Bed Behavior

[Guest GMueller]

My name is Gail and this is my first post on Greytalk. My Ollie is 76 pounds of pure muscle and he knows how to use it. He sleeps with me (or on me, if he had his way). I use to have a twin bed and went out and bought a full bed just to give the hound more space. No dice. He crams himself next to me and won't push over! Over the last two years he has lost bed privledges twice, once for growling and once for a lazy snap that was more like a yawn. When he can't sleep on the bed he paces all night long and cries.

Eventually, after a week or so I give in and the bed wars begin again. He just loves to cuddle. When I read in the bed he puts his nose up my bathrobe sleeve. I have found him in my bed under the covers with his head on the pillow snoozing away! I know the answer to the problem is to ban him completely from the bed, but I'm not ready for that battle. I guess I am just wondering if other people cope with overly cuddley hounds. I love him to death. He is really a delight and keeps me laughing. One day I came home from work and the T.V. was on. Ollie had sat on the remote and turned it on. He was watching the Home Shopping Network.

[September]

Well...I guess Ollie knows what he likes!

 

I really don't know have any other advice than banning him. My Cookie can't be on furniture b/c she can't share either.

[Guest Lovemyhound]

My girls not allowed on furniture either... never has been so she doesnt even give it a thought...

 

so, I thought I'd just say

[Guest kydie]

Hope he didn't have the credit card when he was watching home shopping! Mine are not allowed in my bed, I think you will have a a slight fight on your hands, but be strong and keep at it I know they are so cute, and win you heart, but many folks here have written about bites that happen in bed, Good Luck

[Guest simile]

I feel your pain! Bed hogs all around, here, and the worst is the little Italian Greyhound . I understand about not wanting to face the bed banning battle - night after night of no sleep is no fun - and to be honest, I like having the pups in my bed. My solution was to get another blanket strictly for the dogs. It goes on top of the comforter and my hounds crawl under there. I still end up with someone pushed up against me occasionally, but I don't get kicked or shoved off the bed anymore, and having the sheet and comforter between me and dog keeps me from getting too hot.

[2ndChance]

I still consider myself a newbie too, so just take my advice with a grain of salt. I have a bed-hog too...and like you, I can't do w/out him sleeping with me (I have thought about banning him as well so i could get some sleep lol). With me gone most the day, I feel like it is our only bonding time.

 

Simile had a great suggestion...I'd try that.

 

Another way to not "solve" it b/c I dont think that can be done...is to train him to "stay" till you are in bed and in YOUR comfortable position and then allow him to come into YOUR bed. I am able to move Chance when I get up to pee and find him in MY warm spot...luckily he has allowed me to do this. He does then proceed to snuggle up against me...push me (he's stretching...I think ) and sometimes plant his paws on my face or his face in my armpit. I love every moment, but that is just me. Put your bed up against the wall maybe and put some blankets like Simile suggested by "his" area. This way he can lean against the wall instead of you sometimes.

 

All and all, I wish you the best....it could be worse

[HJsM]

Get a body pillow and train him to sleep on the other side of it from you.

 

This is what I did when I discovered my "bed dog" had sleep aggression. It works like a charm and allows you "your side" and the dog "their side".

 

Any growly or snappy stuff is greeted with "GET DOWN!" in voice of God. And I mean it, but the body pillow is a wonderful way to get them to "share"/. You can arrange it so that they have to stay at the END of the bed too, if you want to.

[Guest Hokiebuck]

I am going to base my response on a few assumptions so please forgive me if I am way off base. I think if a dog has trouble being told no for one instance...then they are not accustomed to being told no on a regular basis. I mean that they do not live in a very structured enviroment and have a difficult time truely accepting the owner as the leader. Are you strict with your dog on a regular basis..meaning begging...eating from the table....pulling on the leash....sniffing things they shouldn't...etc? Not have a consistent leader leads to inconsistent behavior in dogs.

