You Are Not Alone If Your Pet Sleeps In Your Bed
Do you fight for the covers on your bed when sleeping? More specifically, do you fight for the covers from your dog? Does your dog ( or dogs) force you to the edge of your bed and take up more room than you, resulting in an uncomfortable sleep session? How could this happen? If this is happening, you’re not alone; sleeping with a pet is a common routine in the United States.
The Statistics And Studies
The American Pet Products Association National Pet Owners Survey of 2021–2022 mentioned that 43 percent of pet dogs in the United States and 49 percent of pet cats sleep on their owner’s bed.
Another study in 2023 by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine found that approximately 46% of pet owners snuggle up with their pets at night. And many respondents mentioned that they experienced better sleep with a pet in bed, especially younger respondents.
The mattress company Sealy commissioned and found out that 54% of pet owners allowed this because the pets were considered family. (It was also discovered that 58% of people surveyed who were in relationships would rather sleep with their animals than their partner!) This same study found that 47% of people letting their pets sleep with them have an easier time settling down for their night when their cat or dog is there, while 42% said having their pet in bed made them feel more secure. And 51% of pet parents stated that having their pet in bed with them at night lowered anxiety and stress. Summary of this study here.
What You’ve Probably Experienced
Of course, if your dog has “puppymares” it could definitely disrupt your sleep. You never know what they’re chasing in their sleep – but it definitely awakens you the same as a child with a nightmare. This is to say nothing about the bruises you might find on yourself when you wake up in the morning from hind legs kicking you in the night.
And if their bedtime starts before yours, you have to awaken them and get them to move to try and get a section of bed for yourself.
Snoring can be another issue. If your dog is “sawing logs” and keeping you awake, you can be sure it’s during a night when you desperately need sleep due to a busy day starting in the morning. The only redeeming value is that you won’t wake up and find real sawdust on your bed.
How many times have you staked out your territory on the bed only to return from a trip to the bathroom and find a hound encroaching on it? Do you find fleas on your linens? Will your pet awaken and start barking at the slightest noise – even if it’s just the furnace starting or the ice cube maker in the fridge dumping ice?
So, there are reasons for and against sleeping with furry friends. I try to subscribe to the pros and ignor the cons. How about you? Give me a comment on your feelings.
The Poster
As usual I used the design program Kittl for my design.
The poster began with a 2 X 3 format artboard. I start out and make sure as I save it that I do so at 300 DPI for high resolution. I gave it a tan background of color BFA053. Then I asked the AI generator on the platform to render a “photo quality image of multiple dog breeds laying on a bed”. That’s the only prompt used, but it took 3 tries to get the image I liked. I inserted the image within a mask that cut the corners into sort of a rounded bevel. After centering the image I began with the text.
The typeface ( or font if you choose to call it that ) used was one called Gorilla. I Gave it a style called “rise”, which gave it its curves. To fit properly the top point size was 96 and the lower text was 84 point. Then I gave the text a black block shadow with offset of 6 and angle of -90. This was to contrast the text reddish color of F9521A.
Finally, the dog bones and paws elements were added. Black dog bones outlines and grey paws. I gave them slightly blurred shadows. I kept mostly to the center to trim the top and bottom for smaller poster sizes without missing anything important. Sometimes I add minor decorations in this area – this time I didn’t.
There it is. If this poster echoes something you experience, why not purchase one and hang in a bedroom? Or get one as a gift for a friend. Just click on the image above.
Check out my featured posters here.
Hotcakes The Bear Cub Poster and children’s story
Ed Kenzer has a BS degree in Business Administration from California State University Northridge. He has been a Realtor, a mortgage banker, and for a trade was an ASE certified (and General Motors) master automobile technician. He is now a content creator with over seven decades of everyday experiences to share.