How do I teach my dog to go to its bed!?

Question

My dog is a 1 year old medium sized Terrier x. He obeys sit but not go to bed! Please can I have some help!

Answer 1

Lead him to his bed. Say "Lay Down" or Bedtime. when he lays down, give him a treat. Keep practicing everyday. It will take some time, as did teaching him to sit or potty outside, but he will learn.

Answer 2

If you have ever used 'go to your bed!' when you are cross with your dog, you need to start by using a new command or your dog will find it difficult to obey.

Start by making your dog like the bed. Make sure it is in a nice cosy spot he likes and that it is soft and not draughty.

Now and then during the day, put him in the bed give him a really nice chewy treat saying the new word (eg - rug/mat/sleep/settle etc) and praise him. Keep this up until you show him the treat and he dashes off to his bed to get it. It may take a day or a month to get to this stage depending on your dog's previous experiences. If you want to speed things up, feed him his meals in the bed too. He come to regard it as an excellent place to be!

As he associates nice things with the bed and learns that the command - what ever you choose to use - means go there - you can use it at times that you aren't giving him a treat and he'll be happy to obey.

Build up his obedience over time and soon he'll be happy to snuggle up there.

Answer 3

That's just because you've named the behavior without reinforcing it enough. Take a step back in your training and stop calling the behavior anything at all. You can train this over a few days - the trick is to not try to do it all at once, and you certainly don't need to jerk him around to teach him. Make sure your dog is hungry whenever you work with him and keep the sessions short (I count out 10 treats and stop when I'm out)
Clean up your environment before you start - be sure there aren't any distractions around. Wait til the dog looks at the bed, say "Yes!" and toss a treat. Repeat. Gradually shape the dog by asking for him to move closer to the bed until he's going right to the bed and standing on it for his treat. Then, have a friend hold the dog so that he has to run across the room to get on his bed (keeps the game exciting!) Next, when the dog understands that he'll get paid by you a LOT for being on his bed, wait for him to start offering other behaviors. Your dog knows at this point that you will say "Yes!" and give a great treat when he's on the bed, so when you wait for him to do something else on there, he will probably start to offer very creative behaviors. Try to not laugh too much and wait for a sit, and then a down. Then you can start to say "Go to your bed!" since you've really taught the dog in a fun way what you mean when you say that. Have fun!

tip: forgot to say, if your dog just waits for you to give him treats on the bed and is not moving, toss the treats so that he has to get up and get them. Then you're ready to reward him for galloping to his bed again. Dog runs, lands on bed, you mark the behavior by saying "Yes!" and toss the treat away so he has to go get it. Repeat.

Answer 4

take the dog into a room with no beds or chairs in it apart from the dog bed then put the dog into bed and say "go to bed" if it stays give it a doggytreat if it dosent keep lifting it and putting it back into bed keep doing this. eventually it wil rellise if it stays there it will get a treat. After a while when you say go to bed it will know what that means! I hope this Helped and good luck!

Answer 5

I find the best way is to use one word command like BED rather than a full sentence.
You could start by ... treat in hand give the clear command 'bed' keep the treat near his nose and guide him to the bed, once he gets on the bed, treat and praise. Keep practising it over and over, he will eventually understand the command without the need for a treat. Terriers are quick to learn especially where there is a treat involved - mine will do anything for a gravy bone ;o)

Answer 6

get some tiny bits of your dogs favorite treats and go over to the dogs bed. call ur dog to the bed and say 'bed' and treat him every time it gets into it until he is good at this. then you can do the same, with the same command but only treat when he lays down.

if you want him to stay in the bed, then you do the same but only treat when he stays.

Answer 7

We say night night and our dogs go. This needs to begin when they are small but it can still be done. You have to take over dominance in the family. You physically put him to bed and say good boy! I mean really lay it on. Pet him in the bed. Some people hate this idea but vets will tell you the safest place to keep your animal when you are gone is in the cage,one that just fits the dog, this also helps with training to go outside because they won't pee in their own area. Good Luck

Answer 8

That is the one command that my dog always obeys. Say go Lie down and follow him to the bed until he lies down in it. be the authorative one. You can lead him to the bed by the collar the first time and repeat, repeat , repeat. You can try nabbing at the neck like other dogs do it does not hurt the dog. good luck

Answer 9

How has your dog been sleeping for the past year ?

If your dogs sleeps on your bed in your room like my Springer Spanuel its not going to be easy changing now, I have tryed it with my dog and he just crys all night long lol.

well iv managed to stop that now as hes about 3 years old now and he sleep's on the landing .

Answer 10

Try teaching the dog to be crated at night. If it is just a bed or something, I guarantee puppy will get up to patrol, drink water, etc. They may even wake you up to go potty. Just like a kid, you have to cut off the fluids before bed time, let them drain their bladder, and send them to their room.