Our Grey Wont Sleep In Our Bedroom Anymore :-(

[Guest Krizzy]

Ok, so my husband and I have had our Hammer since last October, so around 9 months. I would say he is pretty well adjusted to us. Very easily pleased and laid back. We taught him to go up and down stairs. He still struggles to walk on floors, but we lay blankets/rugs down so he can walk to his bed. Every night, when its bedtime, we say, "Come on Ham, let's go sleepy." We often give him a treat also when he comes up. Every time, he happily follows us upstairs and there he has his bed next to ours, lays down and falls asleep. Never a problem.

 

The last four nights, he has followed us upstairs, but then goes back down. He wont go and lay in his bed, but instead, he goes back down, and sleeps in the front room on the carpet. So weird. I will add, I am 13 weeks pregnant. I know they say, "dogs know when you are pregnant" but my opinion, I don't feel like he knows yet. He doesn't whine or anything, but just goes to sleep downstairs. Since we have had him, we are always in the same room when we sleep, so it is a little sad for me. I feel like I did something wrong.

 

Any opinions or suggestions are appreciated!! Thank you :-)

[Guest BuckeyeAmy]

Aw, I know how this makes you feel. My Flynn is the same way. He goes through phases where he doesn't want to be in my room. At other times he needs to sleep in my room. Be patient and keep inviting him to join you. He may change his mind again at some point!

[dmdsmoxie]

Maybe he is to hot and it is cooler on the rug

[Guest Krizzy]

Maybe he is to hot and it is cooler on the rug

We thought about that because he would pant a little before he fell asleep. It has been warm upstairs but we have the fan on and the window open and its a cool night tonight. Maybe because of the previous warm nights, he now thinks our bedroom will always be too warm.

[Guest Dancer]

My boy Checker, will go through phases where he will sleep in the bed with me...and then he won't - and insists on sleeping on a dog bed a few feet away from the bed.

 

There is nothing I can do to coax him to sleep on my bed with me. Not sure what makes him want to sleep on the dog bed when his 'brother' sleeps in the bed with me. But he seems happy either way - "chi sera, sera".

 

And best of all...he is happy to see me in the morning (and trys to wake me up) regardless of where he sleeps. He consistently does the breakfast dance regardless of whether he slept in the bed with me or not.

 

??Perhaps I snore??

[grey14me]

I am guessing it's the heat as well.

[3greytjoys]

As others mentioned, heat is a strong possibility. Some dogs are fearful or uncomfortable around fans. If you have a TV in the bedroom, some hounds are highly sensitive to TV/movie special effects or volume.

 

Side note: If your rugs are not permanent, please consider buying runner rugs and separate rubber rug gripper mats to place underneath, or get rubber-backed area rugs. Greyhounds can have dangerous, even deadly falls on hard surface floors. Blankets or rugs without rubber backing can become flying magic carpet rides... smack into a wall.

 

 

Congratulations!

[Guest RMarie]

I posted something very similar to this months ago after James stopped sleeping in our bedroom after a few months. The responses I received were along the lines of "congratulations, your boy seems to have settled in quite well to your home and is confident enough that he doesn't feel the need to sleep near you anymore." We were sad at first, but then quite happy, as James is a nester and would nest his orthopedic bed to no end during the night, which kept us up. After leaving our bedroom, James slept in his crate. After we introduced him to the couch, though, he's never looked back.

 

Congrats!

[Guest houndog990]

I had a pup that decided the best way to make sure we were safe was to sleep at the top of the stairs. Any movement from downstairs and the bedrooms at the top of the stairs would be detected. Your guy might look harmless, but inside lurks a primal being ready to protect his pack.

Congratulations!

Edited June 2, 2013 by houndog990

[Shaysmom]

Seamus chooses not to sleep in our bedroom even though he has a bed next to us. He sleeps in the family room and most days, will come in at 5 AM or so (whining loudly to let us know he has arrived) and lay down until we get up. The only time he will sleep in our room is after we have been away on a trip and have left him with a dog sitter, or sometimes when we have a foster dog that he particularly likes (we always have the fosters sleep in our room), he will join us. It has never really bothered me that he prefers to sleep elsewhere--although I could do without the serenade at 5 AM.

[GreytHoundPoet]

I have 6 hounds that sleep in my bedroom and one who prefers to sleep in the living room. She is not a trouble maker and is happy so I let her.

[TheFullHouse]

My thought is the same as other, the heat. We keep our bedroom quite cool but none of the dogs sleep in our bed, they sleep on the floor on their beds. There are those nights where one or more will come up while I'm watching tv and if it's too warm in the bedroom they get down on their on and go to their beds. I guess that's my signal to turn the air down because when I do they will get back up on the bed.

