I tried very very hard to get Ollie to sleep in his own bed when he was a puppy. And it worked. For about six months. Then I fell victim to his pathetic little puppy dog whines and sad little puppy dog eyes and he’s been sleeping in bed ever since.

Since I’ve had the pleasure of sleeping with a weiner dog for the last three years, I can assure you that the Top 10 Tips for Sleeping with a Dog are shockingly accurate.

10. Always take your pillow with you when making nocturnal bathroom visits. Otherwise, you will be laying on your arm when you return, as the dog will not be willing to return your pillow. (Dogs firmly believe in possession being nine-tenths of the law)

In our case, any pillows left unattended won’t become a mini feather bed, it’ll become a pile of feathers in the middle of the bed.

9. When the alarm goes off, shut it off quickly, as the noise disturbs your dog and he will immediately decide it is time to play and / or eat.

8. Make sure when you go to bed, you have all of the covers. This reduces the chances that by morning you will have none, and will be laying in a fetal position trying to stay warm.

Ollie is a million degrees when he sleeps. We don’t need the blankets anyway.

7. When the dog lays his nose on the pillow next to yours, and gazes deeply into your eyes, bury your head in the pillow, because he is getting ready to sneeze in your face.

6. Repositioning an uncooperative sleeping dog on your bed is akin to trying to move wet concrete! Older dogs have a lazy susan in their middles. No matter where you move them, their center point remains in the exact same spot.

The only way to move Ollie when he’s sleeping is to curl your arm around him and slide him over. Otherwise he’s like a Slinky.

5. Invest in a king-sized bed – it greatly reduces the human-on-the-floor syndrome. In lieu of a king-size bed – long fingernails facilitate hanging on to the side of the mattress for a good night’s sleep- it’s actually quite comfortable once you get used to it.

After my husband and I got married, we bought a king-sized bed within 6 months so we could all three sleep comfortably together.

4. When sleeping with spouse, you have monochrome snoring; sleeping with spouse and one dog results in snoring in stereo; spouse and 2 dogs gives you surround sound. It helps to have a spare bedroom.

3. Never go to the bathroom in the middle of the night unless you want to take older dog for a walk because he can’t make it down the back steps, and the younger dog immediately thinks it’s time to eat. All of this results in being fully awake. Spouse either sleeps through this entire episode, or it wakes him up and he’s grumpy.

2. If by some chance you can sneak out of the bed without disturbing anyone, better just settle in the lounge chair because there will be absolutely no space whatsoever in the bed. Everyone stretches out to take up the maximum surface area possible. If you push your way back in, you end up with a fully washed face and a 50 lb. dog lying on you trying to get fed early.

Ollie always steals the warm spot. Please see this post.

1. Proper etiquette requires that the dog sleep between you and your mate. Resistance is futile.

I think it’s fairly obvious that Ollie is spoiled and that I wouldn’t think twice about hiring a reputable dog walker to give him an extra bit of fresh air. Unfortunately, we live in the suburbs of Chicago. Not far enough away to be in the country but not close enough to downtown to have true city perks, like pet walking services Toronto.

VIP Sitters offers pet sitting, walking, grooming, transportation, and a slew of other services all provided by reputable pet professionals. Their mission includes satisfying all customers – pets included – and I love that. It’s like leaving your pet with family!

Safeguard the sanctity of our clients’ homes, nurture the pets we care for, and provide our customers with a personalized service, leading to complete peace of mind for our customers in their absence from their valued possessions. Our success is measured by the feedback we receive from our two & four legged customers, and we are proud to report that we have achieved our goal of leaving our customers with a smile or wiggling their tail.

I was laying in bed reading last night and I got up for one minute to grab a snack. When I came back, guess who was in my warm spot? He’s notorious for it.

I just so happened to be visiting New York City on Huey’s 1st birthday and got to participate in his birthday celebration! His big birthday including a special treat from Shake Shack, lots of toys and chewies, and a wardrobe of new doggie sweatshirts so he’s ready for winter!

Ollie even sent his special doggie birthday hat for Huey to wear.