Sleeping Dogs Help Sleep Disorders?

HOUSTON - Some experts are questioning the conventional wisdom that pets and people with sleep disorders do not mix, overnight.

After all, owners have allergies and animals can be fidgety. So many doctors have concluded that sleep disorders are not helped by a presence of a pet in the bed.

But if Debbie Cooke’s experience is any indication, perhaps it is time for a second opinion.

Cooke has a service dog named McGovern, but she is not blind or deaf or physically challenged.

“I know there's a lot of people out there with the same problem I got -- sleepwalking,” says Cooke.

She has walked right out of the door of her Magnolia-area home and off the porch, all while fast asleep.

Now, at bedtime, Cooke clicks a harness to McGovern and fastens the other end to herself. Not only does the dog keep her from wandering away, he also licks her face to awaken her when the alarm goes off.

“He saved me from getting seriously hurt,” says Cooke. “I got to the point where I was breaking a lot of bones.”

A service dog for sleep disorders? Dr. Mary Rose says it is a new way to treat an age-old problem. Rose is a dog lover and a sleep specialist with Baylor College of Medicine.

“In our field,” says Rose, “most of the time we tell people, whatever you do, don't sleep with your pets.”

Now, Rose and others are beginning to recognize that animals can help folks like Debbie Cooke, as well as patients with sleep apnea and even children who get nightmares.

“You have to do what's right for you,” adds Rose, “and you have to evaluate your relationship with your pet and kind of negotiate the family bed.”

Cooke credits her independence to McGovern and Canine Partners for Life, the Pennsylvania non-profit organization that trained him.

“They changed my life,” says Cooke. “They gave it back to me.”

Debbie Cooke will share her story at a pair of Pets and Sleep seminars in late July at Rover Oaks Pet Resort.

For details, call Rover Oaks Houston at 713-662-2119 and select option 6.