There are several different types of dog beds, however many RRs have the opinion ,"I'm family, I sleep with the family". Because of this opinion, keeping a chiropractor on retainer might be a good idea. If your health insurance won't cover this, a king size bed is recommended.

Around here each each family member has their place to sleep.
Hubby is a "middle of the bed sleeper"
Cotton the 6 pound cat sleeps on the edge, using my rib cage as a pillow
FF the 18+ pound cat sleeps above my head on the pillow
Rusty takes the bottom right hand quarter of the bed
Me, well I sleep in a tight ball sounded by four snoring bodies.

At least we are lucky, Rusty likes to sleep on top of the covers.

The following are from real posts on the RR list, with a few email submissions. All human names have been omitted to protect the innocent, guilty, and embarrassed.
Abbreviations:
RR - Rhodesian Ridgeback
RRR - Rhodesian Ridgeback born with out a ridge
RRRR - Rescued Rhodesian Ridgeback born with out a ridge
M - mix (example: Rusty is a RRRRM, a rescued Ridgeback mix, with out a ridge)

Size really doesn't matter! No matter the size of your bed, if you sleep with an rr you are going to be sleeping on the edge of the bed hanging onto the sheet for dear life. Any space, even given up just momentarily, is gone to you forever. I lean over to place my eyeglasses on the night stand ... Oooops! Lost that space - it's now occupied by a big fat liver head. If you try to regain more space by pushing on your rr, you will encounter the breed specific rr-bed fusion phenomenon. If you push your rr, they will miraculously become thousands of times their weight and will actually fuse to the bed. The ONLY way to unfuse the dog is to get up, go the kitchen and yell "cookie!" Once the treat is in the dog's mouth, run quickly to the bed and jump in! Hurry! They'll be right behind you! *****

First there is the scooch and scoop maneuver. I learned all this stuff from watching the dogs by the way. Here's the scenario. You reach over to put the remote on the night stand, you try to lay back down but there is a dog there. You turn on your side and stick your hip bone in the dog then roll forward and scooch until you have just a little bit of leverage and then scoop the dog over. repeat until you have enough room to lay down. This is Scout's technique on Zoloft. Sometimes you can use this maneuver and they don't even catch on.

Second maneuver: you put the remote on the stand and there is a dog in your spot. Lay down anyway. They will remain for a minute and then finally scoot over in disgust. Scout used to do this to Zoloft but now Zoloft has adopted it and since he outweighs Scout it's much more effective.

Third method: The pillow method. Pack pillows around your body. When you roll over to place the remote on the night stand the dog's head hits the pillow which you can either do 2 things. Rollover on the pillow on top of the head. The dog will remove his head when suffocation becomes imminent or 2 yank the pillow out and roll into the space quickly.

Who needs a body pillow? I have dogs

***** My husband and I have realized that we are synchronized swimmers in our sleep. Kobe, our 18 month old RR, will alternately sleep on top of the covers and then under, getting up several times to change position. No matter how heavy my husband and I are sleeping, as soon as Kobe (who usually will fall asleep on top of the covers if it is warm) starts getting up from the bottom of the bed he will come up to the top of the bed, and, god forbid, if we are not right on the ball, it is a quick heavy paw on the head, we (my husband and I ) both automatically raise our arms at the same time holding the top blanket and under Kobe goes.

Sometimes, when Kobe starts to get warm he will scootch and crawl his way up to the top of the bed while under the covers, never once actually getting up but maneuvering himself while fused (love that word - suits them perfectly) to the bed and then positions himself perfectly between us, never on the outside, then takes his leg and flips the blanket up and over away from him which basically leaves us uncovered too. He will keep repeating this if you try to move the blanket back- he's hot! You just
can't win.

And then of course, there is the RR super duper strong arm which is a lost cause trying to defeat. Kobe loses all ability to bend his legs and has them sticking straight into your back or face depending whether you are facing him or not. I usually have to resort to picking the strong arms (legs) up and then dropping them back down on top of me.

