1) She sleeps there. It's a big part of her den. 2) She's always been allowed in there before. 3) She is attached to that room. You said it yourself, "she will stay in there 100% of the time except when she needs to eat or pee."
So you have a dog that is attached to a room, that sleeps in that room, that prefers to stay in that room, alone if need be, except for necessary bodily functions. And this has been ok for her. Except now suddenly it is not. That is what's confusing.
Is there a reason that she isn't to be allowed in the bedroom anymore? I would wonder why she's drawn to that room so much, especially to the exclusion of not being near her humans. I would work on figuring that out, and addressing that issue in and of itself, because it is one. I think you'll have much better luck with that then trying to suddenly block her off from her safe space.
She has always been a hermit, since we brought her home at 12 weeks old. It was nowhere near as bad as it is now, and obviously it's my fault for allowing the behavior to progress. But it's not an acceptable behavior, and it needs to stop. It doesn't seem to be that room in particular. It seems to be whatever room she sleeps in at night. That has changed a couple of times over the years, but wherever she sleeps at night is where she wants to be all the time. Back when we kept her crated at night, she would stay in her crate much of the time
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I would avoid trying to figure out her thinking since that's all just guess work anyhow and just look at her observable behavior and figure out how you can change the behavior you don't want.
Easiest would be to buy a taller gate. Or maybe change the door to one of those which is cut in half and to top can open but the bottom stays closed.
I would also add a new super amazing dog bed somewhere so she has a better alternative. Can you tell what it is about the bedroom she likes so much? Is it more quiet in there? Does she have a nice corner, a soft bed, a dark hiding place? What is so rewarding to her about that room that she wants to be in there all the time? If you can make another room of the house just as rewarding it might help.
Since you say she prefers to be in the room she is sleeping in at night, I feel like the easiest thing would be to change her sleeping situation and not allow her to sleep in the bedroom anymore. Then perhaps she won't be as drawn to that room.
Have her bed/set up/crate (do you still use a crate?) in a different room and she can start sleeping there.
If you don't want to do that, I'd just buy a 2nd baby gate and set them up in the door frame on top of each other so it's tall enough she can't jump.
We do still use a crate during the day when we're at work, or any other time when we're going to be gone for more than an hour or two. We had stopped making her sleep in the crate because we felt bad that she would be in the crate all night, then we'd get up in the morning and she'd be out for an hour while we get ready for work, and then she goes back in all day. We only stopped having her sleep in the crate maybe eight months ago, but maybe we do just need to go back to that.
Comments 5
1) She sleeps there. It's a big part of her den.
2) She's always been allowed in there before.
3) She is attached to that room. You said it yourself, "she will stay in there 100% of the time except when she needs to eat or pee."
So you have a dog that is attached to a room, that sleeps in that room, that prefers to stay in that room, alone if need be, except for necessary bodily functions. And this has been ok for her. Except now suddenly it is not. That is what's confusing.
Is there a reason that she isn't to be allowed in the bedroom anymore? I would wonder why she's drawn to that room so much, especially to the exclusion of not being near her humans. I would work on figuring that out, and addressing that issue in and of itself, because it is one. I think you'll have much better luck with that then trying to suddenly block her off from her safe space.
Reply
Reply
Easiest would be to buy a taller gate. Or maybe change the door to one of those which is cut in half and to top can open but the bottom stays closed.
I would also add a new super amazing dog bed somewhere so she has a better alternative. Can you tell what it is about the bedroom she likes so much? Is it more quiet in there? Does she have a nice corner, a soft bed, a dark hiding place? What is so rewarding to her about that room that she wants to be in there all the time? If you can make another room of the house just as rewarding it might help.
Reply
Have her bed/set up/crate (do you still use a crate?) in a different room and she can start sleeping there.
If you don't want to do that, I'd just buy a 2nd baby gate and set them up in the door frame on top of each other so it's tall enough she can't jump.
Reply
Reply
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