Going by a 2017 Mayo Clinic study, dogs can usually sleep in your bed at a small cost in sleep for a healthy adult with a calm, healthy dog. I'd treat the exceptions as real, though. They include allergies or asthma, a baby or young child in the bed, a weakened immune system, and a dog that guards the bed.
Co-sleeping with a dog means the dog spends the night on your mattress, rather than in its own bed on the floor. I'm Michael Ruhr, and I co-own Merit Home Furniture, which has four stores on Vancouver Island. I sell beds, not veterinary or medical advice.
The health and behaviour answers below come from HealthLink BC, Asthma Canada, the Canadian Paediatric Society, the BC SPCA, a veterinary behaviour society and peer-reviewed studies. My part is the mattress itself: the mattress protectors Merit lists for our Duncan store, what a stain does to a warranty, and how tall a mattress stands. An older Merit post about keeping pets off a Tempur-Pedic mattress is folded in too. Those beds are carried at our Campbell River store.
Should dogs sleep in your bed, and who does it suit?
Whether a dog should share your bed depends on your health, the dog's health and temper, and how lightly you sleep. I haven't found a Canadian health body that gives a single yes or no, so the sections below take each part in turn.
When sharing the bed usually works
Adults without dog allergies or asthma, with a dog that's healthy, housetrained and calm when it's moved. It also helps to be a sleeper who isn't woken by every shift. In a 2017 Mayo Clinic study of 40 healthy adults, sleep stayed efficient with a dog in the bedroom, though it slipped when the dog was on the bed.
When the dog is better off the bed
A baby in the bed, or a young child left alone with the dog. Allergies or asthma that flare at night. A weakened immune system, from illness or from treatment. A dog that growls or snaps when someone moves.
Size plays a part too. On a queen, which is 60 inches wide on our Restwell listings, a large dog takes a real share of the mattress.
Letting your dog sleep in your bed: what the sleep studies found
Letting your dog sleep in your bed costs a little sleep, by the studies that have measured it, and in one study the owners rarely noticed. The research is small. Only one study is Canadian, and it looked at young people aged 11 to 17 in Montreal.
| Study | Who took part, and what it found |
|---|---|
| Patel and others, Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 2017 | 40 healthy adults and their dogs, each wearing a motion monitor for 7 nights. Average sleep efficiency was 81%, and it was lower when the dog was on the bed than when it was only in the room. |
| Hoffman, Browne and Smith, Animals, 2020 | 12 women and their dogs, 124 nights in all. Dog movement came with about 50% of the women's movements, yet the women rarely reported that the dog disturbed them. |
| Rowe and others, Sleep Health, 2021 | 188 youth aged 11 to 17, at Concordia University in Montreal. 34.6% shared a bed with a pet sometimes or often, and their sleep looked much like everyone else's. |
Sleep efficiency is the share of time in bed actually spent asleep. It says nothing about how the night's sleep cycles ran. The Mayo authors, with senior author Lois Krahn of Mayo Clinic in Arizona, concluded that a dog in the bedroom may not disturb sleep as much as had been suspected. They also found that the dog's spot, on the bed or off it, made a difference. The study left out dogs under 6 months and people with sleep disorders, so it says nothing about a puppy or about insomnia.
The 2020 study logged movement minute by minute. A dog's movement tripled the odds that a still sleeper started moving.
None of the three shows that sleeping with a dog helps or harms health over years. Each measured sleep over days or weeks. For anyone already short on sleep, the Mayo results leave room for a middle path: the dog in the bedroom, on a bed of its own.
Why dogs want to sleep in your bed
Dogs want your bed for the reasons a person would. It's warm and soft, it smells of you, and you're in it. Time apart may play a part as well, since the one study I found on dogs left alone suggests they notice how long they've been on their own.
A lot of training advice treats a dog on the bed as a dog claiming rank. The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior doesn't see it that way. Its position statement says dominance theory "should not be used as a general guide for behavior modification". By its account, most of what owners want to change was rewarded by accident, rather than being a bid for higher rank.
How long does 1 hour feel to a dog?
Nobody can say how an hour feels to a dog, but one study measured how dogs react to being left alone for different spells. Therese Rehn and Linda Keeling, of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, filmed twelve dogs left alone at home. Each dog was left for half an hour, 2 hours and 4 hours, on separate days (Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 2011).
The dogs behaved much the same while alone. At the owner's return, though, they were more active, more attentive and wagged more after 2 or 4 hours than after half an hour. The authors took that as a sign dogs are affected by how long they're left.
