It's a dog's world

What’s the best way to live side by side with our four-legged friends, asks Arabella Youens

- Arabella Youens

IN Georgina Montagu’s book Top Dogs (Review, September 21, 2022), which explores the relationship between humans and their four-legged friends, the matter of where they sleep is regularly addressed. At one stage in their lives, all six of Carole Bamford’s shih tzus slept on her bed —on a pillow, stretched out alongside her and curled at her feet. Cedric, a whippet belonging to the gallerist Philip Mould, regularly sneaks under the duvet at night. John Pawson, the architect famous for his neutral, pared-back aesthetic, owns a cockapoo, Lochie, who enjoys free rein of the house and all its furniture; his dog bed, for when he chooses to use it, is upholstered with one of his master’s cashmere jumpers. Even the shepherdess Alison O’Neill allows her sheepdog, Shadow, to snooze in front of the fire in her house.

The Duke of Richmond’s dogs, two cocker spaniels and a dachshund, exist in what might be described as the twilight zone when it comes to dogs’ sleeping habits. ‘We don’t say they’re not allowed upstairs, but they don’t have beds up there.’ The only person interviewed in the book who seems to hold a more old-fashioned view on this subject is Jake Fiennes, head of conservation for the Holkham Hall estate in Norfolk and brother of the actor Ralph. Logan, a cocker spaniel, sleeps in a crate. ‘Dogs in the bed? Absolutely appalling,’ he says.