New hound (just over 1wk), randomly refuses to sleep in our bedroom now? Spooked by a fan?

[leggyblondegrey]

Hi! First time grey- and dog-owner here, he's been with us just over a week and overall is a pretty confident and happy lad.

He's been sleeping soundly in our bedroom in his own bed from day 1 and has slept perfectly through the night. He has a bed in the living room and another in the bedroom. 2 nights ago he refused to come into the bedroom and stayed in his living room bed. He has had no issue getting up in our personal space so far lol, he's not a nervous boy and in fact is a bit velcro and prefers to be in the same room as us so I found it pretty odd. I slept out there with him on the couch just in case he was doing it because he didn't feel well or something, since his last poo of the night was on the loose side. However he was fine.

Last night he refused to come in again so I went back to our own bed and just left all the doors open so he could creep into our bedroom if he decided to, rather than end up whining at the door at some point, and again he stayed out all night. He'd even rather sleep on the hard floor in the hallway with no bed, than come into the bedroom. 

It's the height of summer where I am, and we had moved a standing fan into the bedroom a couple of nights before he stopped going in. He slept fine with it for a couple of nights but did look at it a lot. My theory is he finds it spooky. I removed it from the room and also switched the beds around so that his favourite comfy living room bed was in the bedroom (the one we had in the bedroom before is a little smaller and less fluffy). With the fan gone and the beds switched, I managed to coax him in gently with treats, but only a couple of feet in, then he ran back out even though he looked at the spot where the fan used to stand and saw it was gone.

Is it weird that even with the spooky thing gone, he still won't go in? Any advice as to whether to desensitise/countercondition to the fan vs just put it away and not overwhelm him, since it's something we only need for maybe a month out of the year? I don't have any real concerns with him sleeping alone in the living room if it's not making him anxious out there - he's very good at asking to go out for P&P if he needs it and the room is very dogproof. But I would rather he come back to the bedroom just because I don't want him to be anxious about a whole part of the apartment, and I know it can be important for dogs to sleep near their "people".

Thanks for reading, I know this was a long post, typical scaredy first time dog mumma!!  

[greysmom]

Completely normal.  Once they get spooked in na place they have a lot of anxiety surrounding that place and avoid it if they can.  If he's fine sleeping where he wants, I'd just leave him to work it out.

You can work on making him more comfortable with coming into the room with treats and counterconditioning - basically rewarding him for coming in the room on his own.

[Jerilyn]

Could be the fan, could also be the heat. My velcro girl has spent a few nights sleeping in the living room instead of my bedroom. Her bed in the bedroom is much softer and snugglier than her living room bed and I think it was too warm for her.

[HeyRunDog]

I wouldn't worry. Put his bed where he's comfortable sleeping. It is probably the fan that's spooked him but he could be getting used to his new home and has decided he doesn't need to sleep as close to you.

[cleptogrey]

Track dogs have always had a routine. So, stick with a routine and let him get used to it. Always reward a behavior you want with some food. Sleeping in a crate is a routine they all have had their entire life. Stick with it. Your choice of place for the crate. 

[leggyblondegrey]

Thanks all! Appreciate the reassurance that it's normal and ok to let him figure it out. He's been sleeping fine in the hallway outside our room.

Interestingly I found a small spot of what I think is old pee on our bedroom rug near where he used to sleep (hard to say it's pee for sure, no smell but just noticed it's slightly yellow). he hasn't had any accidents inside that we've seen and is v well housetrained, but maybe he did a small excited piddle when we didn't notice and then didn't want to sleep in the same spot. I've cleaned it up with enzyme cleaner and will see if it makes any difference although now I think he's happily gotten used to his routine in the hallway. And tbh the bedroom isn't massive so we haven't minded the extra space 😉