trying to train our dog to lay on its bed

[baxtej44]

We made the mistake of letting our dog, approx 3year old german shorthair female, lay on couches and beds, and now we want that to change.

We have a bed for her down in our TV viewing room, and we also have a blanket on the floor upstairs in the main hallway.


It seems to me like everytime we try and make her get on it, she thinks she is in trouble... Also, she can be a huge *****, no pun intended, because like if you are leading her over there, she will stop right in front of it and sit down, or she will lay down and slowly inch herself off of it, but sometimes just keep like the bare minimum of one paw on it... It's like she is trying to outsmart us, and we don't like it!!!


We are trying to get her to be very comfortable with her bed and taking her rightful place on the floor.

 

[martin]

put the dogs bed on the couch and then sit on it yourself. The dog will then want to get on it with you. After the dogs bed smells like you you will have a better chance of getting her to lay on it when it's on the flor. Some dogs are really flaky about stuff like that. I'm having a similar problem with mine.

 

[Jay FX4]

I have a couple suggestions that might be worth a try...

It kind seems like she's viewing laying in the bed - or maybe the process of you making her lay in the bed - as a big ordeal. Maybe the more you try to make her lay in it, the less she wants to.

Without any other people or distractions in the room, try putting the bed right beside wherever you're going to be sitting, go sit down, and casually call her over to you on the side the bed is at. I think the trick is to get her to ignore the bed altogether. With the prospect of treats and/or petting, you might get her to get in the bed without even realizing it. If she'll lay down on command any other time, if you can just get her in the bed - even if shes standing, you might be able to get her to lay down if you praise her. The idea is to get her in there so she can understand that it's not a bad thing.

If you get over the hump and get her to lay in it, it also might help to move it around to wherever you're going to be at. Most dogs consider themselves part of the family and want to be wherever the family or "pack leader" is at. You know your dogs habits - what she likes to do and where she likes to lay. It will take a team effort to break the habits she already has developed. It's up to you and whoever you live with to correct her anytime you catch her on the bed or couch or anywhere you don't want her to be. Put the bed near the places you don't want her laying and make it clear that the bed is where she's allowed to be. If there are strategic spots she likes to park herself, it can also help to place objects that prevent her from doing so. If there's a particular spot on the couch that she mistakenly thinks is hers, put a box in that spot for a week, especially if you're not going to be home.

Just consistently give her the vibe that you run the show, not her, and that you will be the one who decides when and where she can lay down. Just keep at it, and she'll catch on.

 

[akalogan]

Around your bed find out which corner the dog likes then (once she is used to the bed, Jay had some really good ideas!)keep her bed in that corner. She will come to see it as her spot.

 

[robertc1024]

My father in law trains dogs for a living. He gets a fold-up lawn chair - the ones made out of nylon with the saggy bottoms and makes them sit in it. It's their "place" and once they learn that, all you do is tell them "go to your place." I tried it with my dog and it works like a charm. I'll tell my dog to go to her "place" and she would stay there all night if I left her.

 

[sloth69mustang]

Around your bed find out which corner the dog likes then (once she is used to the bed, Jay had some really good ideas!)keep her bed in that corner. She will come to see it as her spot.

thats how you train ferrets to piss in a liter box...... no joke

 

[sloth69mustang]

i am actually on my second gsp and my current one actually is a 3 year old female. she used to get on couches but since we moved home for a couple months she got to learn new tricks....this breed gets very attached to the owner. i cant even leave the room without mine following me. they are extremely smart dogs. and they learn stuff really fast but obviously you already know that like to push their limits. so put the bed for the tv room in a spot where she can see everything going on bc they want to watch everyone. for some reason idk but i put mine right in front of the tv and she loves it bc she thinks everyone is looking at her... she is an attention wh*#e. and i if you really ride the dog about not getting on the bed or couch they will listen. and i guess i would have a couple questions but how often do you run the dog off leash? do you hunt with her? have you had her since she was a pup? did you do all the training yourself of was it a pre-trained dog? oh and give the dog carrots as a treat every time they get in there bed will teach them they are not in trouble then once it isnt a big deal slowly give less treats til they dont need them to get in their bed. i know too much about the breed. everyone is impressed with the dogs i have owned. i dont hunt with them and i dont train to hunt but train to be a well behaved dog

 

[baxtej44]

i am actually on my second gsp and my current one actually is a 3 year old female. she used to get on couches but since we moved home for a couple months she got to learn new tricks....this breed gets very attached to the owner. i cant even leave the room without mine following me. they are extremely smart dogs. and they learn stuff really fast but obviously you already know that like to push their limits. so put the bed for the tv room in a spot where she can see everything going on bc they want to watch everyone. for some reason idk but i put mine right in front of the tv and she loves it bc she thinks everyone is looking at her... she is an attention wh*#e. and i if you really ride the dog about not getting on the bed or couch they will listen. and i guess i would have a couple questions but how often do you run the dog off leash? do you hunt with her? have you had her since she was a pup? did you do all the training yourself of was it a pre-trained dog? oh and give the dog carrots as a treat every time they get in there bed will teach them they are not in trouble then once it isnt a big deal slowly give less treats til they dont need them to get in their bed. i know too much about the breed. everyone is impressed with the dogs i have owned. i dont hunt with them and i dont train to hunt but train to be a well behaved dog

she is very attached to all of us indeed.. and WAY too smart for her own good.

