How to Train Your Dog to Sleep on His Bed

Hello Michele, First, work on teaching the Quiet command during the day using the Quiet method from the article linked below. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark Second, during the day practice the Surprise method from the article linked below. Whenever pup stays quiet in the crate for 5 minutes, sprinkle some treats into the crate without opening it, then leave the room again. As he improves, only give the treats every 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hour, 2, hour, 3 hour. Practice crating him during the day for 1-3 hours each day that you can. If you are home during the day, have lots of 30 minute - 1 hour long sessions with breaks between to practice this, to help pup learn sooner. Whenever he cries in the crate, tell him "Quiet". If he gets quiet - Great! Sprinkle treats in after five minutes if he stays quiet. If he continues barking or stops and starts again, spray a quick puff of air from a pet convincer at his side through the crate while calmly saying "Ah Ah", then leave again. Only use unscented air canisters, DON'T use citronella! And avoid spraying in the face. Surprise method: https://wagwalking.com/training/like-a-crate Repeat the rewards when quiet and the corrections whenever he cries. Practice for a few days until he is doing well during the day. You can either continue what you are currently doing at night during this process or go ahead and jump into what I explain below for night time training - waiting until the day is good before starting the night or starting the night and day both at the same time. When he cries at night (in the crate - where he needs to be sleeping for now) before it has been 8 hours (so you know it's not a potty issue), tell him Quiet, and correct with the pet convincer if he doesn't become quiet and stay quiet. If you go straight to nights and days like this you will probably have about 3 rough nights, with lots of correcting before he gets quiet - don't give in and let him out or this will take much longer! But the overall process will go faster if you can stay strong. If you practice the daytime routine first while your husband sleeps on the couch for a few more days, then start the nighttime routine once pup understands the new rules, the night should go easier when you do make the transition. Either way you need to stay very consistent for this to work - expect pup to protest and for you to have to correct a lot. You may want to pretend like you are all going to bed two hours early and read in bed with the lights off - anticipating having to get up a lot the first couple of hours to correct - so that you don't loose as much sleep. Choose whichever option seems less stressful for you ultimately and is something you can stick to. Don't worry about feeling bad for pup. I know it's hard but your husbands sleep and your relationship is most important. If this continues indefinitely a lot of people would re-home the dog - when the issue could have been resolved with a some fair but firm training for a few days. Ultimately, every ones relationships being healthy and rested is better for pup too. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Diane, You probably already know this but you are dealing with an underlying aggression and lack of respect issue. The bed is just the symptom. I would hire a professional trainer who specializes in aggression to help you safely build his respect for you and add structure to his life. He has learned that he can get his way by biting and using aggression. I would make pup work for everything they get in life for a while, by requiring him to do a command first, such as Sit before being petted, Down being feeding, ect...I would drill pup on some obedience that builds impulse control and calmness, such as the commands linked below. I would keep a drag leash on pup so that when you tell pup to do something you can follow through calmly by picking up the leash and leading him. Working and Consistency methods: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-doberman-to-listen-to-you Place: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omg5DVPWIWo Crate manners: https://thegooddog.net/training-videos/free-how-to-training-videos/learn-to-train-the-good-dog-way-the-crate/ Thresholds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-w28C2g68M Heel article - The turns method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-poodle-to-heel Heel Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTiKVc4ZZWo Once pup is being more respectful you can add in giving him treats for obeying the first time, but at first your attitude should be calm and firm, less rewards, and more matter-of-fact. He is in doggie bootcamp for a bit. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Caryn, Because Farley is deaf you will need to modify the method a bit. Instead of giving a command, get his attention by getting in his line of sight and waving your arms in the bedroom, a few feet from his dog bed. As soon as he is looking at you, toss a large treat onto the dog bed while at the same time pointing to the bed with the same hand, so that when you toss the treat your finger is pointed when you do it. Practice this until he will eagerly start toward the bed when you start to motion toward it - before the treat has left your hand. Use large enough treats for him to easily find the treat on the dog bed. When he starts to move toward the bed when you motion toward it - even before he sees the treat leave your hand, then put the treat in your other hand, behind you back, pretend like you are still holding the treat in the hand you will point with, and simply point toward the bed with your empty hand-making the same type of throwing motion that you did before with the treat. As soon as Farley takes a couple of steps toward the bed, then toss the treat on the bed in front of him. Practice this until he will go all the way to the bed when you point and not just a couple of steps toward it. When he will go all the way to the bed when you point to it, then toss the treat to him once he is on the bed and make your pointing gesture calmer and calmer over time, until you can simply point to the bed without pretending to throw anything also. Practice the training regularly during the day at non-sleeping times also so that he will learn to look to you when you enter the bedroom and then follow your point to his bed. If he forgets at any point, then after you point, remind him by walking him over to the bed. You can also sprinkle a bit of his dog food onto the bed randomly during the day for him to stumble across. The randomness of his bed producing dog food will help him want to go to it on his own after a while also. If he tries to get off the bed when you want him to stay on it, calmly but a bit firmly walk toward him so that he backs back up onto the dog bed. When he gets back on it and stays on it while you take a few steps away again, then give him a treat. Use a hand signal that means you can get off, like clapping, to let him know he can leave if you choose to practice him staying on the bed. You can also teach him to look at you whenever you buzz a soft vibration collar. You can do a similar method as clicker training: buzz the collar - give a treat, buzz the collar - give a treat. Practicing rewarding right after buzzing it over and over again during training sessions. Once he understands to anticipate a treat after a buzz, then randomly buzz the collar throughout the day and when he looks at you, toss him a treat, and if he comes over to you, give him three. Vibration collars in combination with hand signals can help you communicate with a deaf dog a lot better. Deaf dogs can be taught most commands using hand signals instead of words. You just need a way to get the dog to look at you first in real life, and having a dog wear a vibration collar that has been paired with positive reinforcement in the form of rewards can accomplish that. Look for a vibration collar that has different levels of vibration since some dogs are very sensitive to the sensation and some don't notice it on lighter levels and need stronger vibration to feel it. