Hallo all you lovely forum readers! We need help! We have a wonderful 2.5-year-old Lab boy who is well trained to a certain degree (all the basics, well socialised, can take him anywhere, a joy to have around). But he has the habit of digging a nest for himself when he wants to go to sleep. I don’t mind his digging, but I do mind that he digs on the sofa! He’s allowed on the sofa in our bedroom (he sleeps in our bedroom). He does have his own huge cushion next to my side of the bed, where he starts off the night, although he lies on the carpet and uses the cushion as a raised place to rest his head. I think he migrates to the sofa when he wants to be confined on two sides, and he lies there curled up. We have recently bought him a basket (with sides, like the sofa) but he is not interested in it in the least! I was hoping, perhaps, he would get used to the basket and dig in there to his heart's content. The problem is that he will dig on the sofa in the middle of the night, and he has ruined our sofa. And it wakes us up. We jump out of bed (it has become an automatic reaction on our behalf) while saying No (we don’t shout, but use a stern tone). Lately this does have the effect of making him stop, and in the past week I don't even have to say No, just stand next to him and he stops. Previously he continued in a primal state, oblivious to us. We had to physically stop him (grab him by the scruff of his neck and restrain him from digging and guide him to lie down), and then he would suddenly lie down as if he had no awareness of what had gone on. But stopping him from doing this and showing the better behaviour of lying down does not fix the problem, because he digs the next night. We do praise him when he’s lying quietly, and he’s left on the sofa to sleep. The problem I see is that we are sleeping when he’s about to attempt the digging, so we can’t interrupt it and show him a better behaviour; our “training” in this regard always starts after the unwanted behaviour has started. We don’t want to keep him in a crate overnight because he gets hot and needs to move around to find a cool spot (in summer we keep our balcony door open so that he can go outside to cool off). He also digs on the carpet when he wants to go to sleep (in a particular sleeping spot next to our dining table), but we’ve put his blanket there and encourage him to dig on his blanket and make it into a ball — that seems to be working (kind of, he still sometimes digs the carpet). But if he is ready to sleep and sees ANY sofa, he immediately wants to dig a nest on it, and he has damaged all of our sofas. The only thing we can do is to prevent him from being on the sofa, but that means all our sofas must have barstools on them or our lounge door is constantly barricaded — not the way we want to live! We also have to be vigilant about his getting onto our bed when we're not around, otherwise he gives us a "turn-down service"! ie the duvet is dug up and pulled down! Next week we will be sending our sofa in the bedroom away to be reupholstered, and we are hoping the upholsterers take a long time so that perhaps it breaks the habit on the sofa! He is otherwise not at all destructive and rarely digs a hole in the garden. He is a very gentle, loving boy. Does anyone have any advice, please, on how to stop this behaviour? Any advice will be greatly appreciated!
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest Not easy. My flippant advice would be don't have a sofa in your bedroom. Is there anywhere else you could keep it once it's been reupholstered for a few months to see if it breaks the habit. Does he have his own bed in your room as well as the sofa? If not I think if it was me I'd get him his own bed, a nice big comfy basket shaped bed with blankets in for making a nest, while you sofa is being fixed. Get him used to that and when the sofa comes back hope/ encourage him to keep using his bed. You could put a duvet and blankets on the sofa for him to make a nest but if he's like mine he will continue to dig even when he's moved them. We have a hole in our sofa seat but that happened while the OH was sat next to them !!!!!! : Sorry I havent got any better ideas good luck.
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest Hello! Welcome to the forum. I'd be tempted, along the lines of Jen's thinking, to make the sofa inaccessible to him. Upend chairs on it or so on. It's hard to remove sofa rights once dogs have them, but no dogs on the sofa might have to be a new rule...
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest Thank you Julie and Jen for your advice -- very much appreciated. We bought him a basket a week ago with a nice cushion and two blankets in it. He made one attempt to dig in it and then jumped onto the sofa! But since that one attempt, he has not given the basket a second glance. I've coaxed him into it, but he won't lie down in it. It might be too small for him -- it's a 30-inch diameter. What size basket do you recommend. He weighs about 35 kg, slim and muscly -- medium compared to other Labs I see. When he lies on the sofa, he curls up tightly, so we thought this size would be good. But perhaps not... I think "no dogs on sofas" is probably the way to go. When we're sitting on the sofa, he never tries to get on. And never tries to go on during the day. It's only when he wants to go to sleep at night. We have put barricades on the sofa in the past to keep him off, but he dug between them and curled up there! And woke us up with clattering of claws against bin that was on top of the sofa. We have put blankets on, too, for him to dig, but like yours, Jen, he just swept them aside and continued to dig up the foam.
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest Lola does similar but with my scatter cushions that she nicks off the sofa. A firm "lie down" usually does the trick if not I remove it. Might be a lie down or get down situation.
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest Im not sure what size of dog bed exactly but I'd go for the largest you can get. He can curl up tight and cosy especially with some blankets but he can also stretch out. Did you get a basket shaped one made from fabric ? The fabric ones they can stretch out in even more. My auntie had a plastic dog bed with blankets in for her dog. My cousins dog stayed with them his basket was faux fur. Ralph pinched Harry's bed ! My cousin ended up leaving the bed for Ralph he loved it. : It will be interesting to see where he chooses to sleep when the sofa is being reupholstered. I'd put his basket where the sofa should be and see what happens. The only other thing I can think of at the moment which will unfortunately be more expense for you would be to get some loose covers to go over the newly covered sofa. I know that sounds daft but if he ripped the loose cover you can repair/patch it up. Hopefully he might grow out of his midnight digging or it will at least protect you new sofa while you work on trying to alter this habit. ??? Sorry I'm not much help. I'll keep thinking.