Morning comes and Kobe is lodged perfectly between us, his head taking up a portion of both of our pillows and the blanket placed just so for him, not too hot, not too cold. My husband and I are both clinging precariously to our own small spots on the edge of the bed clutching some small portion of at least, if we are lucky, the bottom sheet - I always have to balance myself with one arm on my dresser just to turn off my alarm clock or else I would be pushed off by Mr. "I'm-so-comfy-I-am-sleeping-here-all-day-just-pretend-I-am-not-here-RR".

I wouldn't have it any other way.

***** Do they have a rule book??

My male has the paw to the head ritual down as do we with the cover lifting. Luckily he likes it hot and usually stays at the bottom or if he gets up it is out of the bed to only get back in again.

However, if my husband is up late working (usually since he is working on his PhD and that is the only time he gets any peace and quiet), if the dogs get out of bed, they go to him and make him come into the bed and lift the covers for them to get back under. Riley does this a few times each night but last night was Kendi's first attempt and she succeeded - Dad's a sucker for cute RR faces!

As for the ability not to bend their legs, what is the deal with that. My SUPPOSEDLY little ridgeback, takes up a HUGE amount of space with those non-bending legs of hers. She also likes to share the pillow.

We are lucky ours don't throw the covers off us, however they do lay on them so we can not get them to cover us.

The newest my two have started is to lay across the bottom of the bed (under the covers) so you have absolutely no place to stick your legs!

I also would have it no other way (well except, I do want be able to stick my legs down!)

***** One isn't too bad...you work out patterns and rhythms...you learn to shift here and give there.....
Two becomes tricky since while you placate one,....the other can/will take advantage
Three always starts cause some one is "the baby" and we don't want anyone's nose out of joint.....
Four....let's face it time for
A. your therapist
B. your divorce attorney
C. separate bedrooms
or the intelligent solution.....follow your breeders original instructions and crate at night!!

***** Well my parents already told me when they have to doggie sit my two RR's that one will take my two in the king size guest bed (which they got so when we visited my husband I didn't have to sleep in separate rooms, one with each dog) and the other in their king size bed with their two. Their livernose RRR is the WORST bed hog that exists. Mine are bad but I don't know how she takes up that much room and that girl radiates HEAT:)! ***** I wouldn't confess this everyone, especially my non dog friends. Having 4 RR's in bed with one, it gets a might crowded, double bed, especially my side of the bed, where they all must sleep. Would it matter if it was queen or king. They are all stretched out horizontally on the bed, legs braced in case someone wants another inch of room. Get so desperate sometimes, have a camping pad and stick it on the floor and sleep on that. Strange none of them want to join me. The ritual is, I am suppose to get in bed first, then the girls, then they get covered up, some like to be all covered up, some partially, you had better do it right or there is allot of complaining. Then we all settle down for the night, but one gets hot and one decides it is potty time, as why should I go when I am put out. Then I lay down the law, they look at me as if to say. "Who pays any attention to you". This continues for about half an hour, then peace reigns supreme. Are they spoiled, well yes and no. No because I allow it and yes, because they expect it. ***** Hubby has be working some long hours, the past few weeks. The other morning he decided to be nice, and let me sleep in. When I woke-up the sun was shinning, feeling him snuggled up next to me I yelled to get up, that we had over slept. Glad no one was here to see the next few seconds, when I turned around to find a very large puppy, laying in bed with his head on my hubby's pillow. ***** I never let any of our 5 RRs sleep with us. Not only am I a light sleeper, but I have to be cool for a full night's sleep. So the dogs always slept with our son, or on the couches. I recently moved into a townhouse by myself taking only my 2 bitches. They immediately took nocturnal residencies my bed. Now I REALLY understand the posts about fusing, straight legs, the bedtime lure cookie and most importantly the "six inch rule". I have learned to sleep uncovered, on my side, clinging to the edge of the bed with snoring duets accompanying the swoosh of the ceiling fan. When I seek understanding from my family, my (now) teenage son curtly interrupts my complaints with, "No pity. Absolutely none!" I guess maybe over the years, we could have let one or two sleep in our bed... ***** What a great quote, A---!! How spoiled are our dogs? Well...first they weren't allowed on the bed; then they were allowed to nap there during the day, but not sleep there during the night. Then, they were allowed up for snuggles before bedtime. Then...well, you know...I've given up, it's a losing battle. But yes, we ALLOW it. I too, have a master of the stiff-leg maneuver.