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Alyse, First of all, know that you are not being a bad dog mom by being firm about her sleeping in her own bed, both you and her will actually get more restful sleep according to studies, and anything that is better for your family is better for her also - being tired makes it harder to be patient and a good trainer during the day after all. Start by making the dog bed a desirable place for her to be. During the day sprinkle her dog food or small treats on and around the dog bed. Let her discover the treats on her own after showing her them the first couple of times. Periodically replace the treats after they get eaten when she is not looking - so that she begins to associate the bed with the "magically" appearing treats and chooses to visit that area on her own frequently to check for food. Next or at the same time, work on teaching a long Place command. Check out the video linked below for this. Start with shorter periods of time and progress to her staying on Place for at least an hour a day to get her used to being on there. https://thegooddog.net/training-videos/free-how-to-training-videos/learn-to-train-the-good-dog-way-place-command-the-good-dog-training-tips/ At bedtime tell her to go to Place (her bed) and anytime she tries to get off of it, calmly but firmly bring her back to the dog bed. When she whines you can either discipline the crying or ignore it. Disciplining will work much faster but ignoring normally works also with time if you stay consistent and don't give into it! - Remind yourself that sleeping on her own soft bed will not hurt her, she is either crying because she is adjusting (with means she just needs time to adjust) or because she is being demanding (which you don't want to give into because that's a respect issue) - either way she is totally fine sleeping on her own bed and enforcing the new rule from the beginning in your house will be much easier than trying to change it later when you are even more sleep deprived - the environment is new and you are semi-new to her so now is a good time to teach her your house rules. The above way typically equals the least amount of crying but there is another way you can also teach this that tends to work a lot faster but involves being a bit firmer. Sprinkle treats on the dog bed when she is not around and practice sending her to the bed and rewarding her when she gets on it during the day. Make the bed fun during the day. At night once she has the pleasant association with the bed either send her to the bed and enforce her staying on it whenever she tries to get off of it OR crate her with the bed. When she cries either ignore the crying (typically this takes about 5 days to work doing it this way), OR tell her "Ah Ah" and use a Pet Convincer to spray a small puff of air at her side (through the crate's wires if crated) - avoiding her face and only using unscented air - NOT citronella. The second method above can be used without a lot of prior training and tends to work quickly but there will be more crying typically and it can feel harsh for the owner - but it is still fairly gentle. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Ryan, Are you saying you feel like he may be avoiding the dog bed because the fabric is making him hot? If so, that is very possible. I wouldn't be worried necessarily but he may be more comfortable if the room was a bit cooler. It's common for dogs to want to sleep on cool, hard surfaces when it's hotter and sleep on things like dog beds more so in the winter when the house is cooler. You way want to check out something like www.primopads.com for hotter days and a bed that is a little firmer memory foam instead of super soft, plush bed for cooler weather - to help with sore joints. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Tatyana, Having a puppy sleep with you is super cute and fun - I remember when my own dog was that little. Unfortunately, allowing a puppy to sleep with you before they are past the destructive chewing phases (which have only started and may still get worse) and fully potty trained and can hold it overnight, can be dangerous and lead to life-long potty training issues that result in puppy never being able to sleep with you! I highly suggest crating puppy at night at this age. It's not fun, I know, but crating pup now until you have laid a solid foundation of training and pup is older, can mean 10+ years of freedom later. Not doing it now, can result in pup never becoming trustworthy inside and your relationship with each other being less enjoyable for years to come because you can't trust pup unsupervised due to bad habits formed as a puppy. Surprise method for crate training: https://wagwalking.com/training/like-a-crate Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Laurie, She is old enough you can begin the transition to your room now or wait until after 1 year. I would not transition to an open crate until 1.5 years old and she has gone 6 months without chewing anything she shouldn't when left alone for short periods, but she can begin being crated in your room with the door closed now - or you can wait until she is older without issue also. The transition to your room shouldn't take longer than 2 weeks if you are consistent. The transition to more freedom will probably not start until 1.5 years old, then once she is ready for it, you can expect about a month of gradually giving her more and more freedon and seeing how she does...such as 10 minutes alone, 15 minutes, 25 minutes, 40 minutes, 1 hour, 1.5 hours, 2 hours 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, 6 hours, then all day or night...without surpassing her potty needs. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

Hello Lisa, Since she is getting onto the bed while you are sleeping so you can't effectively train at that time, you will need to crate pup - putting her bed into the crate in your room, until she gets into the habit of sleeping there on her own. During the day, practice the Surprise method from the article linked below to introduce the crate if she isn't already crate trained. https://wagwalking.com/training/like-a-crate Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden