Teaching dog to sleep downstairs after years of sleeping upstairs

[HelenBack]

As per the title, has anybody successfully taught their dog to sleep downstairs after several years of sleeping upstairs? How did you go about it and what challenges did you face? The dog in question is a fairly needy / anxious rescue dog who was previously allowed to sleep on the bed so I feel like we've got our work cut out a bit!

 

[BallyJ]

We had a JRT who slept on our bed, she now sleeps in the utility room.

We just moved her to her bed next to ours, then over a period of time we moved the bed futher and futher away,

 

[HelenBack]

Thank you. A couple of questions. Firstly did she accept sleeping on her bed next to yours or still try and get onto the bed? Ours can jump up of his own accord.

And then when you moved the bed downstairs did you have to shut doors to contain her or did you leave access open?

 

[BallyJ]

Took about a week of us telling her to get in to her bed, but then she got the hang of it.

no left access to us open to begin with, she would wander back through every so often, but we just kept telling her to get in her bed and now she doesn't even come upstairs.

 

[HelenBack]

Thanks, that all sounds good. Maybe I'm overthinking things, or maybe your dog is better behaved than mine!

 

[Jenko109]

I contemplated it with my whippet when we were planning a recent house move, however as she is nearly eight, I felt it unfair to change her routine now. I'm glad I didn't, I don't think she has too much time left.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I just told mine no, told them to go downstairs, now they don’t try to come up unless asked. I found it very disruptive to have them upstairs. (Bear runs and yips in his sleep!)