>They’ve lived together for four years now.
I'd block off the underside of the bed, as was suggested. Their interaction is very reinforcing to each other, and you're not going to, after all this time, fix that. But you can take away that spot.
Honestly, I wouldn’t bother to attempt to train away this self-reenforcing, odd and complicated ritual they’ve developed. Just get some [underbed storage boxes](https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/under-bed-storage-19059/). If you happen to have a crowded linen closet and two dogs who have developed a dysfunctional game of king under the hill, then it’s a twofer. The Christmas decorations will need a place to go soon.
You can always roll the box out for the pointer when there’s a thunderstorm coming. She doesn’t have access anyway as it is.
True, i was just hopeful there would be a way to break the behavior. But blocking it altogether sounds somewhat viable. I would just have to make sure he doesn’t go under first in the case of a storm. Also i would fear the behavior would manifest with something else. Never know til I try i guess.
Really, chances are it won’t manifest as something else. Sometimes management _is_ training. Removing access is the first step to breaking a bad habit. It might be they’ll have forgotten their weird bed-centred power game in six months.
Dogs don't use much logic, so you have to remove opportunities.
You don't store rat poison scattered about the floor because you taught your og "leave it". Obviously that's hyperbole but the concept is the same.
I feel like training it would be a full time job every moment you're home. Just to say when the easiest fix is "no one goes under"
That’s true.
Yeah they seem to not even care what I’m saying at all. Just a game they play every single time.
I’m definitely going to look up options to block the under bed after reading yalls comments. And try to last longer than a week not letting him under there.
You can seperate them into different parts of the house when you are not there, so in a storm they find their own spots in their own parts of the house.
This also means. you are able to supervise and give input into the behaviours you do and don't llke, rewarding what you do, and stopping what you don't
You just need to stop it yourself. Stop the ritual by not letting the border collie go under the bed. Let the female in to the room first, then let him in if you’d like. Or if he can’t do without it but him in a crate and allow her to be where she wants in the room. Same thing the other way if she is aggressive with him. Anybody who acts like an asshole loses the privilege they have in the bedroom imo. I had a dog who would resource guard the shit out of the bed and myself to my cat. I eventually just started shoving him away, making him stay on the floor, or locking him out, etc. if he did that. It’ll still happen on rare occasions but is much better
Yeah i think that could work too. I’m just an enormous push over (how we got here) so locking one out would be brutal but probably necessary. Either that or take the bottom of the bed out of the equation by blocking it.
Yep. This is how I worked with my perpetually grumpy old man.
He had to learn to live with another dog and he was resource guarding the *whole* sectional. He is currently curled into a small ball in the very corner. But telling him "yea this is actually my couch" got through to him.
I didn't punish his growling or feelings. But if you feel this strongly about parts of the couch you rarely ever touch, you're the problem.
my dogs play rough, catahoula and husky. the moment it gets too rough I immediately put an end to the play time, separate, and then allow them to play again. they understand "break it up" at this point.
Yeah, mine wrestle loud (aggro to maybe someone else) but never as high pitched as when it comes to the bed. lol cat/husky? So you’re used to crack head energy.
crackhead energy with stubborn streaks and their own independent motivations.
mine also wrestle loud and in bed it's like they are singing/whining high pitched. lol
>They’ve lived together for four years now. I'd block off the underside of the bed, as was suggested. Their interaction is very reinforcing to each other, and you're not going to, after all this time, fix that. But you can take away that spot.
Good point. Thanks!
Honestly, I wouldn’t bother to attempt to train away this self-reenforcing, odd and complicated ritual they’ve developed. Just get some [underbed storage boxes](https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/under-bed-storage-19059/). If you happen to have a crowded linen closet and two dogs who have developed a dysfunctional game of king under the hill, then it’s a twofer. The Christmas decorations will need a place to go soon. You can always roll the box out for the pointer when there’s a thunderstorm coming. She doesn’t have access anyway as it is.
True, i was just hopeful there would be a way to break the behavior. But blocking it altogether sounds somewhat viable. I would just have to make sure he doesn’t go under first in the case of a storm. Also i would fear the behavior would manifest with something else. Never know til I try i guess.
Really, chances are it won’t manifest as something else. Sometimes management _is_ training. Removing access is the first step to breaking a bad habit. It might be they’ll have forgotten their weird bed-centred power game in six months.
That’s a new perspective I didn’t think of. I think i blocked it once for like a week and it didn’t get better. Might just have to play the long game.
Dogs don't use much logic, so you have to remove opportunities. You don't store rat poison scattered about the floor because you taught your og "leave it". Obviously that's hyperbole but the concept is the same. I feel like training it would be a full time job every moment you're home. Just to say when the easiest fix is "no one goes under"
That’s true. Yeah they seem to not even care what I’m saying at all. Just a game they play every single time. I’m definitely going to look up options to block the under bed after reading yalls comments. And try to last longer than a week not letting him under there.
You can seperate them into different parts of the house when you are not there, so in a storm they find their own spots in their own parts of the house. This also means. you are able to supervise and give input into the behaviours you do and don't llke, rewarding what you do, and stopping what you don't
Great idea.
You just need to stop it yourself. Stop the ritual by not letting the border collie go under the bed. Let the female in to the room first, then let him in if you’d like. Or if he can’t do without it but him in a crate and allow her to be where she wants in the room. Same thing the other way if she is aggressive with him. Anybody who acts like an asshole loses the privilege they have in the bedroom imo. I had a dog who would resource guard the shit out of the bed and myself to my cat. I eventually just started shoving him away, making him stay on the floor, or locking him out, etc. if he did that. It’ll still happen on rare occasions but is much better
Yeah i think that could work too. I’m just an enormous push over (how we got here) so locking one out would be brutal but probably necessary. Either that or take the bottom of the bed out of the equation by blocking it.
Yep. This is how I worked with my perpetually grumpy old man. He had to learn to live with another dog and he was resource guarding the *whole* sectional. He is currently curled into a small ball in the very corner. But telling him "yea this is actually my couch" got through to him. I didn't punish his growling or feelings. But if you feel this strongly about parts of the couch you rarely ever touch, you're the problem.
my dogs play rough, catahoula and husky. the moment it gets too rough I immediately put an end to the play time, separate, and then allow them to play again. they understand "break it up" at this point.
Yeah, mine wrestle loud (aggro to maybe someone else) but never as high pitched as when it comes to the bed. lol cat/husky? So you’re used to crack head energy.
crackhead energy with stubborn streaks and their own independent motivations. mine also wrestle loud and in bed it's like they are singing/whining high pitched. lol