ooc dog help

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    So I have a two story house, the top floor is where we sleep, eat etc, and downstairs is basically the garage with cars and crap in it. We also have an intelligent dog that knows when it goes to bed. And refuses to go downstairs when its bedtime.
    He's a border collie x cattle dog and i give him a lot of exercise. I have tried to clicker train him to bed, but he just knwos he'll be stuck there. I stick bones and food and everything in there, but he refuses to listen. The reason we dont put him in the yard is because we're, and by that my parents, afraid he'll be snatched or escape through the night.
    Suggestions? and im thinking of buying an outside leash thing where he's secure but still has space to roam. But thats like $50, so im trying to keep my options open.


    [fancypost bgcolor=; borderwidth=0px; width: 360px; letter-spacing: 1px][justify][font=arial]i might be able to help, i've studied dog behaviour, but it is very hard to tell the cause of a behaviour (and thus, solve it) without seeing the dog in person. just a warning. but here's what i'd probably do.


    your dog doesn't see downstairs/his bed as a good place to be - in his eyes, what's the point of going to bed if (as you said) he'll be stuck there with nothing to do? dogs and all animals are drawn to positive things, so the goal here is to make downstairs a desirable place for him to be. start by, in the daytime, encouraging him down and making a huge fuss of him, giving him a few treats. then leave, don't let him back down. do this a few times a day. eventually, he should make the connection between bed = good stuff, and he won't be so reluctant to go there.


    it's also possible he's scared of something down there. check his body language - licking lips, cowering, yawning, ears back are all signs of anxiety in dogs. he could be feeling nervous of being left alone.

    Is he crate trained, or does he just sleep on a bed or on the floor?


    When I fostered a German shepherd, he had panic attacks whenever we put him in the crate, regardless of day or night. We figured it probably had something to do with a possible history of abuse. Anyways, we decided to give up on the crate after trying for 24 consecutive nights. We got a gate and put him on a dog bed under the desk in our basement. The area under the desk was about the same size as his crate, but I guess since he didn't feel trapped and he didn't have flashbacks to being locked up in a crate for long periods of time, he was able to sleep.
    However, he had really really bad separation anxiety, so we had to practically drag him into bed. What we did was lay down with him for like 15-20 minutes by his bed before everyone went to sleep. This got him relaxed and stuff, so by the time 15 or 20 minutes had passed, he was asleep and we all just went to bed. After a week or two of this, he only needed a quick tuck in. But I swear if you did not tuck that dog in and give him a kiss on the cheek he would freak the frick frack out. XD
    He found his forever home with another family, so I don't know what his current routine is, but I imagine that he still gets tucked in at night.


    Anyways, the moral of the story is that I suggest you just sort of hang out with your dog before bed time and cuddle with him (if he likes cuddles) or just sit with him to let him relax. If you give him a lot of walks, and put him to bed at a reasonable time, he should fall asleep in his bed.


    edit: I forgot to mention this but I STRONGLY recommend not letting your dog sleep outside, especially if you live in an area with: porcupines, skunks, coyotes, gators, wild/feral dogs/cats, foxes, wolves, bats, raccoon, gophers, venomous snakes, and any large animal (20+ lbs) with claws, fangs, etc. During the night, your dog will not be able to see well, and they may end up fighting another animal. Even if they don't die or get seriously injured, they can still pick up many deadly diseases, including rabies. As a general rule of thumb, you should never leave a pet or child outside without at least some supervision.
    Also, Border Collies and/or their mixes are typically very intelligent, and intelligent dogs will get bored without mental stimulation. If you keep him outside at night, he might not realize you want him to sleep, and could destroy your yard.

    The post was edited 1 time, last by zazu ! ().

    I haven't read what everyone else says, but I'll just give some quick recommendations xD


    Letting your dog sleep outside is never a good idea in the first place. Depending on where you live, it may still be very cold still! That's considered a form of animal abuse, if my knowledge serves me right.


    My strongest recommendation is buy one of those mini gate things you can stick to the sides of your walls and put it on the stairs. That way, he can freely roam the downstairs area like he would normally and be safe, and not be upstairs. My grandma does that lmao.


    My two dogs go in crates during the night. At first, they wouldn't go in the crates, but you need to be strong about it. Grab your dogs collar and pull him into the crate. If you continue doing that, he will eventually learn that he needs to go in there or else. You need to he hard on animals sometimes in order for them to know that YOU are the alpha of the house, not him.

    oml such quick replies xD
    Laika - Ahh thank you, but will that work if we have a roller door? Since the roller door is taller (say like 2 meters?) than any of my family members, we have to reach up to pull the roller door down and that's one of the reasons he zooms outside. He's also associated the word 'bed' with 'you're going to be locked here for suchandsuch hours', and therefore sits and lies down outside the roller door. He's not scared of anything there, dont worry, just the fact he'll be stuck down there while we sleep.


    @zazu - He sleeps on these kind of beds: https://www.petstock.com.au/at…3.tag.0.jpg?ts=1414367634
    Aww, GSDs are such softies :3. Although my dog loves people, he doesn't have separation anxiety. I can't exactly wait for him to sleep because his eyes are halfclosed, and as soon as I move, he bolts from downstairs and therefore associates him sleeping there with me beside him = being locked.
    We do have a kong and interactive toys, but the poor guy just refuses. He plays with them during the day, and doesn't at night when he's been locked up.
    We also live in town (dont worry, i give him enough exercise) and in australia, so animals like them dont just casually walk in XD


    @jagged - It's actually summer here xD It's pretty hot, and sometimes he lies down on the rocks in our yard. I don't want to overheat him with too much exercise though.
    And we have done that gate idea, except i think you're getting a bit confused of how our house is set up (i dont blame you :P).
    I'm actually quite mindful of how I push him into getting downstairs. I watch cesar millan, and I'm a huge fan of him. HOwever, he will also learn that me grabbing him will result in going downstairs.


    My dog is fine lying down there and doing everything during the day and night, but he recognises our body language of when we want him to stay downstairs with the roller door locked.



    [fancypost borderwidth=0px][justify][sub]i'm just going to jump in & say that cm is extremely controversial!! there have been some instances where instead of simply training the dog he shuts it down (teaches it that it has no other options so it just becomes completely nonreactive to everything). instead of forcing him him by pushing him, teach him to associate the area with good things! if he only associates the downstairs with bad things, of course he wont want to go (think the dentist or doctors office for people!).


    some ways to do this to only feed him downstairs, and to bring him downstairs to do other things that arent putting him away for bed, such as clicker training (super fun for dogs!) and sometimes even just cuddling. try only giving things like kongs when he is downstairs for bed, and make sure the room is where all the good stuff happens. forcing him to go in there wont make it any easier, and instead it will make him want to avoid it further.


    also, an interesting thing to note is that the alpha theory isnt actually applicable to dogs, and is very outdated! it was based on a rather poor study and has been proven to be incorrect. while you are their owner, it also helps to be their 'friend' (or even 'parent' in some cases, though not as far as some people go) and listen to when they are scared or uncomfortable. classical conditioning (pavlov's dogs!!!) is a great way to help him be more comfortable downstairs <33


    if you want any more help you can pm me any time!! i love talking about dogs & training them so i'd be happy to help(: