Is there any reason why I shouldn't let Orwell sleep with me in my bed?

[Kaitee and Orwell]

Is there some sort of behavioral consequence that I'm not aware of that will result from him sleeping with me? My intuition says there isn't and it's just like a pack sleeping together and he will still regard me as alpha (which I would like to maintain because as my trainer puts it, "He'll always run for higher office," like her miniature poodle). I just want to make sure that this is okay and I'm not missing something.

The reason I ask is because the past two nights I've been transitioning him to sleep in my room from the laundry room. The first night was not fun-- not terrible, but could have been way better. He got up every hour to say hi to my guinea pig and whined a bit. Last night after he couldn't settle down on his own as quick as I would have liked him too (I was tired from the previous night, lol), I invited him on the bed. He wasn't sure why, so I had to wrestle with him a bit to get him to lay down and after that something clicked for him and finally knew that I was trying to sleep, so he should sleep too. I didn't invite him the first night because I knew he liked to sleep on the tile floor in the laundry room (he wouldn't use his bed). And my yellow lab, Bonny, preferred to sleep in her bed beside my bed, so I haven't dealt with this before. 

I don't mind him being on my bed, because I surround myself with pillows to help me feel more surrounded and secure in my bed anyway. He was a great sleeping partner last night except for when my fish had a short midnight squabble (they don't normally do this, but of all the nights...) in their tank and he barked and growled feeling the need to protect me, lol. He never left the bed, but kept close watch in the dark for about an hour before he decided that it was completely safe again and went back to sleep. I figure it will just take him time to get used to the new sounds. He's been in my room multiple times before, but he's more aware of things now and it doesn't help that he is super tall. 

Anyway... just wanted to make sure that I didn't do something that I might regret later.

[Kaitee and Orwell]

We'll see what Orwell really prefers as he matures, but my fiancee is okay with him sleeping with us. We're just going to need a bigger bed when we move out, lol.

But... when my fiancee gets his dog, we might have to rethink the sleeping arrangements because he also likes big dogs and he's leaning towards getting a Saint Bernard. 

[Nancy & Echo]

I have no personal experience, but

Snoring, Kicking, Cover-Hogging Pets

Which brings up another problem with sharing the bed with a pet -- they can disturb your sleep. A study released by the Mayo Clinic Sleep Disorders Center found that about half the patients in the study had a dog or cat, and 53% of those pet owners said their pets disturbed their sleep in some way nightly.

"I’ve had patients that I’ve spent visit after visit going over their insomnia problems, trying to figure out what’s happening, then I find out they have a dog that’s scratching all night," says Lisa Shives, MD, medical director of Northshore Sleep Medicine, a sleep center outside Chicago,

Shives recommends that people who have difficulty sleeping consider keeping pets out of the bedroom.

Can Pets Help Sleep?

But for people with no problem falling or staying asleep, Shives says it’s fine to allow a dog or cat in the bed.

"There are all kinds of medical benefits to having a pet," says Shives, who sleeps with her 45-pound dog. "And some people might feel safer or calmer with a dog in their bed."

http://pets.webmd.com/features/pets-in-your-bed?page=2

[Jennifer and Jack]

Jack slept in his crate close to a year. I didn't want him to stay in there. I didn't want to waste precious time we could be bonding . He is so smart. He will stay doing his thing while I am looking at Internet or watching tv but as soon as I lay down to actually go t sleep he comes and snuggles with me..... I run his belly until I fall asleep and he calms me a lot .

He is not dominate over me at all but he tries to dominate bigger dogs......

I don't think Imwould ever not let a dog sleep with me unless I had too many for us all to fit.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

My dogs have free range of our house at night and often end up in our bedroom. Fudge likes to sleep with us, but Vern prefers his own bed and switches places throughout the night. I don't think there is a thing wrong with sleeping with your dog. 

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

Bailey and Bruin "can" sleep with us but would rather sleep on the floor where it's cool but as soon as my DH leaves for work, Bailey is on his pillow and Bruin is next to me. 