 

I am very consistent with how my dog is handled. He knows leave it....wait....and a bunch of other commands that I use multiple times a day. So does he sleep with me on the bed, on occassion, but if I want him off, it only takes a snap of my finger and a point to his bed and he goes there, no whining, pacing, etc. In fact I think the lack of leadership is often the problem with dogs that excessively bark, whine, and show other annoying behaviors. If mine starts whining, I give a quick little "ehhh" or "shhhh" sound and he stops. The dog needs to understand that what you say, you mean. He only whines because he has trained you to respond to his whinning by letting him back up on the bed. So to summarize...bed training starts with feeding...walking...etc. You must lead 24/7 to be respected/followed 24/7.

 

Just my opinion...any other thoughts are much appreciated!

[mangos_mom]

I, too, have bed hogs, and enjoy having them sleep with me. I manage two, and me, on a Full bed.

 

I tend to be a lazy trainer, but my Angel Mango learned just from me repeating every night "Move over". She would try for my spot every night, and every night would get told "Move over". She also learned "get down" the same way, and that came in handy the night I rolled over on her and she growled at me. Voice of God "get down" before my eyes were even open kept me safe and her from doing it again.

 

My Angel Takoda took the lazy way out: he got in my spot every night, and every night would grin at me when I said "move over". That was because he knew I would then move him over. He didn't have to work at it. He was the kind of dog I could safely do that to, though.

 

I have two new dogs now that I'm teaching the same way. Ruger has already figured it out. He actually waits for me in "his" spot. Delta, I just have to touch her and she moves.

 

Don't know whether any of this helps, but thought I would share my tactics.

 

And, above all else, Welcome to GT!

[Guest burgerandfrey]

Obviously you didn't upsize your bed enough ;-)

 

Actually even our King Size bed feels small when your hound insists on sleeping right next to you. Our previous greyhound liked to sleep on the bed when she was younger, and she was pretty good about it. As she got older she could no longer tolerate any movement on our part. If I turned over she would get annoyed and leave.

 

Our current hounds each have their quirks, but things usually work out. Rarely do both of our hounds get into our king size bed at the same time, but it does happen. Two adults plus two greyhounds makes even a large bed seem small. Usually we get to sleep with one or the other. We have two dog beds in our bedroom, but only one of them is ever occupied. Lola is the smaller of the two, but she makes her presence known. She insists on lying next to you, and she presses into you with her back. She somehow pushes me closer and closer to the edge of the bed until I'm just about to fall off, even though there is plenty of space. My wife usually gets the feet... which poke her in the back whenever Lola dreams about running. Lola is a very sweet and cuddly hound who never displays any sleep aggression, but she insists on getting up several times a night, turning around three times, and then lying down in a new position. So between the turning around and the kicking she can be a bit annoying. Of course my wife says I kick her in my sleep as well, so she thinks it's sort of a toss up. She gets kicked either way

 

Zeke is easier to sleep with in that he doesn't really move much during the night... if at all. Once he finds a comfortable position (usually right in between us, but not against either of us), he tends to stay put. In fact he is just a big lump of dog who won't move unless you tell him to get down or offer him a cookie. Zeke isn't really sleep aggressive, but he does get startled sometimes. I think he gets disturbed when one of us moves and then he suddenly sits up and barks or yelps until he realizes where he is. Of course this kind of behavior could lead to an accidental snap, so we are mindful of where he sleeps in the bed... usually near our feet.

 

Our usual routine is that Lola takes the nightshift in the bed while Zeke sleeps on the floor. They like to get up for breakfast about 6:30am, which is when I get up for work. My wife works at home, so she sleeps in a bit later. I feed the dogs and let them out, then they run right back upstairs and get into bed with my wife. Zeke usually takes the morning shift in the bed, although sometimes both of them will get up there since there is more room without me around. On rare occasions all four of us will be in the bed, but that only lasts so long. Eventually Lola will get up to change positions, and then get down if there isn't any place for her to go. Or she will disturb Zeke who will sit up and bark. When that happens we make them both get down.

 

So yeah... they sure are hard to turn away when they want to cuddle, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. Even if you got a bigger bed it may not help if your hound still prefers to lay on top of you, or if he has sleep aggression. Try putting his bed in your bedroom, or get him a really new fluffy bed that seems special to him and put it in there. You will have to be persistent, but eventually he will learn that he is supposed to sleep in his own bed. As long as he can be in the same room with you he should adapt quickly.

 

Good luck!

