My dog helps me sew also. He lays in front of me in my sewing room, guarding me. If the mail lady or UPS shows up, he barks to let me know as I can't hear anything from my sewing room. If I have a quilt on the floor, it's his. He likes my sewing room. He's very careful in there. No romping around or anything. Only place he behaves. I like that he guards me. I feel very safe in my room.

My sister gave her step-daughter a quilt for Christmas years ago and the step-daughter put it in the outside dog house. That was the only quilt my daughter made for her step-daughter. I couldn't believe someone would put a homemade quilt in a dirty, muddy dog house. I felt so sorry for my sister. She died in 2003. She was so upset that Heidi cared so little for her quilt. I was shocked also.

I have three poodles and I DO have older quilts on my bed so I won't stress about them taking one of the "good" ones for their own. If I happen to put a good one on, I add another older one to the top of it so they still don't give me anything to worry about.

I agree that a dog lying on a quilt will not generally hurt it, just leave behind dog hair and smell, so the quilt will have to be washed more often, so keep that in mind. I bought a very expensive quilt that was hand quilted and trained the dog to sleep in his own bed before putting it on our bed. I didn't sleep well with the dog and DH wasn't about to force the change, so I did in order to use the quilt -- and get some sleep! lol. I have another quilt that has been shared with the dogs for years and washed to death with no problems.

I gave up long ago on the notion of keeping anything away from my pets. They sleep with me, eat with me and are the best friends I've ever had. As much as all the fur is sometimes annoying, every rose has it's thorns. I'm fortunate that they allow me to live here. LOL!

Tink sleeps in a queen size bed...and allows me to join her. She doesn't usually do anything to damage it, unless she decides that the bed needs to be plumped and fluffed to her needs.

She usually doesn't stink, due to baths about every other week. So the quilt doesn't need washing as often.

+1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

Our big goofy lab and two long hair cats sleep on every quilt in the house. They hold up just fine. The way I see it, the quilts are made to be used and loved, washing frequently just helps to age them, and if they wear out, then I am justified in making more.

I agree that keeping the pet nails trimmed is helpful. And we brush/bathe/groom our pets frequently to minimize the need to wash the bedding constantly.

RST

Labs were too big to sleep w/us but did nap during the day on our bed. We put a polar fleece blanket on top of our quilt and then an old sheet on top of that. Helped w/their hair and "skin dirt" from going into our bedding. When it was time for the dogs to get off, we'd pull the sheet to the edge of the bed for them to slide to the floor...oh the growling!

My sister and I were given quilts my aunt made years ago. Her's suffered a little pet damage because her dog accidentally chewed a corner of it while it was hanging over the edge of the couch and emma was chewing on a bone. Emma had no idea she was catching the quilt...she lost the corner of an afghan the same way. My quilt is not falling appart from years of use and washings, but no pet damage per-se. I don't have dogs, but have had cats for over 15 years (6 of them now) and they make sure the quilts don't run away while I'm off at work :)