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest Thanks Jen again for more advice! We bought him a round cane basket, and last night we coaxed him into and then realised it is way too small! He lay half in and half out of it. Funny though, he has a chair he likes to lie in (and doesn't dig on it!), and it is rather narrow. And yet he will squeeze himself into it, all scrunched up and sleep there. Hopefully we can return the basket to the shop. We did like the look though of woven cane -- we have a small house, so we would like the dog furniture to match ours! (Hah! You should see how our standards have dropped dramatically now that we have a Lab!!) But perhaps your suggestion of a fabric basket will be the way to go. Regarding the slip cover over the sofa -- no doubt he will dig through the slip cover and then through the fixed cover. He has dug holes through the blankets that we put on top for that reason. He is SO STRONG!!! He could probably dig through anything! And nail length makes no difference -- in fact, after nail trimming, his nails are perfectly sharp for excellent digging! Hi LovelyLittleLola -- thanks for your advice. He is usually very obedient and will lie down when told, but in that primal state of digging, it's as if he is in a trance and hears nothing that we say. In fact, it's a digging frenzy. Having said that, in the past week he has responded far more quickly... so there is hope.
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest I would get some panels of metal mesh (I'm talking ones that will stand up by themselves) and, using holy cutters, cut them to fit the seats of your sofa and armchairs. You might need to put some thick tape over the cut edges so they're not sharp. At night, lay these on the seats. They will be uncomfortable on his feet, not nice to lie on and impossible to dig through. You might initially need to strap them to the cushions so he can't fling them off. You can take them off if someone needs to sit down. The other thought I had was to put dog boots on his feet (even just front feet) at night so he can't use his claws. I imagine that this has all been extremely distressing and frustrating. And you are probably sleep deprived as well. Really feel for you!
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest The woven cane baskets are nice maybe the largest size you can get would be ok. I know it might not go with your decor but what about putting his chair where the sofa is while it's away and his basket and see what he does. My friend has two rotweillers they have an old armchair each which have seen better days and they do attack but it doesn't matter. Maybe you could use something like that in you bedroom something that doesn't matter then cover it with a nice throw when he's not on it. ???
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest Mira sleeps on a large beanbag with a piece of Vetbed on top. As it doesn't have sides, she can choose to curl up in a hollow in the middle or sprawl out, depending on the mood She's not a manic bed-digger, but will occasionally try to dig a rug or the bit of the sofa & throw she is allowed on in the sitting room. The nature of the beanbag means she can't really dig at it when she's on it
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest [quote author=Kirriegirl link=topic=6972.msg95037#msg95037 date=1405418651] Mira sleeps on a large beanbag with a piece of Vetbed on top. As it doesn't have sides, she can choose to curl up in a hollow in the middle or sprawl out, depending on the mood She's not a manic bed-digger, but will occasionally try to dig a rug or the bit of the sofa & throw she is allowed on in the sitting room. The nature of the beanbag means she can't really dig at it when she's on it [/quote] Wow.....I could have written that about Lilly. Word for word. Spooky.
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest My dog has gone digging mad! I think it's the hot weather Luckily, her bed is a plastic dog bed with a cushion and blanket, so she does no harm. She is allowed on my sofa, but only when I am on it - and she has a crate at night.
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest [quote author=drjs@5 link=topic=6972.msg95105#msg95105 date=1405449403] [quote author=Kirriegirl link=topic=6972.msg95037#msg95037 date=1405418651] Mira sleeps on a large beanbag with a piece of Vetbed on top. As it doesn't have sides, she can choose to curl up in a hollow in the middle or sprawl out, depending on the mood She's not a manic bed-digger, but will occasionally try to dig a rug or the bit of the sofa & throw she is allowed on in the sitting room. The nature of the beanbag means she can't really dig at it when she's on it [/quote] Wow.....I could have written that about Lilly. Word for word. Spooky. [/quote] Heehee! Maybe they're related
Re: When our Lab wants to go to sleep, he digs up our sofa to make a nest Thank you everyone for more advice and the sympathies! Yesterday we returned the round cane basket and bought the biggest fabric dog bed available -- it cost a little less than a double bed and base set I saw advertised at the human bed shop!! We measured our boy's "downstairs" bed -- it's a mat made from look-alike fake sheepskin. The dimensions are 95cm x 65cm, and he often likes to stretch out on it, and he fills most of the space. The inner cushion of the dog bed is that size PLUS the very thick padded wall, making the bed very big!! We removed his big cushion that was next to our bed and put his massive bed there. He seemed quite excited (he loves new things!), and even burrowed his nose into the corner and lay down, but... he would not sleep in it! He paced around the whole night cos his usual spot was now taken up by this bed. I did not sleep either. And guess what? He slept on our bed with us for most of the night! (Most unusual, in fact he never sleeps on our bed except when we're getting ready for bed -- then he hops on for a good-night cuddle -- and in the morning he hops on for a good-morning cuddle). We have a queen-size bed so it was a squash! We are buying a king-size bed soon, and now I wonder why we are bothering with a separate dog bed!!! The sofa only goes tomorrow for reupholstering, so we will put his bed in the place of the sofa, and hopefully he will try it out. And then gradually, over the two weeks that the sofa is away, we will inch his inch bed closer to the spot it needs to be in, and hopefully by then he will get used to it. And when the reupholstered sofa comes back, he will banned from it! (Thanks for the mesh idea, Oberon -- might need to use it.) A friend was wondering if he's sleep digging, like sleep walking! This might explain the trance-like expression he has while doing it and the confused look when we stop him. He does seem to dream vividly, lips and nose twitching, paws tapping, little barks and noises, even once howled like a Malamute! Are dogs known to sleep dig??!
