[picaresque]

I live in a small flat (due to the layout in a converted Victorian terrace it’s effectively a two up, two down) and Gelly’s a good old boy so he has free roam.
When I go out he tends to take himself off upstairs to bed and doesn’t even wake up when I get home until I go to say hi.

 

[Soph x]

Originally Goose had the living room, landing and spare room. Then my partner knocked down the wall separating the living room and kitchen so it’s all open plan, so Goose then had access to the kitchen. She eats A N Y T H I N G so anytime I leave I always have to scan the counters to make sure there’s nothing close to the edge she can grab and eat.

Since we finished off her den, we’ve been closing the door to the spare room also. Next year we want to redo it so it’s a fully functioning spare room, as at the moment it’s a bit of a dumping ground while we refurb the house. So she now has access to living room, kitchen and landing.

Only supervised access to our bedroom, as my partner is an electrician so god knows what she’d find his side of the bed to eat. And I am prone to bringing drinks upstairs to take my tablets and then forgetting to take them down and I know 100% Goose would do something.

Doesn’t have access to the bathroom as the door can swing closed, and I just have the fear she’d walk in, nudge the door and get herself trapped in there and she’s scared of the dark so it would be hectic.

If my partner had it his way she’d only be allowed downstairs and wouldn’t be allowed to sleep in our bed. But ever since I’ve had Goose she’s always slept in bed, so I managed to win him over by saying it’s not fair to suddenly change it and also it’s getting cold so she needs to stay warm 😉

 

[Teddy-dog]

Penny is the first dog I'm not paranoid about the cats being accidentally left inside with the dogs. We did teach all the dogs that the cats were not prey, but I still never trusted them alone and always worried I'd accidentally leave a cat inside when we left the house. Now I purposefully leave the cat and dog home alone together. I have no evidence they interact while we're gone they seem to stick to their respective spaces but if they do, I have no worries about either of them. It's a weird feeling!

It is nice when you don’t have to worry! I don’t think Ted and the cat interact either, they very much have their own places and spaces to snooze in - though occasionally we’ll find them on our bed together (not snuggled up just at opposite ends). We left it a year to make sure Ted definitely knew that Eevee was not to be chased or played with ha! I don’t worry he’d hurt her anymore, they mostly ignore each other.

 

[Twiggy]

And why or why not?
No right or wrong answers, just thought it would be a fun way to talk about our dogs and different ways we do stuff.
Also partially inspired by @Jobeth with her white carpets

So, do your dogs have free access to the house? All rooms? Furniture?

We've done all sorts of combinations over the years. Ideally the dogs are allowed throughout the house mainly so I don't have to worry about making sure doors are closed or gates up. But realistically at times I've had to block parts of the house off. When we had rambunctious youngsters and an oldie, I gated the youngsters away from the oldie when I wasn't home. And of course idiot youngsters are crated or gated off until they can be trusted.

We've always bought pet-friendly furniture. Dogs allowed on sofas and beds. Though I don't particularly like having a dog in the bed with us, when the kids were little the dogs slept in their beds Penny starts on her bed and sneaks in to our bed at some point at night

Right now Penny has full run of the house and furniture except for one bedroom. We do have a couple rooms where the doors stay shut, but that's just because we don't heat or cool them, not necessarily to keep Penny out.
The bedroom is for our cat who I'm very slowly transitioning to an inside cat so his food and litterbox are in there. I have that room gated, Penny could jump the gate, I've seen her jump way higher, but fingers crossed this works so far.

What do you do with your dogs?

Yes pretty much full run of the bungalow. They have to stay in the kitchen for about 30 minutes after a walk this time of year as I don't fancy sitting on a wet sofa....LOL

 

[Happy Paws2]

We had a few rules when we had Amber no going in the kitchen when I was cooking and no going on the furniture, but with Dillon all rules were broken. The only rule we that we were firm with was no hanging round the table when we were eating, they had to lie on their bed until we had finished then they could come over and get a small treat.

