Why Is My Dog Sniffing My Bed?

Why Is My Dog Sniffing My Bed?

Everyone can agree that dogs have an amazing sense of smell.  To put it into perspective, dogs smell 40 times better than we do.  Knowing this, we can imagine how much more our furry friends sense just through their adorable noses.  If your dog seems fixated on smelling something, it is always a good idea to find out why!  A bed can be a particularly interesting place for a dog to smell.

What does it mean when your dog sniffs your bed?  Why does your dog keep sniffing your bed?  

Your dog is likely sniffing your bed simply because you spend a lot of time in it! By smelling your bed, your dog could be smelling a change in your health, they might be nervous, or even trying to communicate something to you. Although there are some other, less common, reasons, these are most probable. 

Just in case you’re not sure, we will go over all the reasons your dog could be obsessing over your bed!

Let’s get started!

5 Reasons Why Your Dog Keeps Sniffing Your Bed

Let’s take a quick look at the most common reasons dogs sniff your bed starting with the most likely.

Reason 1: You Smell different! 

Your pooch is tuned into you, whether you believe it or not.  

Because a dog’s sense of smell is so much more advanced than ours, we can hardly imagine smelling everything they do.

Not only can dogs smell their treats when you bring them out, but it is proven that dogs are able to smell and identify diseases in their owners.  With proper training, dogs are able to smell, cancers, tumors, and maybe even COVID-19!  If you’re not feeling well and spending time in bed, your dog might be trying to figure out what is going on by using his nose.

Not to panic!  As well as being able to sniff out tumors, dogs can also detect normal changes in owners.  They can smell hormones, pheromones, and the common cold. So by sniffing your bed, your breath, or even licking your legs, dogs can get a lot of information about you and your health!

Reason 2: You might have bed bugs.

Did you recently get home from a trip?  Did you stay at a new hotel or Airbnb?  Maybe your pooch senses something that you can’t.

Bed bugs are microscopic creatures that feed on human blood to stay alive.  Ew!  Unfortunately, it is difficult to know whether you have encountered bed bugs until you bring them into your house because they are so small.  Bed bugs are aptly named because they do indeed like to stay in the bed!

One reason your furry friend is smelling your bed could unfortunately be that you brought some of these into your home.  Although bed bugs are too small to see normally, dogs are able to detect them by smelling a special pheromone they release.  If your dog has recently become obsessed with the bed, and you just traveled, this could be the reason why they won’t stop sniffing!

If you do think you have brought bed bugs into your home, it might be wise to contact a pest control professional!  They might even bring a trained scent dog into your house to tell them whether these pests are indeed present!

You can see one of these adorable and well-trained bed bug-sniffing dogs in action here:

Reason 3: Your dog is nervous about your bedtime.

Does your best bud get anxiety?  Maybe they do and you haven’t noticed it until now.  Some dogs get anxiety when their owners leave for work, when their owners get into the bathtub, and even when their owners get ready for bed.  

Anxiety can cause all kinds of weird behaviors but some dogs sniff uncontrollably when they are nervous.  While the sniffing itself might not be an issue, the nervousness your dog feels surrounding your bed could be.  

If you think your dog is nervous around the bed, you can try rewarding your dog for laying calmly near or on the bed.  You could even think about offering a calming treat at these times like these ones before bed

Reason 4:  Your dog wants to mark their scent on your bed!

Not only do dogs smell to gather information, they also smell things so that they leave their own scent behind.  When your dog is sniffing your bed intensely, he is most likely rubbing his nose all over the bed.  This way, your pup can smell and also make sure to mark their scent.

Dogs will mark their scents on things they want to claim or something that they consider their territory.  

If your dog spends a good amount of time cuddling up in your bed, they likely feel like it is their bed as well which makes them feel the need to leave their scent here. That’s because marking territory isn’t just about peeing on things and dogs have a variety of scent glands that help them spread their “special” smell. The occasional sniff of your bed can help them make sure they’ve covered their ground!

Reason 5: Your dog is trying to communicate something to you. 

The last reason your dog might be sniffing your bed is that they have something to tell you.

Your dog cannot simply say, “Mom, get up, I have to pee!”  These animals have to find some other way to tell us what they want.

Perhaps your pooch is sniffing your bed because that is where you spend the most time in the early morning and late evening.  Consequently, these are also the same times that your dog is hungry and needs to go potty.  

Sniffing is a form of basic communication for dogs and if they are sniffing you in bed, they might need something from you!

Should you worry if your dog won’t stop sniffing your bed?

The easy answer is that most likely, you do not need to worry.  Although there is a small chance your dog might be smelling bed bugs – eek! – most likely they are just smelling you or communicating with you.

If your pup is sniffing nonstop at the bed, try and determine when it started, and what might have changed in this time?  Did your schedule change?  Are you spending more time in bed?  Are you staying in bed later?  Might you be sick?

Wrapping it up!

Your dog might be sniffing your bed more than normal, but most likely this has something to do with you, whether it be your health, schedule, or their attempt to signal something to you.  These changes might cause them alarm and anxiety and cause them to sniff even more, or they might be trying to claim their territory in that comfy bed. 

Overall, these are small problems with easy fixes for you and your best friend.  

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