 

Sean

[Guest GMueller]

Obviously you didn't upsize your bed enough ;-)

 

Actually even our King Size bed feels small when your hound insists on sleeping right next to you. Our previous greyhound liked to sleep on the bed when she was younger, and she was pretty good about it. As she got older she could no longer tolerate any movement on our part. If I turned over she would get annoyed and leave.

 

Our current hounds each have their quirks, but things usually work out. Rarely do both of our hounds get into our king size bed at the same time, but it does happen. Two adults plus two greyhounds makes even a large bed seem small. Usually we get to sleep with one or the other. We have two dog beds in our bedroom, but only one of them is ever occupied. Lola is the smaller of the two, but she makes her presence known. She insists on lying next to you, and she presses into you with her back. She somehow pushes me closer and closer to the edge of the bed until I'm just about to fall off, even though there is plenty of space. My wife usually gets the feet... which poke her in the back whenever Lola dreams about running. Lola is a very sweet and cuddly hound who never displays any sleep aggression, but she insists on getting up several times a night, turning around three times, and then lying down in a new position. So between the turning around and the kicking she can be a bit annoying. Of course my wife says I kick her in my sleep as well, so she thinks it's sort of a toss up. She gets kicked either way

 

Zeke is easier to sleep with in that he doesn't really move much during the night... if at all. Once he finds a comfortable position (usually right in between us, but not against either of us), he tends to stay put. In fact he is just a big lump of dog who won't move unless you tell him to get down or offer him a cookie. Zeke isn't really sleep aggressive, but he does get startled sometimes. I think he gets disturbed when one of us moves and then he suddenly sits up and barks or yelps until he realizes where he is. Of course this kind of behavior could lead to an accidental snap, so we are mindful of where he sleeps in the bed... usually near our feet.

 

Our usual routine is that Lola takes the nightshift in the bed while Zeke sleeps on the floor. They like to get up for breakfast about 6:30am, which is when I get up for work. My wife works at home, so she sleeps in a bit later. I feed the dogs and let them out, then they run right back upstairs and get into bed with my wife. Zeke usually takes the morning shift in the bed, although sometimes both of them will get up there since there is more room without me around. On rare occasions all four of us will be in the bed, but that only lasts so long. Eventually Lola will get up to change positions, and then get down if there isn't any place for her to go. Or she will disturb Zeke who will sit up and bark. When that happens we make them both get down.

 

So yeah... they sure are hard to turn away when they want to cuddle, but sometimes it just doesn't work out. Even if you got a bigger bed it may not help if your hound still prefers to lay on top of you, or if he has sleep aggression. Try putting his bed in your bedroom, or get him a really new fluffy bed that seems special to him and put it in there. You will have to be persistent, but eventually he will learn that he is supposed to sleep in his own bed. As long as he can be in the same room with you he should adapt quickly.

 

Good luck!

 

Sean

 

[Guest GMueller]

Thank all of you for the greyt advice. I think I am going to get a body pillow. Maybe that will help. I never thought so many people would respond! This is wonderful.

I will post pictures of Ollie whose racing name was "Nita's Cash Money" when and if I ever figure out how to do it.

[Guest hanksmom]

Many people, including me, don't allow their greys to sleep with them and there's a very good reason. Having grown up in a pack, many greys develop space issues or just want to dominate and in this case, he's dominating you. Nudge or bump a sleeping grey and you can end up being bitten. Your dog may not be "pushing" you out of bed as much as he's trying to "own" your space there. And then there's sleep aggression, another problem that can occur when you let your grey sleep with you.

 

You're the boss. You should be alpha. My first grey slept with us for a short time until I realized it wasn't a good move so I gave her a strong correction when she'd start to jump up. Like most sensitive greys, she responded to the correction and stopped trying to get up. Don't give in and it'll stop quickly.

[greysmom]

I have a major snuggle-bug as well, and if I let him, Dude will take up the entire queen bed all by himself!

 

We've taught him to "scoot" which means get up and move over. It sometimes take some prodding and a grumpy "humpf" on his part, but he will move over.

 

Get him his own blanket. Dude LOVES LOVES LOVES to sleep on fleece - even a scrap piece from the fabric store, it doesn't have to be a real blanket. He sleeps on one and gets covered by one.