[GeorgeofNE]

You know, you really should be happy! He's comfortable enough at home he's gained some independent spirit!

 

I'm guessing it's the heat.

[BootsyCollins]

It could just be his preference. Our Bootsy will come upstairs, but he prefers to sleep in the living room.

 

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Big adventure!

[Jerilyn]

Lila chooses to sleep in the living room instead of my bedroom most of the time. I was disappointed at first, but it’s one of the few choices she gets to make in her life so I’m glad she’s doing what she wants.

[Jackandgrey]

It could be anything but my Joshy would go through phases when he would choose to sleep downstairs for whatever reason and then switch and be upstairs. I would miss mine too if I had an only but I always have one or two in the room with me.

[Fruitycake]

Our Monty is a "migrating sleeper" when he's allowed to roam. He'll start in the bedroom in one bed, migrate out to the living room, come back to lie in the hallway (a tan dog on tan carpeting in a hallway with no lights - it's interesting if you have to get up in the middle of the night!), maybe come back to lie in one of the beds in the bedroom.... Right now he can't because we have to keep the other dog in the bedroom with us, and she won't settle if he isn't in there too. He's fine with that too (but when we take her out for her middle of the night pee break, he takes the opportunity to migrate then).

 

It may have nothing to do with you. My guess is that it doesn't.

[a_daerr]

Yep, another vote for the heat. In our house, the upstairs is a few degrees hotter.

Lately, one or both of my guys has been going downstairs to sleep.

[Guest Krizzy]

As others mentioned, heat is a strong possibility. Some dogs are fearful or uncomfortable around fans. If you have a TV in the bedroom, some hounds are highly sensitive to TV/movie special effects or volume.

 

Side note: If your rugs are not permanent, please consider buying runner rugs and separate rubber rug gripper mats to place underneath, or get rubber-backed area rugs. Greyhounds can have dangerous, even deadly falls on hard surface floors. Blankets or rugs without rubber backing can become flying magic carpet rides... smack into a wall.

 

 

Congratulations!

Thanks! Yea, we want to get a permanent carpet runner. He gets skeptical about the loose blankets on the floor.

I had a pup that decided the best way to make sure we were safe was to sleep at the top of the stairs. Any movement from downstairs and the bedrooms at the top of the stairs would be detected. Your guy might look harmless, but inside lurks a primal being ready to protect his pack.

Congratulations!

very interesting! Never thought about it that way :-)

It could just be his preference. Our Bootsy will come upstairs, but he prefers to sleep in the living room.

 

Congratulations on your pregnancy! Big adventure!

Thank you!

[Guest Krizzy]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. He is still sleeping downstairs but we are okay with it since he seems pretty comfy with it. (no whining) We still let him know he is welcome but if he chooses downstairs, its his choice :-)

[Guest DragonflyDM]

Boomer just started this about a month ago. I am assuming heat and humidity. Normally he is all over me at night.

[HoundHeavenAZ]

Maybe he finally accepted that you aren't going to escape out of the window during the night finally You have made him feel safe and secure and that should make you proud and happy!

Congrats to you and the family

 

[Guest k9soul]

You know I had an odd thing happen last summer with my lab mix. She is 6 years old and I have had her since she was a puppy and she always slept in bed with me from the time she was a baby. Suddenly last summer, and it was a particularly brutally hot summer, she seemed to follow me to bed, settle down, but then get uncomfortable and go in the other room. I do have AC but as hot as it was I just couldn't afford to run it at full blast all the time.

 

Anyway, she got in the habit of going to sleep in the other room. I thought when winter came she'd come back with me, but she still went to bed in the other room much to my confusion and a bit of disappointment. I'd call her to the bed and she'd get on but then leave right after. During the night I would awaken though and she'd be sleeping in the bed but not cuddled close like she used to. This has been going on a year now and I've learned that it's just the way she feels most comfortable now, for whatever reason. Maybe once she slept on her own she discovered she felt more peaceful not sleeping up close to someone else. I'm a bit embarrassed to say I even felt a bit hurt by it when she did not come back to cuddling up with me when winter came around.

 

So my whole point I guess is I can relate to your confusion about it and wondering about it. I think my girl may have just discovered that things stayed secure and normal even when she slept elsewhere and so she broadened her horizons so to speak. Maybe something similar is going on with your hound. He may come back when it gets cooler, but don't feel bad if he still decides he likes other places to sleep now that he has "discovered" them.