay when he has the choice.

4. Hierarchy, resting places and separation

4.1 Is a dog in the bed trying to move up the hierarchy?

For a long time the rule was that a dog must never lie higher than his human, or he would become “dominant.” Bradshaw et al. (2009) critically reviewed the research. Their point is not that dominance relationships never occur between dogs, but that “dominance” is not a stable personality trait and should not be used as a catch-all explanation for everyday or problem behavior toward people. A dog most likely jumps onto the bed because it is soft, warm and close to his people.

👉 Why dominance fails as an explanation for dog behavior

4.2 When a dog guards the bed

It’s a different matter when a dog growls, freezes or snaps as soon as someone approaches the bed, wants to lie down or tries to send him off. That isn’t a rank problem but a form of resource guarding: the dog is defending something valuable to him, in this case his resting place. Guarding of resting places has been studied much less specifically than guarding of food or objects. Calling it resource guarding is therefore behaviorally and clinically plausible, but it is not backed by a large body of bed-specific research.

In practice: if your dog guards the bed, it’s off limits for now. Close the bedroom door so the situation doesn’t arise in the first place, and get professional support. A growl is an important warning that you should take seriously, not punish.

👉 Resource guarding in dogs

4.3 Does sleeping in the bed make a dog less independent?

A common worry is that a dog who sleeps with his people won’t be able to stay home alone. There is no controlled study testing whether sleeping together causes separation problems. There is an older retrospective survey of 737 dogs in which dogs that slept near their owners showed separation-related problems and competitive aggression more often (Jagoe & Serpell, 1996). That is an association, and the direction is open. A dog with separation stress may be allowed to sleep close to his people precisely because he would otherwise suffer; in that case, the sleeping place would be a consequence, not a cause.

In practice: your dog learns to stay home alone through separate, gradual training during the day, not through where he sleeps at night.

👉 Teaching your dog to be home alone

5. Hygiene and health

5.1 Pathogens in the bed

In a review based mainly on case reports, Chomel and Sun (2011) compiled disease transmission linked to sleeping together, kissing or licking. Among the cases described are infections with bacteria from a dog’s mouth after licking, recurrent infections with resistant staphylococci in a couple whose dog slept in their bed and licked their faces, and fleas that can get into the bed via the dog.

The authors stress that such infections are uncommon but documented. They advise extra caution with very close contact for young children, immunocompromised people and open wounds. Open skin that has been licked should be cleaned, and effective ectoparasite control and regular veterinary care are important. Parasite control should be tailored to age, lifestyle, travel and feeding risk; this review does not justify a one-size-fits-all deworming schedule.

In practice: if your dog sleeps in the bed, parasite and tick prevention tailored to his individual risk and regularly washed bedding are part of the deal. During tick season, check him over before he comes to bed.

👉 Tick prevention for dogs

👉 Deworming or fecal testing?

5.2 Allergies and asthma

In practice: if you are allergic to dogs or have asthma, you spend hours in bed close to hair and dander. The bedroom is then often the first room that should stay dog-free. Discuss this with your doctor.

6. Children and a dog in the bed

Children come into this question in two ways: as people who want to sleep with the dog in the bed, and as people who get too close to a sleeping dog.

In a veterinary-clinic-based study from Kingston and San Francisco, sleeping in a family member’s bedroom was associated with a higher risk of non-play bites only in Kingston, not in San Francisco (Messam et al., 2008). That argues against a simple causal interpretation: the sleeping location itself was not shown to cause bites, and context or other population differences may matter.

In practice: a sleeping dog with a child leaning over him is a typical high-risk situation. If young children live in the household, the dog needs a sleeping place the child can’t reach, and a child’s bed is no place for the dog.

7. When a dog in the bed works well and when it doesn’t

In practice: whether your dog should sleep in the bed isn’t a question of right or wrong, but of circumstances.

• It usually works well if you sleep well, your dog lies quietly, gets off on cue and doesn’t object when someone moves or lies down, and if parasite prevention and hygiene are in place.
• Better not if your dog guards the bed or closeness to a particular person. Training comes first, and the bed stays off limits until then.
• Better not for puppies during house training. A spot next to the bed is better, so you notice when he gets restless and can take him out before he jumps down and relieves himself in the room.
• With a ramp or steps for older or small dogs and for dogs with joint or back problems. If a dog suddenly no longer wants to jump onto the bed, he may be in pain.
• Better not with young children in the bed or for people with weakened immune systems.
• Better not with allergies or asthma, unless you have agreed otherwise with your doctor.
• Better not if you sleep poorly. In that case, try a spot of his own next to the bed.

