New Girlie Wants To Own The Bed

[Guest june]

I adopted a new girlie just before Thanksgiving. She is kind of an oddie because although she has her tats she was never registered and was found wandering lose, Picked up by animal control, and turned over to a grey rescue. No microchip and no one claimed her. No one knows or remembers who she was given to. She probably was the runt of the litter. She had several severe health issues, including being extremely underweight, which have been treated. So basically I don't know anything about her past. She is very sweet and loving.

 

The first two weeks she slept all the time, having to be woken up for meals and potty breaks. When she was awake there was lots of nervous tail wagging, very passive. She finally started playing with toys and decided she loves sleeping on the bed; all the time.

 

Now, all my dogs are allowed in bed (not all at once ). The problem is she gets in bed and won't move to make room for anyone including me and gradually pushes everyone else out of, or to the edge of the bed. I woke up one night with her head on top of mine and I was at the edge of the bed almost falling out. I've tried telling her "no" when she tries to get in bed (she waits until I'm falling asleep and gets back up), shutting her out of the bedroom to give someone else a chance in bed, but she scratches and whines. I put her in a crate and she whines and barks. Tried a water spritzer when she whines in the crate which was totally ineffective in stopping the whining Oh yeah, and once she gets in bed she turns into a limp bag of greyhound when I try to get her out of bed. I have to physically pick her up to get her out of bed and as soon as her feet hit the floor she is trying to get back up.

 

I love her and she gets along greyt with my other two greys. Right now I have an x-pen around my bed to keep her off.at night while I am sleeping (OK, you can all stop laughing now!). She is being directed to a nice soft dog bed in the corner of the room close to the bed, but even with this she gets up several times through the night and whines and paws at the x-pen. My house is very small and I don't have any way to put her somewhere that I won't hear her whine and bark.

 

I know it is my fault for letting her on the bed, but as I said I've always allowed my dogs in bed. Anyone have any other suggestions? My intention is to not let her on the bed until this stops but then I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to allow her on the bed.

 

Sleepless in the X-pen,

june

[MauCarden]

Okay, no advice since I have a girlie who thinks she owns the bed and another who wants to, but you are right, I can't stop laughing about the X-pen.

[robinw]

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh I have no advice either, because she sounds exactly like Treasure.

[3vagreys]

When my little Frosty first came here, she also wanted to own the bed. Whenever she got in and didn't leave room for anyone else, she got to spend the next night locked in her crate. After a couple times of this, she decided that she didn't want to even try sleeping with me any more. Now she will hop in my bed for a couple of minutes and then she is off to her own.

[JAJ2010]

:lol Sunshine also goes limp when she does want to get off the bed. I solved that pretty early on just by grabbing her collar and just leading her off. We had already had established that when Mommy grabs the collar you better get your feet underneath you cause your moving whether or not your ready. She used to refuse to come out of her crate for walks and I would grab a collar and just drag her out. Only a few times her her screaming bloody murder she quickly figured out that screaming did her no good and she is very respectful of me touching that collar.

 

With that being said I've been know to grab a set of her legs and pull her around to where I need her on the bed. Or even grab both sets of legs and just roll her over to face the other way if I need room. Or better yet roll her into a roaching position so I have room to lay down. In my defense if I seriously tell her to get off the bed she will exit without too much much drama. If she tried to hop back on she gets body blocked, corrected and evicted from the entire room.

 

What if you made jumping up and off the bed into a training game? Jump up, lay down, good girl, cookie, jump down, sit, good girl, cookie, jump up, good girl, cookie, race out to the other room at top speed (they usually follow), Good girl, cookie, etc rinse and repeat?

[dante2zoe]

I have one who has decided that he is unable to sleep through the night unless he is on my bed. He would take over the entire thing if I let him. I finally got extra pillows, had him jump up where I wanted him to be and surrounded him with pillows blocking him from the rest of the bed. Fortunately, that worked. Now, I don't have to use the pillows anymore and if he is not where I want him, I call his name and pat the area where he needs to be. He moves there willingly because otherwise he gets dumped on the floor.

[Guest SpicyMom]

Boy, does that sound familiar ... and no laughs about the x-pen, I have also resorted to the dog gate around the bed on occasion... I keep an extra cover/blanket on the bed to protect the comforter and it also works well to drag the dog off of the bed if she doesn't cooperate... My lurcher can take it or leave it and usually prefers her bed, unless it's really cold. And then there are the cats... The other night, I had an itch on my ankle and after struggling in my sleep to move my leg to scratch it, I woke up enough to find a dog stretched out on either side of me, a cat sleeping between my knees and one on my chest...it was effectively a greyhound and kitty straightjacket! No one would move so I had to wiggle up to the top of the bed to get out!

[GeorgeofNE]

The only real way to deal with this is to put up with the whining (in the crate or x-pen) for a while. She WILL stop. Training takes a concerted, consistent effort.

 

Or get a bigger bed.