Dog allergies, asthma and germs in the bed
For dog allergies, HealthLink BC's advice is direct. Its page on controlling pet allergens says to keep your pet outside the house, or at least out of your bedroom. Dogs shed dead skin cells, called dander, which can set off wheezing, coughing, a stuffy nose or an eczema rash in people who are allergic.
The same page suggests grooming the pet often, and washing anything the pet has contact with, pet beds included. It says to clean the areas where pets sleep at least once a week. It also warns that once a pet is gone, "it may take many months before the change has a noticeable effect".
HealthLink BC's asthma page lists pet dander among the triggers of asthma attacks in people allergic to it. It also says that waking at night with a cough or short of breath is a sign of poorly controlled asthma.
Asthma Canada is firmer still for people whose asthma pets set off. It recommends keeping pets out of the bedroom, and it puts the share of children with asthma whose symptoms are triggered by pets at up to 50%. It also says there's no such thing as an allergy-free dog or cat, since every furred animal sheds dander.
Parasites and germs from a dog in the bed
The Canadian Paediatric Society says that in Canada, your chances of getting a disease from an animal are small. It still advises regular vet visits, the pet's vaccinations, and handwashing for the whole family after handling pets.
One detailed review is a 2011 paper by Bruno Chomel of the University of California, Davis, and Ben Sun of the California Department of Public Health. It ran in Emerging Infectious Diseases under the title "Zoonoses in the bedroom". Zoonoses are infections that pass between animals and people. The authors gathered case reports that tied sleeping with, kissing or being licked by pets to infections, Pasteurella and MRSA among them.
Case reports show what can happen, not how often it does. The authors' advice was to discourage young children and people with a weakened immune system from sharing a bed with pets. For every household, they recommended keeping pets free of fleas, dewormed and seen regularly by a vet. Their estimate of owners who let dogs or cats on the bed ran from 14% to 62%, from media surveys they warned may be unreliable.
The authors' own summary is that infections caught by sleeping with a pet are uncommon, though severe cases have been documented. Flea, tick and worm control for your own dog is a question for your vet.
Children, babies and a dog in the bed
For a baby, the answer doesn't depend on the dog. The Canadian Paediatric Society says a baby should sleep on their back in their own crib, cradle or bassinet. For the first 6 months, it recommends that the crib stand in the parents' room beside their bed. It warns that bed sharing raises a baby's risk of SIDS and suffocation. Its page doesn't mention pets, so a dog in the bedroom with a new baby is a question for your doctor or public health nurse.
For older children, the one Canadian study is reassuring. In the Concordia study of 188 youth, those who shared a bed with a pet slept much like those who didn't. The authors cautioned that their study can't prove cause and effect. Whether those kids get the hours children need by age is a separate question.
Young children are another matter, mostly because of bites. HealthLink BC says most animal bites happen to school-age children, and the dog is usually one the person knows. It says most injuries come from the dog being teased or bothered while eating or sleeping. The Canadian Paediatric Society's rule is to never leave a young child alone with an animal. A small child climbing into bed beside a sleeping dog fits both descriptions.
Bed guarding and other dog behaviour signs
Bed guarding is the dog behaviour sign the BC SPCA singles out when a dog sleeps on furniture.
What are signs your dog is protecting you?
A dog protecting you in bed, or protecting the bed itself, growls or snaps when someone comes near or tries to move it off. The BC SPCA calls this location guarding. Its handout suggests teaching an "off" cue so the dog gives up the spot willingly, and it says never to force a dog off furniture. For a dog already showing aggression, it recommends your veterinarian and a qualified trainer who works without punishment.
Startle bites are the other risk. The BC SPCA says some dogs snap and bite when they're suddenly woken. For a dog like that, its advice is to keep it out of your bed, and to call it to you rather than touch it awake.
Age brings its own changes. The same handout says a dog that turns aggressive when touched, after years of being fine with it, should see a veterinarian. A change in behaviour can be a sign of pain or illness.
Dog hair, accidents and the mattress warranty
With a dog on the bed, the mattress protector goes on before anything else, and the reason is in the warranty. Restwell is one of the two main mattress makers at our Duncan store. Its 2024 warranty brochure says that "any kind of staining will void the warranty". It also reserves the right to refuse service when a mattress is found soiled or unsanitary.
