Feng Shui
Posted by laurie on January 7, 2013
I believe I’ve mentioned that Stanley has taken to growling when being moved in bed, but that he always has a kiss after. Well, the other night Stan snapped at Phillip instead of kissing him. Into the crate he went. Now we’re trying to get rid of the growling, and as you can imagine, he’s been logging a lot of crate time. I just wonder if he can remember the association. When Phillip tells me something in the middle of the night, I rarely remember it the next day. This might take awhile, but we’d really like to extinguish the growling behavior. I’ll keep you posted.
P.S. The photos and caption are all Phillip’s.
Audrey-Mom of Buddy & Holly in NJ said
In looking at the series of pictures- it looks more like Stanley is practicing the artful undertaking of bed folding ( origambedi ) – which is similar to origami – but with a dog bed rather than with paper. Guess he is past the paper training phase.
Cathy, Gomez, Lily & Mr. Peabz said
Paper training: LOL! We just call this type of bed . . . modification “remodeling”.
Karen Spivey said
Daisy Mae will spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to get her bed just right (after I’ve neatly arranged it, of course). After a while, it’s all wadded up, but she’s exhausted at that point anyway and simply falls asleep.
Susan in DE said
Josie does that as well. We call it “pillow pouncing”. My mom witnessed the activity one time and commented, “My, she sure is a hard worker!”
Bailey & Gypsy & Trents dad said
Trent does the same growl thing. He does not like to be moved once he curls into his sleep position. Recently he has discovered the joy of sleeping under the covers. Since then he sleeps on his side and can be moved a little with no growling…
Sam and Sweetums' Mom said
Sam growls too as often I am on the computer and get to bed after he and Dad have settled down. I find that moving the covers or the blanket and making sure he is awake more or less before moving.
Sue ~ Barney , Jodi, & Huggy Bear's Mom said
Jodi comes up growing if touched or awakened during naptime, sleeptime, anytime. We go out of our way not to bother the “princess’.
Scott (and Scout) said
Scout growls (and if I wasn’t careful might snap?) when he is all settled on the bed and I try to move him. The trick is to get under the covers and push him aside with my body. He seems to accept that. As for correcting him, I should….but…..
Luana, Cody, and Henry said
But he’s such a darling you can’t bring yourself to do it – I know, I know . . .
I can move Henry easily with no problem. Cody sometimes growls a little, but just let him get under the covers and he’s OK.
Scott (and Scout) said
FWIW: I don’t see any captions…..
Susan in DE said
I believe Laurie means the “Feng Shui” title, rather than an actual caption. I don’t know how you’d properly correct the growling, without the situation escalating. If I had that kind of issue, I might decide that it’s better if the dog just didn’t sleep in the people bed (He can visit with you for some snuggle time, but then it’s off to the dog bed or crate). Jordan was never an issue … Well, there was one time when Rob startled him when he was sleeping, and he bit Rob’s toe by accident, but he was SOOOO remorseful because he didn’t mean it. But he wasn’t allowed in the bed at all for about a month, since we weren’t 100% sure it wasn’t possibly going to happen again — but it never did. Josie has no interest in the people bed, so it’s a non-issue with her.
Rusty Bob, Maggie Mae and Odie Bug Jackson- Texas said
Otis will growl and snap if YOU try to move him. But if you just look at him and say, “move over” he does and no growling.
Kate (Gandolf's mom) said
Kramer would startle if I tried to move him. Not growl or snap, but whip his head around to see who was pushing him. So, I would go up to bed, call his name and make sure he saw me before moving him, and then praise him.
Cathy, Gomez, Lily & Mr. Peabz said
Oooh. Stanley – a night in the box. I hope he learns his lesson soon for everyone’s sake.
Mr. Peabz also growls sometimes. Usually just a low grumble when one of the other dogs comes close on the bed, but he also growls and barks in fear at my husband when he’s surprised. By “surprised”, I mean if we’re sitting up here in bed and my husband suddenly and loudly appears at the bedroom door wearing a hat. Since my husband is nearly always sudden and loud, and often wears hats, we are working seriously on the growling issue.
Susan in DE said
I dunno … if it were me, I might try modifying the husband’s behavior. I think I’d probably growl and bark if someone suddenly and loudly (and quite regularly) popped up at my bedroom door, hat or no hat.
Karen Spivey said
All dogs hate to be disturbed in their den. I think it’s best to order him to move, instead of picking him up or moving the bed while he’s in it.
Scott and Scout said
Good idea giving him the MOVE command. But, I couldn’t go the route of not letting Scout on the bed. I’d miss him.
admathieu said
We call it the “sleep switch”. You press the switch (touch the dog) and he growls. It’s not a mean growl just a moany growl. He’ll keep doing it no matter how many times you touch him. No snapping though. It’s pretty funny to see how many times you can press the switch before he gets up and moves. Good luck on getting the growl=no bed=crate association.
Carol, Eddy's mom said
Eddy makes the moany growl too when you ‘disturb’ him.
Rebeca Schiller (@SchillerRebeca) said
I have a little of both with my two guys. Trumbo growls but would not dare to snap. I usually tell him to just move over and he does. Alvah is both and I just tell him that if he does again he’s sleeping outside on the porch in the cold (I would never do that, of course). But the tone of my voice means business. Because he’s a JRT and very intelligent he picks up immediately on this. Does he stop? Of course not. I’ve become trained to get into the bed in such a manner as to not bother the little tyrant.
Julie - JB & Cassie's Mum in England said
JB growls if he’s startled when hes dead asleep – he’s growling at the situation, not the person. He understands ‘move up’ and will move out of the way when one of us goes to get in bed, usually jumping down onto the floor. He comes straight back when you’re settled and finds a spot though! Cassie doesn’t do sleeping on the human bed at night, but she’ll spend all day on there fast asleep! We’ve noticed that she doesn’t do sleeping on humans, including on your knee on the sofa. She’ll cuddle quite happily but when she wants to sleep she prefers to be on her own. She’ll spend ages scraping and arranging her bed though, with such vigor sometimes it makes her pant!