 

[Leanne77]

When I first had dogs, they had access to the kitchen only as that was the way family dogs had always been kept. It wasn't until I joined forums I realised other people let dogs on the furniture etc. It was when Jed got ill that Mum let the dogs into the living room, so that I could keep an eye on him, and then they just stayed there.
Ritter has access to downstairs, strictly no access upstairs and definitely not on beds. Those are my Mum's rules but tbh, there's no way I'd want a dog on my bed anyway, my personal opinion is it's unhygenic because of the hair and the fact dogs coats do get oily and grimey, no matter how much they're groomed.
Not allowed on furniture either but that's a bit more of a relaxed rule. It's only when invited really, and not free access.
Ritter is crated when unsupervised as he cannot be trusted, the others werent.

 

[Burrowzig]

Mostly free access. There's a gate at the bottom of the stairs and I sometimes close that - like if we come home wet and I don't want them going on my bed. They tend to be where I am, so when I'm working upstairs (all my weaving stuff is there), they usually come up too, and there's enough dog beds in the weaving room. Apart from winter or really bad weather, the back door is often open, too so they can go in the garden when they feel like it.
They can go on the furniture, but my side of the sofa when wet is off limits (I pile stuff there).

 

[lullabydream]

When I first became a dog owner, dogs mainly had access to downstairs. Upstairs wasn't strictly out of bounds but with my boys being young, a room full of toys and I didn't want any toy chewed or broken it was easier. When I went for a bath in the evening, our dog came with us and would sit at the side of the bath. It might seem a strange thing to do, but that's what OH mum and dad did with the family dog.
At night dogs slept in the kitchen or crate which was pretty much my rule until Stan came along.

Maisie stays downstairs nearly always, especially now we have cats. Though she does occasionally run upstairs and throws herself on our bed acting like she's been there for ages. We do have the door open with access to the stairs a lot for the cats to come in and out which Maisie ignores the majority of the time. At night Maisie sleeps on the sofa or her chair there really isn't any room for her at all upstairs.

As for minibeasts, well I can never shake off Harley she follows me more than Eevee used to. She sleeps in the bed this time of year. Every night she does her little bark to come under the duvet.
Stan sleeps at the bottom of the bed.
Eevee is usually with my eldest son. Wherever he is she usually is. She's well known in his work place for popping her head up in zoom meetings. Before she attached herself to my son she used to sleep in her own bed on the floor in my bedroom in the summer months and in the winter she would wedge herself between myself and OH in the night sleeping under the covers with her head on the pillow.

The only real room that is pet free is my youngest son's room. The dogs are allowed in by invitation only.
Ivy the cat is allowed in invitation only but Pixie the mentalist cat is not allowed in at all. She's a complete hooligan not helped by her being deaf and leaves a trail of destruction wherever she goes. My son is a collector of various figures which I think she would just knock everything off.

 

[O2.0]

When I go out he tends to take himself off upstairs to bed and doesn’t even wake up when I get home until I go to say hi.

Aw
When Bates got to be an old man and before Penny was around to alert him, I used to have to go wake him up to let him know I was home. Don't know if it was his hearing going or just sleeping really hard, but he often didn't hear me come home until I would go to him.

my personal opinion is it's unhygenic because of the hair and the fact dogs coats do get oily and grimey, no matter how much they're groomed.

That's the beauty of slick-coated dogs One quick swipe with a towel and grime is gone. No oil either.
Haven't had a furry dog in years, and our last one didn't like getting in the bed anyway.
I wash sheets frequently though. I love fresh sheets!
Funnily I find cats more unhygienic than dogs. Dogs don't walk around in their own toilets. And then when people let their cats on countertops - yuck!

 

[rottiemum]

Chase pretty much has the run of the house. Though some rooms we always keep the doors closed, like the bathrooms and kitchen. He doesn't bother going upstairs until bedtime when he comes to bed with us (yes it's a squeeze)! He's allowed on furniture (sofa covers are great). While I work from home he is usually curled up in my recliner - which he reluctantly gives up for me in the evening. Lol
He comes in the kitchen when I'm cooking, lies there and supervises. 😉

 

[O2.0]

He comes in the kitchen when I'm cooking, lies there and supervises. 😉

Ha ha! The big dog laying on the kitchen floor so you have to step around them, and hopefully spill something for them to clean up
I do miss my big dog clean-up team! When the kids were in high chairs the dogs were so very helpful!