 

On some nights he wears jammies instead of the blankie - one of the reasons he gets so close is that he's cold. Dude has large bald areas on the lower half of his body and we keep the house fairly cold at night. Jammies help a lot!

 

greysmom

[Guest karma98104]

I have three whippets. Two of them MUST be on top of me or crammed next to me all night. In the summer, I ban them from the bedroom so I can sleep comfortably. I put a babygate at the door, and a comfy bed on the other side of it so they can see me. There was a night or two of pacing/whining, but they got it pretty quickly- the key is they have to be able to see me on the bed. Now that it's cold out, I've caved and let them in bed with me again, it saves on heat and I don't mind so much It helps that they are pretty small and I can pick them up and move them without them even waking up.

 

I did want to add, however... there there have been some stories on GT about dogs who have gotten really pushy and bitten their owners during the night while in bed. You mentioned your pup growled and snapped. Personally-- if I had one peep out of my pups, they'd be banned from the bed for life. Maybe that seems harsh, but, well... you should have heard the stories

[Teensy]

Whoa, we have the same issue. This confirms my decision not to let her sleep with us. I don't like it at all, actually. It seems like it only sounds like a good idea in theory, and for a select few, it works out fine, and for the rest it just doesn't work out all that well. We're just crating her at the foot of the bed now.

[Guest TheDoggfather]

[gracegirl]

Another bed hog here at my house, Fenway is the guilty party. I've thought about the body pillow route myself, might have to try that. Fenway is the worst, he likes to plop down right next to you and lean against you. Drives me nuts. When I'm watching DBFs dog he also likes to sleep in the bed...but I like Bama's style much better. Bama curls up down near my feet and doesn't move all night.

[Guest longdoglady]

Thank's Doggfather for finding a photo of Ollie, she's a bonny girl.

[Guest Parsniptoast]

Another way to not "solve" it b/c I dont think that can be done...is to train him to "stay" till you are in bed and in YOUR comfortable position and then allow him to come into YOUR bed.

 

 

This is what Reg and I do... he is not allowed on the bed until I've put the sheet in position over the duvet and I'm in place - and only then can he get on the bed and find a spot to settle in. I'm such a fidget in bed though that often I find I've pushed him off during the night and he's gone to his own bed to get some peace

 

Meg's still learning that the bed is a good thing but she prefers to sleep with her back to two walls still so stays on the floor in the bedroom.

 

Good luck though!! And as others have said.. you could always upgrade your bed...

[RobinM]

Welcome! we have a king size bed and 3 hounds that like to sleep with us sometimes and 2 that sleep with us everynight. The 85 pound one Teddy, is just like your Ollie. I literally won't have both butt cheeks on the bed and I wake up with his paw in my face or worse. He likes to sleep horizontally. I can't get him to move for anything.

 

But, as much as I b*Tch about it, I wouldn't change it for the world- they are so spoiled! I have to use my robe as a blanket!!!!

 

 

 

Somehow here Teddy is at the end and I actually have some bed room.

 

[Guest jcsnyder95]

Mia is not allowed on any furniture in my house. She sleeps downstairs on her bed at night, and doesn't make a peep down there. I agree with hanksmom, it's a dominance thing. Any inch you give them, they will take it, plus a foot.

[Guest zoolaine]

I usually have 3 dogs sleep with me. They have all learned the "move" command, but most of the time they get up and move about 2 inches . Teaching Jupiter took awhile but he eventually got that if he didn't move he had to get down off the bed - he now moves.

[Guest RocketDog]

I do enjoy cuddling with the dogs, especially on lazy weekend mornings, but not at the expense of a good night's sleep. I found that training a reliable 'OFF' is incredibly handy, because if someone starts dreaming or has gas we can poke 'em in the butt (or chest or back or whatever we can reach) and tell them to get off the bed. We have dog beds in the bedroom and living room they can sleep on, plus couches and crates, so it's not like it's our bed or the cold hard wood floors or anything.

 

Training a reliable 'OFF' or 'MOVE' is handy even if you don't allow bed/couch privileges. It's so nice to be able to get the dog to move without having to physically move them, especially if the dog has shown any sort of snarkiness about their space.