mark cattell
New member
our dog is 1 years old and she sleeps on our bed how do we get her out of this and get her to sleep in her own bed down stairs.
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how to get my dog to sleep downstaires
- Thread starter mark cattell
- Start date
Training! And ear plugs. if she is crate trained this will help the process. If she isn't, I'd suggest doing so as that will eventually be a useful way to approach the transition. My dogs are crated at night in nice large comfy crates with their bedding inside.
Otherwise -- you can try just keeping her downstairs -- leave her with something to do, eg a Kong stuffed with something for her to work away at. You will need to be able to close doors to the room. But she may well scratch and scratch hard as well as bark and whine at least for the first few days to first week to longer, depending on the dog.
Don't go down to her and don't punish. Just ignore the fussing and most likely she will simply settle in and after a bout a week will be quite happy.
I leave my dogs with a dog biscuit to eat then the lights go out.
Otherwise -- you can try just keeping her downstairs -- leave her with something to do, eg a Kong stuffed with something for her to work away at. You will need to be able to close doors to the room. But she may well scratch and scratch hard as well as bark and whine at least for the first few days to first week to longer, depending on the dog.
Don't go down to her and don't punish. Just ignore the fussing and most likely she will simply settle in and after a bout a week will be quite happy.
I leave my dogs with a dog biscuit to eat then the lights go out.
Nicki
Moderator
I would recommend crate training:
Introduce her to the crate downstairs, leave the door open and put some comfy bedding in. Throw a few treats in for her to find, then start putting her meals in - leave the door open. Most dogs love their crate and quickly adapt to sleeping in it. Once she is comfortable in the crate, then start shutting her in for sleeps during the day. This may take a few weeks.
Then put the crate upstairs, in the bedroom. Make sure she has had a busy day, maybe a late walk, so she is tired and ready to settle. Put her in the crate with her bedtime biscuit and shut the door.
If she starts barking or whining, just ignore her. You may get a few broken nights until she adjusts to the change in routine, but they usually fairly quickly learn.
Once she settles happily in the crate, you can then start moving it out of the bedroom if that is your aim - just a few feet each night, maybe out onto the landing, and then at the foot of the stairs. You can build up to putting the crate where you want it.
If you try just shutting her in a room downstairs, as Karlin says, she will likely make a huge fuss, and scrabble and scratch at the door to get to you.
For anyone else reading this, this is why we suggest that you start as you mean to go on!! I recommend that people have their pups in a crate next to the bed, they do not then feel abandoned - and if they need to go out in the night, you are there to hear them moving about - and take them out. Once they are older, you can then gradually move the crate to where you want them to sleep.
Used properly, crates are not cruel - they give the dog somewhere safe to settle, their own den, and most of them love their crates. Obviously during the day the dog should not be confined for more than a couple of hours, and should be exercised and given the opportunity to toilet first.
Introduce her to the crate downstairs, leave the door open and put some comfy bedding in. Throw a few treats in for her to find, then start putting her meals in - leave the door open. Most dogs love their crate and quickly adapt to sleeping in it. Once she is comfortable in the crate, then start shutting her in for sleeps during the day. This may take a few weeks.
Then put the crate upstairs, in the bedroom. Make sure she has had a busy day, maybe a late walk, so she is tired and ready to settle. Put her in the crate with her bedtime biscuit and shut the door.
If she starts barking or whining, just ignore her. You may get a few broken nights until she adjusts to the change in routine, but they usually fairly quickly learn.
Once she settles happily in the crate, you can then start moving it out of the bedroom if that is your aim - just a few feet each night, maybe out onto the landing, and then at the foot of the stairs. You can build up to putting the crate where you want it.
If you try just shutting her in a room downstairs, as Karlin says, she will likely make a huge fuss, and scrabble and scratch at the door to get to you.
For anyone else reading this, this is why we suggest that you start as you mean to go on!! I recommend that people have their pups in a crate next to the bed, they do not then feel abandoned - and if they need to go out in the night, you are there to hear them moving about - and take them out. Once they are older, you can then gradually move the crate to where you want them to sleep.
Used properly, crates are not cruel - they give the dog somewhere safe to settle, their own den, and most of them love their crates. Obviously during the day the dog should not be confined for more than a couple of hours, and should be exercised and given the opportunity to toilet first.
Yes thanks for explaining why to use a crate in more detail! 
Expect noise and scratched doors if you go cold turkey now.
On the other hand for someone who has a crate trained dog already (something I advise from puppyhood) then it is easy to start having the dog sleep in the crate in the room and then try just putting them where you want them to sleep as a complete change.
You will likely get a bit of initial noise the first few nights but then nothing.
Mine did such a move and it took about a week for them to be perfectly happy in another room and to run for their crates each night (they all get a biscuit inside) rather than expect to be in my room. But they were allcrate trained already and are used to sleeping in crates when home-boarding at night.
There are some links on good crate training info in the Library section and also links in all the training recommendations pinned at the top of the Training forum.
Expect noise and scratched doors if you go cold turkey now.
On the other hand for someone who has a crate trained dog already (something I advise from puppyhood) then it is easy to start having the dog sleep in the crate in the room and then try just putting them where you want them to sleep as a complete change.
You will likely get a bit of initial noise the first few nights but then nothing.
Mine did such a move and it took about a week for them to be perfectly happy in another room and to run for their crates each night (they all get a biscuit inside) rather than expect to be in my room. But they were allcrate trained already and are used to sleeping in crates when home-boarding at night.
There are some links on good crate training info in the Library section and also links in all the training recommendations pinned at the top of the Training forum.
MadPip
Well-known member
We tried this when Maddie was having sleeping issues after I'd had to go away on a course and she became quite anxious and clingy for a while. You have to have patience and don't expect it to work instantly. Maddie can be quite stubborn, bless her,:l*v: and it took 6 months in total for her to be completely ok being downstairs on her own.
We had to adapt the method a bit, as we found the move from the landing to downstairs too difficult for her. What we did was move ourselves downstairs (we took it in turns to sleep on the settee), had her in the crate next to the settee, then nearer the kitchen door, then the other side of the door where we wanted her to be ultimately, then we moved ourselves back upstairs. This move involved one of us sitting at the top of the stairs for about 15 minutes each night until she settled. Finally we left her in the kitchen with her crate door open, then removed the crate completely.
Now she's brilliant, and all the hard work and uncomfortable nights have been worth it.
Good luck.
We had to adapt the method a bit, as we found the move from the landing to downstairs too difficult for her. What we did was move ourselves downstairs (we took it in turns to sleep on the settee), had her in the crate next to the settee, then nearer the kitchen door, then the other side of the door where we wanted her to be ultimately, then we moved ourselves back upstairs. This move involved one of us sitting at the top of the stairs for about 15 minutes each night until she settled. Finally we left her in the kitchen with her crate door open, then removed the crate completely.
Now she's brilliant, and all the hard work and uncomfortable nights have been worth it.
Good luck.