👉 House training a puppy

8. By invitation, not self-service: the training

In practice: you decide whether your dog is allowed on the bed. That has nothing to do with hierarchy, just with clear agreements. A simple system works well: the dog comes up when invited, gets off on a cue, and has an attractive spot of his own where he likes to lie just as much.

8.1 A spot of his own that pays off

In practice: put a blanket or dog bed next to your bed, reward your dog calmly when he lies down there, and leave him in peace there. A place where he is never disturbed is just as valuable to many dogs as the bed.

👉 Teaching your dog to settle

8.2 A cue for “off”

In practice: practice “off” during the day first, for example on the sofa. Say the cue once, lure your dog onto the floor and reward him there, ideally on his own spot. After a few repetitions the cue is enough. Getting off has to pay off; if “off” only ever means the end of something nice, your dog will become more hesitant.

8.3 An invitation for “up”

In practice: if your dog is allowed on the bed, invite him, for example by patting the mattress. If he comes up uninvited, send him off in a friendly way and invite him shortly afterwards. Rules like “only at the foot of the bed” work well as long as everyone in the household handles them the same way.

8.4 Your dog can say no, too

In practice: agreements work both ways. If your dog gets off the bed during the night or turns away when you cuddle up to him, that is an answer. Give him space and don’t pull him toward you when he moves away.

8.5 What to avoid

Scolding or shoving can drive a dog off the bed, and in the moment it often works. The question is what he learns from it, and at what cost. If he experiences a hand, or a person leaning over him, as trouble on the bed, he may start to fend off that approach. Calm, rewarded cues and a bedroom door that stays closed when needed are the safer route.

9. A note on the evidence

There are only a few studies on how people sleep with a dog in the bed. The measurement studies are small: 40 healthy adults, mostly women, from a sleep center in the United States (Patel et al., 2017) and five women in Australia (Smith et al., 2018). Both used activity monitors, not laboratory sleep recordings. The surveys are larger but rely on self-report and show associations, not causes; one included only US women (Hoffman et al., 2018), two come from Australia (Smith et al., 2014; Hoffman et al., 2021), one involved patients at a sleep center (Krahn et al., 2015), and some covered pets in general.

The studies on dog sleep (Bódizs et al., 2020; Kis et al., 2017) were not designed to answer the bed question; the owner-presence study included nine dogs in an unfamiliar environment (Baranyai et al., 2025). The data on where young dogs sleep come from owners (Kinsman et al., 2020). The review on pathogens relies mainly on case reports (Chomel & Sun, 2011). The data on bites (Messam et al., 2008) and on separation problems (Jagoe & Serpell, 1996) come from retrospective studies with unclear direction. There are no targeted studies on guarding of resting places or on whether sleeping together causes separation problems. The training steps and the decision guide in this article are therefore marked as practical experience.

10. Conclusion

Whether your dog should sleep in your bed is mainly a question of your sleep, your health and your agreements, not of hierarchy. Research finds mild, measurable sleep disturbances, but many people experience a dog in the bed as pleasant. What matters more is hygiene, a careful look at children, and whether your dog shares the bed in a relaxed way or guards it.

The three things that make the difference:

Pay attention to your own sleep. If you sleep poorly, try a spot of his own next to the bed.

Clear agreements instead of hierarchy. Up by invitation, off on a cue, and a spot of his own that pays off.

Keep health in mind. Parasite prevention, hygiene, a ramp for older dogs, and no dog in the bed with young children or a weakened immune system.

Key takeaways on letting your dog sleep in your bed

Dogs in the bed are common. In a survey of 1,136 Australian dog owners, 49 percent slept with their dog in their bed (Hoffman et al., 2021).

Dog on the bed, slightly lower sleep efficiency. In 40 healthy adults, measured sleep efficiency was lower when the dog was on the bed rather than just in the room (Patel et al., 2017).

Measurable but mild disturbances. In a study of five women, people were awake considerably more often while the dog was active (Smith et al., 2018).

