[coolm19]

We have a 14 month old English Pointer who sleeps in her own dog bed on the floor by our bed. We have gotten her to the point where she knows she can't join us in bed until we tap the bed and call her up. My husband and I decided anytime after about 3:30 if one of us wakes up we can call her up, he typically gets up at 5:30 for work.

Our issue though has always been (since about 8 months when we let her sleep outside her crate)...she puts her paws up on the bed or my husband anytime starting after 1 or 2. We tell her to go lay down, which she does, but she may be putting her paws back up in 10, 20, or 30 minutes and we repeat the cycle until sometime around 3. We never invite her up unless she's laying on her own bed, so don't think that when she paws us that we automatically let her up.

Does anyone have any suggestions for stopping this pawing behavior? It's starting to wear on us with interrupted sleep in the mid morning hours.

 

[Amaryllis]

honestly, i'd pick whether the dog is sleeping on the bed or not. either is fine, but part of the night yes, part of the night no is clearly confusing the dog.

 

[melundie]

Having a command for "come up" is very important and I think it's great that you're defining and rewarding the appropriate behavior. With that said, dogs do things because it's intrinsically rewarding. Think about what she's getting out of putting her paws on the bed. Does your hubby pat her head and tell her to go lay on her bed? Has she ever gotten to come up on the bed after having her paws on it? You've gotta be honest with yourself to figure out why she's doing it. IMO, she's pawing the bed because it immediately gets her attention and eventually gets her up on the bed.

On the flip side, I think "after 3am" sounds kind of arbitrary. Dogs can't tell time (ahem, daylight savings time!) so I'd either decide to let her on the bed or not and stick to it. If the behavior really bothers you, try crating her or tethering her near her bed at night.