Whether to let the pooch sleep in your bed

Generally speaking, I'm not letting Sasha share my bed.

First, I'm a bit worried about my allergies. I'd rather not push my luck by having her scent and dander over everything I sleep on. But also, she suffers from a bit of separation anxiety, though it's getting better. (More about that in a future post - it was horrible the first few weeks.) And I worry that if she shares my bed, she might get that much further attached to me. And finally, I've read that having the dog in the bed can set it up to be too dominant vis-a-vis its owner, and I don't want that.

So sasha has her own crate in my room, and for the most part, she's pretty good with that.

Until 7am. Or today, 6:15am. You see, Sasha wakes up early, and regardless of whether I put a sheet over her crate, some time between 6am and 8am, she's up and barking. So I'm up. After a good three to four weeks of this, I was at the end of my rope. I had had nearly 30 consecutive days of not sleeping enough, couldn't think straight, was falling asleep at 7 o'clock at night, and had overall had it. So, I started caving and bringing Sasha in bed with me once she woke up. I don't know what else to do.

Funny thing, after she wakes up, and I take her out to do her business, I put her in bed and she plays for a few minutes, but then conks out and is asleep as long as I am. Saturday morning she and I slept until 11am, and I finally got HER up.

The thing is, I tried putting her back in the crate in my room once I took her out, but she'd howl. And it didn't seem to stop. I just don't know what else to do. I am not a morning person. I can't have her getting me up at 6am and 7am the rest of my life, or until she's house trained enough, and no longer teething, that I can let her loose in the house and she can roam all she wants all night and morning.