Often no perceived downside. Dogs in the bed were perceived as less disruptive than human partners and were associated with more feelings of security (Hoffman et al., 2018).

The bed does not make a dog “higher ranking.” Dominance relationships are no argument for keeping dogs off the bed as a rule; “dominance” is not a stable personality trait and does not serve as a blanket explanation for problem behavior toward people (Bradshaw et al., 2009).

Infections are rare but documented. With young children, immunocompromised people and open wounds, extra caution with very close contact makes sense (Chomel & Sun, 2011).

Working on a behavior problem with your dog? Our step-by-step dog behavior workbooks cover leash reactivity, being left alone, resource guarding, two-dog households, barking at passersby and noise fear.

References

• Baranyai, L., Iotchev, I., Gombos, F., & Kis, A. (2025). Family dogs’ sleep macrostructure reflects worsened sleep quality when sleeping in the absence of their owners: A non-invasive polysomnography study. Animals, 15(21), Article 3182. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15213182
• Bódizs, R., Kis, A., Gácsi, M., & Topál, J. (2020). Sleep in the dog: Comparative, behavioral and translational relevance. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 33, 25–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.12.006
• Bradshaw, J. W. S., Blackwell, E. J., & Casey, R. A. (2009). Dominance in domestic dogs – Useful construct or bad habit? Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 4(3), 135–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2008.08.004
• Chomel, B. B., & Sun, B. (2011). Zoonoses in the bedroom. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 17(2), 167–172. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1702.101070
• Hoffman, C. L., Stutz, K., & Vasilopoulos, T. (2018). An examination of adult women’s sleep quality and sleep routines in relation to pet ownership and bedsharing. Anthrozoös, 31(6), 711–725. https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2018.1529354
• Hoffman, C. L., Hazelton, P. C., & Smith, B. P. (2021). Human-animal co-sleeping practices among Australian dog owners. Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, 2021, hai.2021.0028. https://doi.org/10.1079/hai.2021.0028
• Jagoe, A., & Serpell, J. (1996). Owner characteristics and interactions and the prevalence of canine behaviour problems. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 47(1–2), 31–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-1591(95)01008-4
• Kinsman, R., Owczarczak-Garstecka, S., Casey, R., Knowles, T., Tasker, S., Woodward, J., Da Costa, R., & Murray, J. (2020). Sleep duration and behaviours: A descriptive analysis of a cohort of dogs up to 12 months of age. Animals, 10(7), Article 1172. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10071172
• Kis, A., Gergely, A., Galambos, Á., Abdai, J., Gombos, F., Bódizs, R., & Topál, J. (2017). Sleep macrostructure is modulated by positive and negative social experience in adult pet dogs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 284(1865), Article 20171883. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2017.1883
• Krahn, L. E., Tovar, M. D., & Miller, B. (2015). Are pets in the bedroom a problem? Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 90(12), 1663–1665. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2015.08.012
• Messam, L. L., Kass, P. H., Chomel, B. B., & Hart, L. A. (2008). The human-canine environment: A risk factor for non-play bites? The Veterinary Journal, 177(2), 205–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2007.08.020
• Patel, S. I., Miller, B. W., Kosiorek, H. E., Parish, J. M., Lyng, P. J., & Krahn, L. E. (2017). The effect of dogs on human sleep in the home sleep environment. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 92(9), 1368–1372. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2017.06.014
• Smith, B., Thompson, K., Clarkson, L., & Dawson, D. (2014). The prevalence and implications of human–animal co-sleeping in an Australian sample. Anthrozoös, 27(4), 543–551. https://doi.org/10.2752/089279314X14072268687880
• Smith, B. P., Browne, M., Mack, J., & Kontou, T. G. (2018). An exploratory study of human–dog co-sleeping using actigraphy: Do dogs disrupt their owner’s sleep? Anthrozoös, 31(6), 727–740. https://doi.org/10.1080/08927936.2018.1529355

Note: This guide does not replace individual advice. If your dog guards the bed or a resting place, is suddenly restless at night or no longer wants to jump onto the bed, have him examined by a veterinarian and get professional support. For your own sleep problems, allergies or a weakened immune system, talk to your doctor.

Frequently asked questions about dogs sleeping in the bed

Sleep, health and training