Restonic, the other, backs the Comfort Care beds on our listings with a 10-year non-prorated warranty. I couldn't find Restonic's Canadian warranty wording on stains online. Ask us to read you the card before counting on it.
A dog brings hair, dander, muddy paws and, now and then, an accident, whether from a puppy or an older dog. Every Health Guard protector Merit lists for Duncan says on its listing that it's waterproof, breathable and machine washable. Queen prices below are Merit's, before applicable taxes, and twin sizes start at $49.00.
| Health Guard protector | Queen price, and what the listing adds |
|---|---|
| Premium Terry | $69.00, terry towelling top |
| Cotton Touch | $109.00, cotton top |
| Tencel Dream | $129.00, a Tencel top the listing says wicks moisture |
| Active Charcoal | $189.00, a charcoal surface the listing says helps control odour and moisture |
| Organic Bamboo | $189.00, organic bamboo top |
| Bamboo Plus | $249.00, bamboo-blend top |
| Cool Ice | $249.00, a cooling top for hot sleepers |
For a dog, I'd pick one you won't mind washing weekly, the interval HealthLink BC gives for places pets sleep. With two, one is on the bed while the other dries. The same wash day is a chance for getting dog hair off your clothes. A protector is a small item, so we don't ship it. It's picked up free at the Duncan store, or added to a mattress or furniture delivery.
How the protector types differ, and what Sealy and Tempur-Pedic print about stains, are covered in our guide to choosing a mattress protector. What voids a warranty on the rest of the furniture we sell is set out in each maker's warranty terms, explained.
Can a dog sleep on a Tempur-Pedic mattress?
A dog can sleep on a Tempur-Pedic, but Tempur-Pedic's own advice is to protect the mattress first. Its page on puppy-proofing says its covers are removable but "aren't waterproof and won't protect the warranty on your mattress". It also suggests taking the dog out right before bedtime, keeping it bathed and brushed, and having it sleep on top of the covers.
The Tempur-Pedic mattresses are carried at our Campbell River store, where a call gets our best price. Ask there which waterproof protector suits the depth of the bed you choose. The beds, the bases they need and the full warranty are in our look at Tempur-Pedic's Align mattresses.
Bed height, dog steps and a dog bed beside yours
Bed height matters for a small or older dog that has to jump up. The top of the bed is the frame plus the mattress. Where our Duncan mattress listings give a height, it runs from 12 in to 16 in, and four of the beds are below. Queen prices are before applicable taxes.
| Mattress | Height, feel and queen price |
|---|---|
| Restwell Robin | 12 1/4 in, plush euro top, $899.00 |
| Restonic Minto | 12 1/2 in, firm, $888.00 |
| Restonic Prestige | 13 in, plush, $988.00 |
| Restonic Vernazza | 16 in, medium, $2,499.00 |
On the same frame, the Vernazza puts the top of the bed 3 3/4 in higher than the Robin.
Merit doesn't sell pet steps or ramps, so I won't point you to a model. A lower frame and a thinner mattress bring the top of the bed down from the other end. Whether the jump is hard on your own dog's joints is a question for your vet.
Width is the other number. A queen is 60 inches wide on the Robin's listing and a king is 76, so a king gives two people and a dog 16 more inches. The room each one needs is in our queen against king comparison.
A dog bed beside yours keeps the dog in the room, where the Mayo study found people kept good sleep efficiency, and off the mattress, where efficiency was lower. Merit doesn't list dog beds, and HealthLink BC's allergy page says pet beds should be washed regularly, whichever one you choose.
I couldn't find a Canadian health body that sets an age for a puppy to start sleeping on the bed. The Mayo study only enrolled dogs 6 months and older. Until a puppy is reliably housetrained, the protector does most of the work.
- Put the dog's own bed in the bedroom. Start with it beside yours, so the dog still sleeps near you.
- Take the dog out last thing. Tempur-Pedic's puppy advice is a trip outside right before bedtime.
- Wash the dog's bedding and the protector in the same week. HealthLink BC's interval for the places pets sleep is at least once a week.
- Ask for help if the dog guards the bed or won't settle. The BC SPCA points owners to a veterinarian and a qualified trainer who doesn't use punishment.
If a dog is going to share the bed, I'd buy the protector with the mattress and put it on before the first night. A stain from that first week stays with the mattress for the rest of its warranty.