 

[rottiemum]

Ha ha! The big dog laying on the kitchen floor so you have to step around them, and hopefully spill something for them to clean up
I do miss my big dog clean-up team! When the kids were in high chairs the dogs were so very helpful!

He's pretty good about staying out of the way, but if I drop something he's right on it! 😂

 

[Siskin]

He's pretty good about staying out of the way, but if I drop something he's right on it! 😂

Same here. I think this is why she spends so much time with me in the kitchen diner as I do most of the cooking and there’s always the hope that I will get up and go to the kitchen at any time during the day.
She gets terribly conflicted at times whether to go and join OH upstairs on the sofa or stay with me in the hope I start cooking something

 

[1459205]

Aw
When Bates got to be an old man and before Penny was around to alert him, I used to have to go wake him up to let him know I was home. Don't know if it was his hearing going or just sleeping really hard, but he often didn't hear me come home until I would go to him.
That's the beauty of slick-coated dogs One quick swipe with a towel and grime is gone. No oil either.
Haven't had a furry dog in years, and our last one didn't like getting in the bed anyway.
I wash sheets frequently though. I love fresh sheets!
Funnily I find cats more unhygienic than dogs. Dogs don't walk around in their own toilets. And then when people let their cats on countertops - yuck!

My ex husband was less hygienic than theboxers. I think me and Loki crossed the hygiene line when I yawn and he stuck his tongue in my mouth.

 

[tristy]

I could have added that my dogs do not go on the beds but I know that when we have settled down for the evening , our biggest dog (toy poodles) does his rounds and that included getting under the covers of our bed. He then walks in as if nothing has been going on 😅 don't you just love them

 

[Blitz]

Mine are wherever we are so during the day we tend to be in the kitchen and dining room which is where their beds are anyway and in the evening they come through to the lounge with us but often ask to go to bed by 9.30. Candy used to come upstairs but she cant manage any more. Toffee was never allowed up but in this house she has occasionally been. If I am working in the office it is nice for them to come up with me but that has all stopped because Candy wont even attempt them any more. These are the first dogs that have been allowed on the furniture but they are more and more sticking to their beds lately.

 

[Dog Walker Woman]

Yes my chihuahua has the run of the house, although my brother won't allow her into his room. But I let her in sometimes when he is not here. She gets so excited, like a little kid jumping up and down on a bed. She now bugs me to let her in. I think it's my brother's scent she detects and that's why she likes his room so much.

She's gated at night, I removed the gate couple of times, once she slept through till morning but the next night she came bugging me so the gate is back up, but eventually I want to take it down maybe when the weather is warmer so I won't feel cold if I get up in the middle of the night to lead her back to her bed.

As for the furniture, I don't like her jumping on the sofa without permission, but that's a work in progress.

Chi's do seem to suffer with the cold so wondering if she is cold and that's why she wakes up. Do you put a coat on her at night ?

 

[catz4m8z]

Mine arent allowed in the bedrooms (but honestly I dont use them either so there really isnt much up there!).

Other then that its just my bed (which is downstairs) that has no access during the day. Basically they sleep with me overnight and then I take the pet stairs away in the morning and they cant get back up there! and thats because somebody had a few accidents on there over the years.

 

[Jason25]

She is now, but wasn't originally.
She was 2yrs old when the back room baby gate got opened for good so she could have free access to the whole of downstairs and then stair gate removed when she was 3.

The back room gate is still there so when I have guests over she can be put in there and have her own space that's out of bounds for guests.

But yeah over the years she's gone from confined to the back room when no one is about to having full run of the house and unlimited access to the back garden.

I started off with great intentions, crate training, no sleeping on the bed or sofa. Now I have a dog that will go and sleep where ever she wants,🤣

After reading what I've wrote, I'm wondering if I've got too relaxed 🤣🤣

 

[O2.0]

I started off with great intentions, crate training, no sleeping on the bed or sofa. Now I have a dog that will go and sleep where ever she wants,🤣

Ha ha As it should be!
I grew up with dogs on beds and furniture, never occurred to me that it would be any different in my own house, so I just got pet-friendly furniture.
Absolutely LOVE my current sofas, every piece of them is removable, machine washable or replaceable for life.