My daughter has outgrown her crib-size toddler bed, and rather than hauling it off to Goodwill, I considered making room for it in our bedroom - for the RRs. It's the perfect size (for one, anyway). However, as we all know, they wouldn't sleep there unless one of us did, and can you imagine an adult in a crib size bed coaxing an RR to curl up with me??? (My husband is 6'4", HE won't be trying it....LOL!

***** I keep wondering what all you RR people are talking about when you mention bed hogs! I've been over at my sister's house when she was out of town, and I had all 4 of hers on the bed, and 4 RRs does not equal the bed space taken up by just one Mastiff!

And snoring? Gee, I'm thinking of renting them out to do-it-yourselfers put them in a room, close the door, and watch them peel the wallpaper off the walls when they snore!

Body heat? All I need is a sheet during the middle of the winter, maybe a light blanket when it's below zero. But watch out--they like to sleep with their heads on nice soft down pillows, and can easily push you out of bed when they stretch!

***** Getting a Good night's Sleep with RRs

How?
(1) Husband out of town.
(2) One RR sent to the National's with her breeder.
Wow! A king size bed, me and only 2 RRs. Heaven!!!. I haven't slept this well in 11 months (age of the newest RR).

***** I have the solution to the two adults clutching the edge of the bed while the RR is sprawled in the middle: eliminate a person
Procedure:

1. Go to bed earlier than hubby and have RR lie beside you with head on pillow.

2. Hubby gets out of shower to see rr nicely snuggling and looking so cute - he doesn't want to disturb her.

3. Hubby goes to sleep in guest room to get much needed sleep

Ah...what a nice relaxing sleep - for both human and RR! ***** HA!! Never happens!!!! I have tried this to no avail. Hubby sees three RRs snuggled up, looking cute, me smiling at him over the dogs. He stops, thinks for a minute, says "honey, I love you". Sighs, squeezes in and forms himself in much the shape of a pretzel in-between the dogs and goes right to sleep. Dogs then get disgruntled at having been deprived of two square feet of bed space, push me over to the far edge, sigh, and sleep on. ME???? Lying on my side, reduced to one half of a pillow, 6 inches of covers, and slobber from the snoring RR on my ear and one leg hanging off the bed thinking "Thanks, Honey."

At least at the Specialty, despite taking all the dogs, we will have TWO beds in our room!!! AMEN. that means I might get to actually stretch out for a week.

***** Well, I'm single! So the only person I could eliminate is me .... and believe me, Mattie would just follow me to the other bed, couch, etc. Maybe I'm still single because I let my dogs sleep with me? Any single men out there that LIKE the idea of sleeping with dogs? ***** Asa really, really wants to sleep under the covers, right next to me. However, some of you may have heard that it's a teensy bit hot here in Texas right now... Well, anyway, I have the A/C cranked up and a fan blowing directly on me (I like to be COOL when I sleep), and Asa usually starts out sleeping on top of the covers. About an hour after I have managed to nod off, he wakes up, decides he's cold, and nudges my arm to signify he's ready to be let under the covers.

About an hour later, he decides it's too hot under the covers and gets out by standing straight up, pulling MY covers off me, and stepping down from the bed, circling around and getting back up on the other side of the bed. An hour or 2 later, we have a repeat of the wanting under routine, and soon, for a total of about 3 times a night.

I love the big doof and wouldn't have it any other way!!

By the way, if any of y'all see any cool weather hanging out not doing anything, tell it to get its tail on down here and COOL US OFF!

