Well, after 2 weeks of taking care of a GSP for a friend, I am tired of having a 90 lb dog, a 70 lb dog, and two 30 lb dogs sleeping on the full sized bed.
My question is, is it fair to ask dogs that have been allowed on the bed their whole life to get off? Will it cause too much confusion? What if I let one dog on a night and rotate who's turn it is? Will that cause a problem with the dogs?
Would I be able to teach them to only get up there if there is a certain sheet or blanket up there thats "just for dogs?" Or should I consistantly not allow them up there?
what we do
We have 6 dogs currrently and three of them sleep in a room (the "dogroom") with a babygate in the door, they have their beds a few chewtoys and their waterbowl. not that they ever use any of that during the night, but I like to know it's there.
The other (older) three dogs have the run of the house during the night. My bitch will sleep on a vetbed next to me, or in the foot-end of my bed. The two males will usually sleep one next to my hubbie and one in the hall.
But when we have a puppy it spends the first week or two in a small fenced of area (read a big box with open top) next to one of us, to help with housebreaking. and when the bitches go into heat they either sleep in the "dogroom" with the door closed (if both go into heat at the same time), or in some cases the older bitch sleeps in my office, if she is the only one in heat. We never have any problems with this, not even when we change things, like when a dog is in heat - well, apart from me - I have trouble falling asleep when my Anuke isn't there to warm my feet ;)
My point being: decide how you want things to work, then do it like that. Give the dogs something to chew on, and most dogs will happily adapt to our ways. You can alway make a gradual change by putting the crate in your bedroom at first