[Herrick's Mommy]

I have a miniature schnauzer, named Herrick and we've had him for about 2 months now. Up until now, he's been great, but this past weekend, my fiance and I noticed that he tends to go and lie down by our front door. He usually does this when he needs to go outside to poo or pee, but since he started doing this, its been different. He just lies there and stays there. He likes to sleep all over the place, but lately he's been staying there and that has become his "spot" so to speak. I'm wondering if this could be attributed to the fact that he's teething? I was reading that it may also be due to the fact that he still hasn't been neutered and experts say that this could be a result of him picking up on a scent from a female in heat. His attitude is still playful and friendly, its just that one difference in his behavior that we've noticed and I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or has gone through something similar? Thank you!

[Willowy]

Sometimes when the heat is on, my dogs will go lie by the door because it's cooler there (yeah, drafts , my house is old). They have a lot of fur and they get hot easily. Although I see you live in CA, so maybe that's not the issue......

[Herrick's Mommy]

Well, it does get hot where we live and that was actually my first thought, but he'll still do that even when we have the AC on, so at this point, I have no idea what to think.

[FilleBelle]

I think I'm not understanding the problem here. He's lying by the door and...what? You don't want him to?

[Herrick's Mommy]

No, it's not that I don't want him to, its just that he started doing that recently and we think that he's trying to tell us something or maybe he's not feeling well because he didn't do that before. When he has to go outside to potty, he lets us know by ringing a bell we have on the door, but when he lies down by the door, something just feels off.

[Labsnothers]

Yes, that can be a real pain when you are trying to teach a dog that if it goes to the door, you will let it out. We had a real problem with one puppy doing that. I finally quit offering to let her out if it hadn't been too long.

Maybe I should have tried the bell thing. Hang a bell on the lower corner of the door and show him to paw it when he wants out.

[Marsh Muppet]

In cool weather, my dog lies by the front door and does his impersonation of a door sock. In hot weather, he positions himself over the air conditioning vent.

[FilleBelle]

Is he eating, eliminating, and exercising in his regular fashion?

[Herrick's Mommy]

Herrick's behavior regarding pooping and peeing outside has not changed, he still lets us know when he has to go, its just that for some reason he started lying by the door and i'm guessing he likes it there. I just find it odd that all of a sudden he started doing that, which is why I was asking if it was normal.

[yappypappymom]

If there were some other contributing factors whilst he was at the door..ie-panting, whining, pacing, clawing at the door, or some other obvious signs of distress, I would be more inclined to view it as something else..just the fact that heis lying there resting, is more indicative of the fact that he simply enjoys that particular place to "plop"..maybe he is just trying to be the "gate-keeper" of sorts?? ..little boys grow into young men, & grown men just plain ole like knowing whats going on inside of THEIR house..LOL!!