Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

One main reason why it is dangerous for people to mess with dogs that are sleeping is because when they first awaken, they are still going to be drowsy, and that interferes with their ability to recognize you. Thus, you have startled the dog... startling triggers a fear response, your dog is still drowsy -- which interferes with your dog recognizing you... and BOOM, your dog will bite or even attack. The more you do this, the worse the response. These are fundamentally anti-predator and anti-competitor responses that should be respected.

Children, who are often a bit scared of dogs, often go and pet, lay on, or mess with sleeping dogs because it seems safer. It isn't. 

Ancient wisdom: Let sleeping dogs lie. 

This has been known for centuries.

Plan accordingly.