***** I remember last summer a thread about sleeping with dogs, back when I was the new owner of a pup. Many rr-folk reported the "bigger bed" syndrome. I was divorced, sleeping in a twin sized bed, and a two month old pup took up hardly any room. Well, about 4 months ago, I gave up trying to sleep in the twin with the now full grown dog and graduated to a full sized bed!
I joked that I was tired of having to wake Jessi up to ask permission to roll over. We're sleeping much better, even the nights the cat joins us. Now, about those single men... ***** Have you tried sleeping by her crate yourself until she falls asleep?
Or even all night? That's what I did and it worked like a charm for me. ***** That's just what we did when Kwenu was a puppy. We all took turns sleeping by her crate until she went to sleep.
After all we were her new litter mates. ***** I am NOT a morning person. Hate getting up. On the weekends, I like to sleep late. After feeding the "crew" around seven and letting them go potty, I head back to bed. Most of the time, Mattie, Cassie, Buddy, and Brandi snooze right along with me. Occasionally, Mattie will go on squirrel patrol and spot a squirrel. She REALLY wants to go outside and I REALLY don't want to get out of bed! She starts by running into my bedroom and looking at me and running back out. I pretend I'm asleep. She repeats this several times. She then sticks her wet nose in my eye and repeats the running back and forth. When she sees that this tactic is not going to work, she proceeds to jump on and off the bed. As a last resort, she jumps on the bed and very carefully positions her butt over my head (she's looking back to make sure she got me in position). She then sits on my head!!!! I get up. ***** Try a double bed with 4 RR's, tell myself it wouldn't matter if I had a wall to wall mattress, must sleep as close as we can to the old girl.

***** Ok, Bayley has been sneaking into bed with my hubby and I lately since the nights have gotten so cool (low 50's). She gets to sleep with me when D--- is not there, but when he's there, we prefer to have room to move. She has her nice cedar bed on the floor. We have a satin comforter on it and when she lies down at night, we cover her all up so she's nice and cozy. <clipped> We didn't sleep so well last night with Bayley right smack between us with her big long legs stretched out . We tried to move her, but she seemed to weigh 500 pounds last night!

In replay to the above message:
send help my way too....yawn! last night Boomer, Rusty , Taffy, Amber and Hubba were really crowding me! A--- got fed up and went into the guest room and barricaded the doorway with a gate so they could not follow him & he could get a good night's sleep!

***** Charlie and 'Dozer share a twin size futon mattress on the floor in the corner of my bedroom. I have an extra comforter on top of that. They have pillows and each has a blanket. They have never even tried to get up on the bed. On a rare day that I am sick with a cold or the like and have taken to my bed, I have to invite them up for a nap.
Here in the S.F. Bay area, our weather even in the summer has some cool days and nights so their binkies are always available to them. I cover them up at bedtime unless it is really warm. Charlie will often get out of his blanket and curl it around him, nest-like. 'Dozer will come to my side of the bed during the night if he gets uncovered and chilly. I will cover him back up and he gives me the loudest, most grateful sigh/groan.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that they have slept in this big bed, out of their crates since they were both about 4 1/2 to 5 months with no damage.

***** Rhodes has always slept on the bed pillow I made for her. It's at the foot of our bed when we sleep and goes into her crate during the day. My husband gets up to go to work around 4 a.m.. Rhodes follows him to the kitchen, gets her morning biscuits, then runs down the hall to leap on our bed, where she stays until after I get up and shower. That's the way the schedule is *supposed* to be.
About 4 a.m. this morning we were all awakened by a huge crack of lightning. Next thing I know, my husband has me pinned up against my side of the bed (we're in a waterbed with a frame).
"What's going on?"
"I have 500 pounds of dog on me and can't move."
I get up, let him out (thank goodness he had to go to work today) and get back into bed.
Now, Rhodes has always been her own dog. She won't snuggle and barely tolerates a hug from time to time, even after all these years. She always lets out a sigh of relief when I get up out of bed because then she can stre-e-e-etch out on the bed and really snooze. She also has never shown any concern about lightning, firecrackers, hurricanes or tropical storms.
What a surprise to find her curled up against me in the bed, shivering with fear from the lightning storm that went on for almost an hour. She even allowed me to hug and reassure her! ***** We generally don't allow Lucy on the bed while we are sleeping, so she tries to make the most of it just before we go to bed. Recently, she learned how to bury herself under the covers, she will even chase her tail while under there!!!

Lucy will also "sneak" onto the bed after Jennifer and I are sound asleep. It can be quite startling to wake up and find yourself staring at the RR (and hopefully at the right end!). Once, I woke up to my alarm, and found Lucy under the covers (with only her head and shoulders exposed) with her head resting on my pillow!! I would have taken a picture, but I wouldn't have been able to convince people it wasn't staged!!

***** I went to bed with a headache and got up with even a worse one.

My dogs were so bad last night. I referred to them as mangey mongrels and junk yard dogs and worse as I finally decided to give up my attempt to sleep.