 

George is a bit of a bed hog too, and I have not been firm enough in my resolve to teach him not to hog. But I know what I SHOULD be doing!

[Guest june]

Well, we've now gotten through two nights with the x-pen around the bed. She has stopped trying to get past it and last night she cried a couple of times and settled down when I told her no. She became persistent with the crying about 5:30 this morning (I get up at 6 so not so bad). She isn't happy, but she is accepting it which is giving me hope that she realizes I mean business and is surrendering.

 

What if you made jumping up and off the bed into a training game? Jump up, lay down, good girl, cookie, jump down, sit, good girl, cookie, jump up, good girl, cookie, race out to the other room at top speed (they usually follow), Good girl, cookie, etc rinse and repeat?

 

I really like the idea of training her to get on and off the bed; don't know why I didn't think of it .

 

Thanks to all of you for feedback, suggestions and sharing your "bed-hog" stories.

Also, glad I could provide some of you with some comic relief

 

june

[JAJ2010]

 

I really like the idea of training her to get on and off the bed; don't know why I didn't think of it .

 

Thanks to all of you for feedback, suggestions and sharing your "bed-hog" stories.

Also, glad I could provide some of you with some comic relief

 

june

 

Personally I LOVE cuddling with my dogs on the bed, but I also like to sleep well, so bed manners are important.

[Guest mirthlesstroll]

I totally laughed at the X-pen, but it's a clever idea. I have a bed hog too. Jett NEEDS to be touching or laying on me all night, but he's discovered that I'll dump him off the bed if he doesn't move when I tell him to - I just grab a handful of comforter and hoist him right off onto the floor. He's gotten a little lazy with the "Move" command, so there will be some dumping going on tonight.

 

Stay strong, and she'll learn that she has to obey you.

[Guest june]

Here is an update on my new girlie. Since I have been home for 4 days over Christmas I've started "inviting" her up on the bed. If she tries to get up without me inviting her she is given a sharp "no" and redirected to her bed. The x-pen is removed except for at night when I am sleeping. I haven't allowed her to just jump up on her own; she has to be invited. When I've allowed her on the bed she has been less of a bed hog laying down nicely next to me while I am watching TV or reading. I've kept a harness on her and if she doesn't get down by invitation I just grab her by the harness to get her down. I'm hoping over the New Year to take down the x-pen at night and see how things go.

 

She has stopped the whining, barking and crying and has started sleeping on the dog bed at the foot of my bed. She is a happy girlie and still getting along with everyone. She recently has taken to snuggling with one of my other girlies on the love seat and is being taught to respect her space.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and mostly the support! No matter how many greyts we have and how many situations arise they will always find new challenges for us!

 

june

[Guest jettcricket]

My Hollie is a bed hog too...and stubborn. She'll actually pretend that she's sleeping when I try and get her off the bed or to moved. Oy....I feel your pain.

[JAJ2010]

sounds like things are well on their way to perfect!

[Guest IrskasMom]

First of all, you got my Vote for taking her in and loving her.Now I have no advice on how to not make her get on your Bed. My Bed is high and my Morty was never in my Bed and he does not want to. He has a big soft Bed right next to mine where he sleeps. How old is that sweet Girl???My Boy has Tatoos but never showed up at Registery or Raced. Makes no differents to me....I love him.

We surely would like to see some Pictures of that lucky Girlie .

[Guest june]

How old is that sweet Girl???

 

She just turned 8 earlier this month. The only nice thing about her having her tats is that I know who her parents are. She looks so much like her mother, but I'd love her even if I didn't know anything about her.

 

I'm not real computer literate and can't figure out how to post a picture it keeps asking for an "image URL" which makes as much sense to me a Chinese

Edited December 27, 2010 by june

[Guest LindsaySF]

To post a picture, you first need to upload it to a picture-hosting site (like Photobucket). Then you post the link (URL) to the picture.

 

Glad that things are getting better! What has worked here is: 1) Dogs need permission to get onto the bed, and 2) They need to know the down/off command.

[Guest june]

OK, photo bucket it is!

 

Thanks for the help.

 

This is my Christmas Angel

 

Doing what she does best: sleeping

 

All three girlies in bed

 

they are just a little spoiled

june

[EllenEveBaz]

Three brindle beauties!

[Guest LindsaySF]

[Guest Sunset123]

I feel your pain! I was so excited when I finally got Arrisa to come up on our bed. It was perfect for a while: she'd come up and cuddle when invited, and then when we decided it was time to sleep she'd hop down and settle into her bed for the rest of the night.

 

Then she started hopping up on her own, and I thought it was so sweet. I was thrilled!

 

Of course, it soon got out of hand and she wouldn't get out of the bed, and when I made her get down she'd end up jumping back up a little bit later, which really made it difficult for my husband and I to sleep. We never knew when a dog was going to come flying. I started telling her "no," when she came up, so then she'd keep coming up to the foot of the bed and just standing there, waiting to be invited, which also kept us awake.

 

It broke my heart to "de-bed" her, but now she's back to the dogbed on the floor.