right now, she is in my room, laying next to me on a pile of dirty clothes. her blanket (since we only have 1 bed, and it's downstairs) is about 20 ft away lol. and it's right by the stairwell downstairs and the bathroom, which would be the only places i would go up here, so idk why she won't lay there, it's right in the middle of action. maybe i could start bringing her bed right next to me when i sit here...

we got her from the pound, previously owned and trained (not excessively.. she knows sit and shake, and knows lay down and roll over... but hates to lay down for some reason, we almost always have to coax her with treats. oh and she also knows leave it command if something is dropped on the ground like in the kitchen.

we don't run with her, as it is cold now... but we have an electric fence, and she runs outside all the time. obviously in the summer she would run for hours, but now that it's cold she can be out there for 10 min or so, doing whatever she pleases (she has tracks worn down in the grass to the mud because she takes the same path SOOO much)

no hunting.


are carrots safe? i know there are some foods that aren't good for dogs... she loves carrot peels and potato peels and celery (almost all vegetables we have given her she loves for some reason)


right now, she has been laying on that pile of clothes for at least an hour, with no moving. literally about a foot away from me.



she also knows the stay command, and listens to it sometimes. she has figured out hand signals for sit and stay as well.


during the day, we put her in a kennel because she is too destructive if we leave her out of it. she loathes the time when she sees us brush our teeth (this means we are getting ready to leave!) and she will try and hide.. or will completely ignore us when we call for her to come in the kitchen to get in her kennel. sometimes she digs deep with her paws and it's hard to even push her in her kennel... i would like to solve this as well.


also, we have a mesh screen storm door on our back door... and when she is ready to come in, she JUMPS on it and she has already broken it once. we also have the storm door made of glass on the front porch door, and she jumps and paws at that insanely too! we don't know why she is so misbehaving everywhere and everytime.

 

[sloth69mustang]

gsp are know for being a terror around the house if they arent exercised enough. you need to take her to a park when you can let her run off leash for hours and try to get the energy out. i have a 70 acre farm that i run my dog at twice a week. and she runs for a good 2-5 hours and barely slows down. but when she gets home she passes out. these dogs get out of control if you dont run them a lot and i mean a lot. i have to walk her at least once everyday on top of running her twice a week.

it is going to be a lot harder to train the dog since it was from a pound. i have a friend that actually has the sister of my dog and another one from a pound and the one from the pound is out of control. it takes twice as much work for the dogs from a pound.

carrots are actually really really good for them. i use them as treats. they love them and its cheaper than dog treats. one thing i know is really bad for this breed is grapes. dont give them grapes! they love them but its really bad for them.

you can teach this breed anything you want them to learn. you just have to repeat it 7861132132089971324 times to them but they will learn it.

as for the dog loathing when you leave. try to mix up the pattern you do when you leave or if it is just one thing that sparks it do that thing a lot without leaving so she gets used to it not being a sign of leaving. and for the kennel thing. make that her bed now. leave the door open and have her learn to sleep in there with the door open and have her get comfortable with it as a bed and not just as something to put her in when she is bad or when you leave. we had a problem with the first gsp with it and fixed it so that isnt too hard of a problem to fix. the second gsp saw a cage for the first 3 days i had her and never did again. she roams the house when i leave but usually she is asleep in her or my bed all day when i am gone. only time she gets into something its usually only paper and she has to be inside for like 12+ hours. but i did a lot of training with her as a pup to prevent a lot of this behavior.

as for teaching the dog to stay off the door, i personally taught my dog to bark when she wants inside. so i make her sit and bark before i would open the door. so she naturally just never jumped up on the doors. i make the dog sit before i take her outside, to cross the street, when i fill up her food bowl. i make her wait for me so she knows it is when i am ready not when she is ready.

but i cant stress it anymore the most important thing for these dogs is for them to run run run run run. thats what they were bred for so they need to do that. all they want to do is run and hunt. so run her for a couple hours everyday and see if you notice a difference. if you have any other questions i am on here everyday

 

[baxtej44]

well the hours and hours of exercise doesn't fit into our schedule.


we would love for her to stay outside for hours at a time, but she won't do it like she does during the summer.

also, our dog has barked.. maybe about 4 times in the year we've had her, i severely doubt we can "teach her to bark" now.


we might try the bed in the kennel idea.


we should probably get her a bigger kennel, it's just out of the budget right now though..


oh, and yes she is an excellent sitter. i make her sit through two doors when she's going outside, make her sit when she is going through any door in the house, sit when she is getting fed, and sits for treats.


and she's used to sitting, when we're in the tv room and she is being thickheaded and doesn't want to lay on her bed, she'll sit right by it. lol little shit.

 

[sloth69mustang]

i am still teaching my 3 year old new tricks. so you can def teach it to bark or i tell her to speak. and it helps if you are outside to get her to run more in the winter. it sucks but it works

 

[baxtej44]

we are pretty sure she used to have a bark collar, or some sort of bark control device.. because one time she barked and we all looked at her, and she thought she was in trouble.

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

the very second the dog jumps on a bed or couch. immediatly guide her to her own bed- repeat until she associates laying down with HER bed.

 

[baxtej44]

the very second the dog jumps on a bed or couch. immediatly guide her to her own bed- repeat until she associates laying down with HER bed.

in just a day she seems to have gotten way better.

she was on her bed when i fell asleep, and i woke up at 7 to see her on my bed so i told her to get down and when i woke back up at 9 she was still there, that's an improvement.


also, now that the bed is right next to my computer, she has been staying on it all day! hopefully she is getting used to it. but i know it takes time.

 

[sloth69mustang]

yeah. like i said they are super smart dogs they will learn it fast you just have to keep on them