How do u encourage a dog to calmly sleep on your bed???

[loveyouradvice]

Hi... our wee dachshund - now 3 so less bouncy than a year ago, but not by a lot ... is rather enjoying sleeping on DD bed for the first few horus, before we move him downstairs....

They both love it BUT we're only 50% successful - half the time he gets bouncy and walks around the room

Its obviously a new experience to him, but apart from making sure he's well exercised, any tips on how to encourage him to curl up and sleep beside her???

Dont. Having dogs in your bed is dirty and unhygenic especially for children

oh for heavens sake.... its a dog.... and delightful for them to fall asleep on top of the bed alongside them... no different to cuddling in the day....

Some dogs like beds and some don't. I don't really like dogs on the bed, it is a bit unhygienic. We had a foster dog though that wouldn't settle if she wasn't being cuddled, it was lovely to snuggle with her, but the dog we have now sleeps outside and won't snuggle with the other dogs either. It depends on the dog. Let him decide when he's had enough, if he usually sleeps downstairs maybe him being restless and walking around is just his way of letting you know he's tired and ready to go to bed.

I love dogs but think you're making a rod for your own back by encouraging them on to the bed. I speak from experience when I say my own pets give me hardly any room to sleep on my bed (so end up with a backache in the morning), i do worry about kicking or knocking them off in the night, I also have to fight them off to make the bed in the morning and I don't like looking at pet hair on my nice clean bed linen. So they've been permanently banished at bed time (with the door shut) and are now happily sleeping in their own beds.

I wouldn't encourage it, the smallest dog can take up a big space and be very reluctant to move.
How about doing it the other way round? Letting the dog up in the morning for a cuddle.

I always used to let my lovely girl Pickle sleep in our bed- she would curl up in the crook of my knee.

She's over the rainbow bridge now, but we have Rory, 15 weeks old, and he sleeps in his crate at night. I've let him upstairs a few times now though to join me for a nap, and although he starts off by crawling all over my head madly, he tends to settle well by being completely ignored.

I would say that the key is to keep the bed as a novelty, but to also make it boring by doing nothing but sleeping.

Echoing what others have said, plus leaping on and off a bed is just looking for back trouble with a dog who is already predisposed to it.

Our dog (75lb German Shepherd) sleeps on our bed and has done pretty much from when we got him aged 10 months and he took to it quite well, but he is pretty chilled out. Dogs are pack animals, if we had more than one have them sleep downstairs together, but while we have one, I think it's nice we're all together (also, if you put a towel down, change the sheets regularly & wash your dog regularly, hygiene isn't so much of a problem imo).

I agree with making it as boring as possible by just going to sleep and ignoring him, but if poss I'd leave the door open so he can go downstairs if he wants to. Or put a little bed on the floor by DD's bed to see if he prefers that, or to have it as an alt.

I would echo what a PP said re: dachshunds & their backs though, plus if it disturbs DD's sleep then it's obvs not worth it.

Our youngest two (papillons) sleep in our bed. The older one (5) is great and she takes herself off to bed when she’s tired and curls up on the end of the bed without any problems. The youngest one (nearly 3) has finally calmed down after over a year of being on the bed.

We started off by teaching him that having his harness and lead on in the house meant quiet time (it’s really useful for when we have small children over) and started him sleeping on the bed with his harness and lead. We’re now at the stage where he only needs his harness on and he sleeps quite happily between us. Except during winter when he gets cold so sleeps under the bedding.

Our older dog (8.5) starts off the night with either DD2 or DS and finishes off lying on the tiles in the hallway during summer or on the sofa under a blanket during winter.

We live in a single storey house so there’s no problem with stairs.

I’m replying to this and earlier post re: having the dog sit quietly with your daughter while she studies.

Like other posters agree dogs vary in sleeping habits. Sleeping with dogs disrupts sleep so doesn’t sound that sensible for your daughter either; particularly as in your earlier thread you indicated that she is about to take exams.

As Villainous points out Dachshunds have back problems, so unless your daughter has a futon it’s not an ideal situation for the dog; also, there's danger of serious injury if your dog falls off the bed. Your idea about putting an extra bed for him in your daughter’s room with a water bowl and giving treats on that bed to make it a desirable area is a good way to go; but it’s something to build up over time. And it sounds as if you want this to happen pre GCSEs.

It sounds from your earlier forum post that your daughter's having pre-exam anxiety and wants the dog around to comfort her? You could make your her room more enticing for short periods: walking him first then treats, kongs, activity/special toys: Nina Ottoson's are good. Personally, I’d second Villainous let the dog follow its normal routine and your daughter could use study breaks to play/walk with the dog with him.

I think everyone would be sympathetic to your daughter’s need for comfort at such a stressful time; but look at it from the dog's point of view. If I were a young active dog sitting still and quiet in a room for hours while your daughter studies, followed by lying still on a small bed would be incredibly boring, bewildering and restrictive. This coming after major disruption in the house from building work.