[Christine & Shelby]

My Shelby started sleeping out of the crate and in my bedroom at about 6 months. She is allowed on the bed... But I find she moves around (especially right when we go to bed) between under the bed, her dog bed, the tile floor in the bathroom or on the bed. However... Without fail, she is on the bed when I wake up in the morning. I am fortunate that i don't wake up often due to her being in bed with me.... Occasionally she will be running in her sleep or making noise that will wake me, but that is rare and honestly adorable. I like having her near me although on the two or three occasions in 5 years that she has woken me up with her very intense alert bark... I did take notice, And I have really come to appreciate my "doodle early alert system" in the event something is going on outside or someone has approached the house.

[Julie, Eloise & Beasley]

I think Eloise slept in her crate until she was around 9 months. Like you, I was a little hesitant about her thinking she was "top dog"...but once I let her up there, I wished I'd done it sooner.  Neither of mine have any dominance issues, so like others have said, I think it's perfectly fine.  Beasley was in her nighttime crate until she was about 6 months, but I didn't let her on the bed while I was sleeping for another couple months, because she can be a bit of a bull in a china shop.  I didn't want her disrupting my sleep.

I prefer Eloise to be on the bed, and 98% of the time she'll start out there but doesn't always stay.  In the warmer months, she likes the cooler floor so she'll jump down to her bed sometime during the night.  Eloise is stealthy and gentle and never wakes me up - and she has to go over me to jump down.  Beasley always, always, ALWAYS wants to be by my side, so she stays up there all night, no matter what.  Also, Eloise will snuggle up against me, but she absolutely does not want Beasley touching her while she sleeps.  If Beasley snuggles up to her, Eloise goes flying off the bed much sooner - sort of like, "ack, she's touching me!"  Even though I'd rather make Beasley get on the floor to keep Eloise up there (that sounds terrible!), I can't refuse Beasley cuddles.  And Beasley has learned to be more gentle...for instance, she no longer just steps on me when she's moving around, lol.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Right or wrong, I started letting Finn sleep on the bed as a pup.  He'd lay in his crate forever, just staring out the door, never barking but not sleeping either.  In the morning after he went outside, he'd make a beeline back upstairs and bury himself in a pile of old clothes in the closet and fall dead asleep.  I decided to bring him up on the bed and he was happy as a clam.  One time did he wake up and saw himself in the mirror across the room and went ballistic. Now that he's older, he is sometimes cooler on the floor. But we coexist like a small pack :) I'd say do whatever feels right for you.

[Kaitee and Orwell]

One of my therapists also starts his dogs off sleeping with him right away. He says it is a sure-fire way to guarantee that the pup won't pee during the night.

I thought about it, but my mom doesn't really like the idea of a dog on a bed. I told her today that he slept with me and she was fine with it, surprisingly.

[Kris and Sawyer]

Sawyer likes to be on our bed, but rarely sleeps there. He puts himself to sleep every night around 10pm, by going under our bed. During the early evening he likes to be on the bed if I'm in there, he will cuddle up on my husband's side. When my husband comes in, all he does is give Sawyer that "look" and Sawyer obediently moves to the foot of the bed! He knows who the boss is!

[Stacy]

All of my dogs have slept with me and I would be devastated if they didn't want to. Katie started sleeping with me on night 1 at 8 weeks old. I admit I had to change the sheets in the middle of the night a few times and that waterproof mattress pad was a lifesaver. But I never regretted it or stopped doing it. I work long shifts 3 days a week and especially on those days I feel like sleeping counts as together time. Katie doesn't get on or off the bed by herself (she is capable, but I never really encouraged her to do it herself) so I don't worry about her getting in trouble at night. 

I'm sure that my sleep is sometimes disturbed by her, but I'm more disturbed by her absence. It feels like there's something wrong when she's not there. And I've never experienced any behavioral issues from that. I have some behavioral issues, but I'm pretty sure it's because I'm a terrible trainer! 

[Rebecca, Kandy & Murphy]

Both Kandy and Murphy sleep with us.  Two large dogs, two large people -- can be challenging at times but they are happy and so are we.  That said, once you start having them sleep with you, they tend to want to keep doing so and there are times when you might not want to share your bed with the dog...  We have had a couple of times when "off the bed" was an interesting wrestling match and a couple of times when they returned before they were welcome...  So, before you start this, be sure you have thought through the consequences for your life!