Letters to the Editor: Do you sleep with your shoes in bed? Then why sleep next to your dog?

To the editor: I have just one question for columnist Robin Abcarian and others who sleep next to their dogs in bed.

Would you put the shoes that you use to walk outside (or even inside on your carpets) directly on your blankets or pillows? Yet you seem to ignore where the paws of your dog (or the rest of your dog’s body) have been — how come?

Michael Klein, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: As a hunting dog trainer with a focus on the pointing breeds, I read Abcarian’s column with interest.

I have always felt that taking my dogs to bed would challenge the “leader of the pack” status I commanded over my students. This is only my feeling and has not been proven.

I would like to add a professional training tip for people with the larger, stubborn breeds that beat you to bed and will not allow you to reach your spot: Ring the doorbell and beat them back to bed.

Rodge Fradella, Claremont

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To the editor: I read Abcarian’s column with interest and amusement. In my household, we don’t sleep with our cats so much as we sleep under or around them.

Fran Goldfarb, Culver City