Yesterday after the show they were very tired and spent the whole afternoonsnoozing ( I mean watching football) with their dad. After dinner, they decided to nap too. I thought they were just turning in early. HAH!! They spent the entire night awake, bouncing on the bed, running to the door to try to get the cat that was in heat and whining. Each time they would get up, the rescue pup would start whining in her crate. I finally decided to take them all out on the living room, sleep on the couch and let B---
sleep. They would not sleep, they bounced on and off the couch, chased the ball, tried to steal chewies from one another, ran to the door barking at that damn yowling cat.

Well let me tell you they are not going to nap at all today. I usually take them for their morning off lead run about 7 am, not today, I will wait until about 1 pm when they really want to settle in for a nap. I am making liver bait and every time one of them looks like it might close an eye, I call them to lick the spoon. I am running to the door, flinging it open and yelling "get the kitty" periodically. and oh yes, I am taking more Motrin.

***** T---, I had the same kinda night!!!!! Yesterday, my daughter L--- , T--- and a friend, G--- visited all afternoon after Mexican brunch in L---'s honor -- her birthday. My ridgies were WONDERFUL they were just friendly enough, without being obnoxious, sat sweetly, laid their darling heads on G---'s knee and were just well mannered , gorgeous dogs. They slept while we watched the 49ers, slept while we watched a movie about a soccer team eating the dead players after a crash on a mountain. Company left, I napped and they slept, I got up and spent the evening on the internet while they slept some more -------- then I went to bed and they woke up. Of course, they crawled into bed and got all settled under the covers and gave me time to fall asleep and then somewhere , something was approaching their property ----- out of bed, out the doggy door, up the steps, up the hill, bark, bark, BARK< BARK< BARKK !!!!!!!! 10 minutes later, back into bed, under the covers, twist the covers off me, growl at any dog jumping up near reclining dog, AHHHHHH back to sleep, oopps, not so darn fast, " its coyotes, We'll save you Mom" This little drama replayed about 4 times till I finally fell asleep in the wee small hours. Tonight they are all sleeping in my room with door CLOSED, the window CLOSED. Tomorrow morning we are hiking up the fire trail and they will run off some energy. Maybe a tired dog is a good dog but a tired nurse is not a good nurse.

***** There is a formula for figuring out how bed space is allocated. It is called the "Foot Rule". You start by determining the total number of feet (as in those at the end of the legs, not the kind made up by inches). Then you divide that total by the number of feet belonging to the person(s) or dog(s) in question. This is how it works: You and husband share your bed with 1 dog. You and your husband total 4 feet and the dog also has 4 feet. That is a total of 8 feet. The dog has 4 out of 8 feet or 50%, therefore, the dog gets 50% of the bed. You could work this in reverse as well.
You have 2 out of 8 feet or 25% and so does your husband, so each of you gets 25% and the dog gets 50%.

Now I have 5 dogs. At 4 feet per dog, that is 20 feet. Add to that my 2 feet and we have a total of 22 feet in the bed. I have 2 out of 22 feet which is 1/11th or 9.1% of the bed. The dogs, since they share a total of 20 of 22 feet, get 10/11ths or 90.9% of the bed. Simple isn't it?!

Once I figured out my percent of the bed space, the next step was to work out the exact area that I am entitled to. My bed is a California King which is approximately 6 ft x 7 ft.

Here is the math:

6 ft x 7 ft                 = 42 square feet
42 square feet          = 6048 square inches
9.1% of 6048            = 550 square inches
550 square inches     = 45.8 total inches
45.8 inches               = 3.8 total feet

In order to determine the exact size of my bed space, I needed to
know the percentage of length to width - this comes out to 54% long to
46% wide. When I apply these percentages to my spot:

550 square inches x 54% = 297 square inches
550 square inches x 46% = 253 square inches
297 square inches            = 24.7 inches
253 square inches            = 21.1 inches
24.7 inches                  = 2.1 feet
21.1 inches                  = 1.8 feet

Now that the math is all done, the figures show that the
dimensions of my part of the bed are 2.1 feet by 1.8 feet or in other words:

I GET THE PILLOW!!!