Have you discussed this with your daughter? She clearly loves the dog or she wouldn’t want to spend so much time with him so would surely want what’s best for him too and as she is an older child, as doing GCSEs suggest, then she is old enough to take this on board.

Also, I’m not sure what type of trainer you used but it sounds as if they were a little out of date. My first dog trainer was a bit like this too. Squirting water is not something that reputable APDT trainers support, it’s aversive and can end up backfiring on you and encouraging the behaviour you’re trying to stop. See for example ‘8 Reasons why you shouldn’t train your dog using a water spray’ on John McGuigan’s blog glasgowdogtrainer.wordpress.com You can find a myriad of similar articles online and elsewhere. Positive rewards-based training focused on helping your dog understand what you want rather than what you don’t is ultimately far more effective. I found this out the hard way! Since it came after the building work sounds like the barking is likely to relate to anxiety, so perhaps you could focus on how to alleviate that instead. We used rewards-based training to teach 'speak' and 'quiet'. Came in very handy when we had months of builders too.

I have never encouraged any of my dogs to sleep on my bed or to lounge on anywhere except their designated sofa or their own bed. I am not a clean freak or houseproud but I like my bed to be a calm place where it is 'my space'.

All the dogs have understood and accepted my rules and happily go off to their bed overnight. I do not understand why anyone would actively encourage a young dog to co-sleep when the dog is often unsettled.

I would never leave a dog alone with any of my children. I think it’s really irresponsible.

Even a gcse aged child?

Given the choice my dogs would happily sleep on my bed quietly but they know that most of the time they can’t so accept sleeping in the kitchen. I have trained them to be calm in the bedroom by letting them in first thing in the morning. Puppy is still young and getting us up at 6.15 for a wee so after that they come up for cuddles and a lie in. We have a big fleece that goes on the bed to protect the covers and they know that if that is on the bed then they are welcome. We never play rough games in the bedroom, it’s always a place of calm and quiet and gentle fuss. If puppy is t settled she gets an antler to chew and that generally settles her in a few minutes.
I love having my dogs on the bed and as soon as DH is away they sleep with me.

Where does the op say the age of the child?

We know the child's age because OP has done two separate posts a short space apart. The other post is asking how to get the dog to sit quietly in the daughter's room while she studies for her GCSEs. The dog currently will be in the room but he moves around and daughter finds this distracting! However moving is unsurprising since we're talking about a young dog, who may be small but is also a working breed so needs stimulation. My terrier at three would have been bouncing off walls.

If he actually wanted to be there he would snuggle up and stay all night.
Bouncing around and not settling makes me think he doesn't especially like it, and I presume the bed is too high for him to jump off by himself which must be quite stressful for him.

My dachshund x JRT (age nearly 2) does it perfectly well. I can't say I really taught him, but I think it's a combination of (a) walking him daily to the point of exhaustion so sleep is a very attractive idea, and (b) doing nothing but sleep and cuddles on the bed - no games of fetch for instance

However, whose bed he wants to sleep on is going to depend on the dog and who he's most bonded to - which will usually be the primary carer.

As for dogs on the bed being unhygienic or never leaving older children alone with a dog I shared a pram with a very elderly dog who couldn't make it all the way to the park by herself otherwise, and was walking the family dogs solo most days from age 12. I survived.

My dacshund sleeps with me on the end of my bed occasionally i put a blanket at the end and tell him to lie down.

Also there is no hope in hell he would ever sit quietly in my childs bedroom while they studied it's unfair on both the dog and teenager. Mine is 2 years old full of beans but if he finds something like a teddy for example he'll rip it into shreds it's just in his nature.

He also panic barks when someone arrives at the door we are working on it but it is hard loud he's as soft aa shite he just gets scared when anyone comes to 5he door even if it's someone he knows.

My dog needs to sleep on the landing to “protect” us all. He is a fucking teeny Yorkie. I try to bring the little bastard into bed with me, but he stands on my windpipe. I guess some dogs just aren’t good bedfellows.

I sound boring but it simply isn't safe.

Why?

Can you elaborate on that @Jaxteller?

Perhaps he’s simply being asked to go to bed too early . Our dog sleeps on our adult ds bed , either with him or on his own when ds is out . The dog generally comes up with me about 10:30 after his bedtime wee and biscuit routine and he sleeps on my bed until Im going to sleep and then I take him in and put him in his doughnut pillow on ds bed . They have a double bed and he has a doughnut pillow with a fleece over it which is washed every other day . He gets up either when he hears the alarm go off or when the first person goes downstairs whichever is first .

My two collies always start on the bed with us but I think we disturb them too much when we fall asleep as they move off fairly quickly. I would just ignore the dog and let them decide for themselves, although a Dachshund shouldn't be allowed to jump up and down from a standard height bed.