Another cuddly consequence of human-pet intimacy is that more pets than ever are joining their human companions for bedtime. At Mattress Advisor, we wanted to see if co-sleeping with your pets has an impact on romantic relationships. If you let your pet crawl under the covers with you, are you more likely to get hurt in a relationship or more likely to be the one to break it off?

We surveyed more than 1,000 people with pets and asked if they let their furry friends sleep in bed with them. We then asked a simple follow-up question: In past relationships, who ended things most often? Was it you or your partner? We compared the numbers to figure out the relationship between love and letting pets sleep in the bed.

Here’s what we found.

Letting your pet (or your partner) win

If you let your pet sleep in your bed even though you don’t want them to, you are more likely to get hurt in a relationship.

If you don’t establish clear expectations with your partners or pets – such as not wanting pets in the bed – you’re in danger of unmet expectations and becoming hurt or dissatisfied in your relationship. You need to be willing to enforce healthy boundaries. Additionally, if you’re passive about making your expectations clear, then you’re less likely to break off a romantic relationship when it’s time to move on, which means you’ll remain in an unsatisfactory relationship longer.

A SURVEY OF RESPONDENTS WHO LET A PET SLEEP IN THE BED, EVEN THOUGH THEY DIDN’T WANT TO