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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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 🤣🤣

 

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.

 

Thanks for that tip, will do. How cool would they feel if she's cold? I'm feeling them right now while she's snoozing on my lap, the one closest to my body is warm but the other one isn't.

 

If you can feel that the ear is cold she's probably cold.
Mine gets cold as soon as the temps are below 50 (Fahrenheit) and honestly if she's not moving, even 60 degrees she appreciates a blanket.
Does she have a coat or fleece she can wear inside?

 

I'll just drop these here ... my dog; spoiled? Noooooo

 

Not spoilt but very much loved

 

She's not used to wearing a jacket or sweater yet, it was hard enough getting her used to putting on a harness. She's not one of those delicate chis, she's what my brother calls "chunky". I sometimes wonder if she's cold because I keep the temp in the house down but I don't really see an sign that she might be feeling cold. She doesn't burrow herself under blankets like other chis do, maybe she hasn't figured out how?. She still doesn't know she can push the door open with her nose.

 

Obviously I can't know, not knowing your dog, but I do know chihuahuas are a more tropical dog - hailing from Mexico. They were never intended to be cold-hardy like northern breeds. Doesn't make them "delicate" it just is.
If she's overweight, she probably stays warmer easier. Mine is pretty trim and pretty busy so when she stops she definitely likes to be warm.

 

There are special beds popular with whippets which is like a square open at one end which the dog goes into to keep warm and snuggly. I guess Chi’s would find them cosy too. I’ve seen round beds for cats that are similar which I would have thought suitable too. They do look very cosy

 

Didn’t see any mention of dining room tables, just Tilly?🧐

 

Yeah, I once had a chihuahua that was caught strolling across the dining room table. Another one jumped up on the chair and swiped my sandwich off the kitchen table when I got up to answer the phone

 

I don't think it's a good idea putting a finger in a dog's ear

 

Huh? How do you clean the ears then?
My current dog has self-cleaning radar ears, but she still loves a good ear rub that includes me rubbing my thumbs inside her ear. She loves it. And I love that she associates me messing with her ears with something pleasant.

 

I live in a traditional Hungarian village house. It's small, only three rooms with the kitchen/dining room and front door in the centre. My bedroom and on suite toilet and bathroom lead off on one side of the central room and my living room leads off the other side.

All my dogs have been given free run of the house from the day I brought them home as puppies. I have tiled floors throughout and all the carpets can be rolled up and taken to the cleaners In summer I have a cream carpet in my living room which is taken up in witnter and a darker coloured one put down My bedspread is also cream, but doesn't stay that way after Grisha's dried his muddy paws on it. Luckily it's very wash friendly which is more than one can say about Grisha 😱 My sofa and armchairs are a pale cafe au lait colour but as the dogs sleep on the sofa it's covered with a throw over.

We were snowed in for nearly a month when M'boi and Chloe were puppies and apart from a narrow path leading from the front door to the woodshed I had nowhere to walk them. For exercise I'd take them into the woodshed and let them climb all over the logs. In the house I moved any furniture that might be in the way so that every evening they could have a 10 minute session of the zoomies, leaping off the sofa in the living room, through the kitchen and leaping onto my bed .... then back again!

I miss those days!

 

Mine have had restricted access to parts of the house since my grandma moved in as they're trip hazards for her. Before she moved in they were usually in whatever room I was in, in the summer Izzy took herself off to find sunspots usually in my loft room on my bed or the craft rooms window. Jasper likes to be wherever me or my mum are, hes never been one to go into a room if one of us isnt in it.

Nowadays we have more baby gates (to stop my grandma going upstairs alone and to stop the dogs going into her room, although Izzy still sneaks in to look out the window), so during the day they're in the living room. They sometimes come upstairs with me if I go up, Izzy usually will choose to go into my mums room to look out the window and Jasper will stay with me and either come up to my room or lie on the landing outside the craft room watching me work.
They're not allowed into the kitchen when someone is cooking, the kitchen isnt big enough for three dogs waiting to swoop in for dropped food.

 

Just to be a party pooper…

Please be ultra careful with dogs in the kitchen while you cook.

A lady I know, whilst getting the roast out of the oven, spilled hot oil on her GSD, who received really horrible burns.

 

I know but a thumb could have bacteria on it that can make its way down into the ear canal.

 

Absolute nonsense.

Why ask for advice and then argue with all of it?

I have been doing this for fifty years and have never caused an ear infection to any of my dogs.

 

I didn't ask for advice, 02.0 suggested one way to tell if a dog is cold is to feel the inside of the ear, so I did but couldn't really tell so I asked how cold it should feel. Sorry if I offended you I didn't mean to, just stated my opinion that's all. Hope you don't take it personally

 

That's true but then ear infections are common in dogs. I play with my dog's ears sometimes but I don't feel comfortable messing around close to the ear canal, so my comments reflected my opinion and were not meant to tell other people what they should or should not do.

 

Some dogs do suffer from ear infections, but they do not 'catch' an infection from humans.

You don't need to be anywhere near the ear canal. If you put your thumb inside the ear and touch the side, where the ear sits on the head, you can judge whether a dog is cold or not.

 

Loki gets cold a lot he has less fluff than Sox in this weather he sleeps under the duvet. If he’s cold the outer part of his ears are cold too. He’s a sensitive boy.

 

Our Parsons jack Russell used to have his own bed in our bedroom then jumped in with me when OH went to work. Suzie wandered where she wanted and Belle often jumped in with us sleeping at the bottom of the bed I often wondered how she could breath! When I thought of getting a greyhound I read of sleep startle so decided from the start no sleeping on sofas and not allowed upstairs. Now am pleased I made this decision

 

I have used the original thornit powder on all my dogs for well over 30 years. It was recommended to me by a breeder and I have found that a pinch of it sprinkled around the ear opening works wonders. All my dogs have had flappy ears so can be prone to problems. The powder also help to loosen the hair to enable it to be pulled out of the ear more easily.

 

I have never had a dog with an ear infection. Even the Spaniels.

I just believe to not mess with ears, other than just a quick look regularly to check they’re ok, and I check for seeds, burrs etc when we come back from a walk.

I, too, was advised by a breeder (of Schnauzers if I remember rightly), donkeys years ago, to put powder in my dogs ears. My thinking is that ears are designed to mostly take care of themselves and to introduce anything foreign to them (if they’re healthy) is risky.

 

I have the same philosophy. I don't touch ears unless they're gunky and even then I'm not likely to use anything other than a damp tissue or soft cloth, clean out what I can get to and let the rest take care of itself. Only had one dog I had to do more than that. Put some drops in, I don't even remember what they were, rubbed it around (which he LOVED), let him shake, wipe, and done.
Now all ears get a good rub and massage every day though!

 

My previous dog had an ear infection once in his 16 years.
Tilly has not had an infection in the nearly 3 years we’ve had her despite suffering with chronic issues in the past.
Her ears are messed up and my vet said leave well alone as much as possible.
Any liquid would not be able to be shaken out.
Occasionally an ear will annoy her and I put some thornit powder on and it stops the irritation within half an hour. That happens every few months at most.
Her problem is yeast related.