Downsides of a dog in the bed, and when to call a doctor, 8-1-1 or 9-1-1
The downsides of a dog in the bed are lighter sleep, more dander where you breathe, and a warranty that a single stain can end. A few situations go past those and belong with a health professional. HealthLink BC's advice below takes priority over anything in this guide.
| What to do | When |
|---|---|
| Call 9-1-1 | Severe trouble breathing, such as breathing very fast, being unable to speak smoothly, or skin, lips or nail beds that stay pale, grey or bluish (HealthLink BC's asthma page). |
| Call your doctor now | Asthma symptoms that don't get better after following your asthma action plan, or new or worse trouble breathing (HealthLink BC). |
| Call your doctor or public health unit | A dog bite that breaks the skin (Canadian Paediatric Society). |
| Call your doctor | Signs of infection after a bite: more pain, swelling, warmth or redness, red streaks, pus draining, or a fever (HealthLink BC's list). |
| Book a visit | Waking at night coughing or short of breath, which HealthLink BC calls a sign of poorly controlled asthma, or allergy symptoms that seem worse with the dog in the bedroom. |
For help deciding, call 8-1-1 any time to reach HealthLink BC, or 7-1-1 for the deaf and hard of hearing. Anyone with a weakened immune system can ask their doctor whether the dog should sleep somewhere else. For a dog that guards, snaps or can't settle, the right call is a vet, not Merit or any furniture store.
Sources for the dog and bed figures
- Mayo Clinic Proceedings, Patel SI, Krahn LE and others, The Effect of Dogs on Human Sleep in the Home Sleep Environment, 92(9):1368-1372 (2017), PubMed 28870354, checked November 2026.
- Animals, Hoffman CL, Browne M and Smith BP, Human-Animal Co-Sleeping: an actigraphy-based assessment of dogs' impacts on women's nighttime movements, 10(2):278 (2020), PubMed 32054077, checked November 2026.
- Sleep Health, Rowe H, McGrath JJ and others, Concordia University, pet-human co-sleeping and sleep in children and adolescents, 7(3):324-331 (2021), PubMed 33935015, checked November 2026.
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Rehn T and Keeling L, The effect of time left alone at home on dog welfare, Applied Animal Behaviour Science 129:129-135 (2011), checked November 2026.
- Emerging Infectious Diseases, Chomel BB (University of California, Davis) and Sun B (California Department of Public Health), Zoonoses in the bedroom, 17(2):167-172 (2011), checked November 2026.
- American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior, Position Statement on the Use of Dominance Theory in Behavior Modification of Animals, checked November 2026.
- BC SPCA, Aggression to people: reducing and managing dog aggression towards people (location guarding, sleeping dogs), checked November 2026.
- HealthLink BC, Controlling Pet Allergens (current as of March 2, 2023), checked November 2026.
- Asthma Canada, Pets and Asthma, checked November 2026.
- HealthLink BC, Asthma in Teenagers and Adults, triggers and when to call, checked November 2026.
- HealthLink BC, Animal and Human Bites, who gets bitten and signs of infection (current as of November 9, 2022), checked November 2026.
- Canadian Paediatric Society, Caring for Kids, Healthy pets, healthy people (last updated January 2023), checked November 2026.
- Canadian Paediatric Society, Caring for Kids, Safe sleep for babies (last updated October 2021), checked November 2026.
- Restwell Sleep Products, Warranty Brochure 2024, stains and unsanitary condition, checked November 2026.
- Tempur-Pedic, Puppy-proofing your Tempur-Pedic, checked November 2026.
- Merit Home Furniture's live listings for the Health Guard mattress protectors, the Restwell and Restonic mattresses and the Tempur-Pedic mattresses' store list: prices, heights, sizes, warranties and store lists, read November 1, 2026. Also the Duncan store's delivery and pickup terms.
Mattresses and protectors for a dog-friendly bed in Duncan
You'll find Merit's Duncan store at 107 Ingram St, and it opens 9 to 5, Monday to Saturday. The Health Guard protectors and the Restwell and Restonic mattresses above are all listed for Duncan. Most of the beds there are display models, so a call ahead tells you which ones are set up to lie on. Nobody at Merit will trail you around the store, and taking a few days to decide is normal.
Delivery from Duncan is $150 across the Island, with setup included, and pickup at the store is free. The Tempur-Pedic beds are a call to our Campbell River store at (250) 286-0868.
Call the Duncan store, (250) 746-5527
Every protector we list sits with our waterproof protectors and mattress pads. The Duncan beds are in the whole Restwell range we list and every Restonic bed on our site. The rest of our guides on sizes, feel and care are on the mattress and sleep guides page.