Dog swapping beds?

Stevegeraghty

Hope someone can shed some light on this for me.
I have 2 dogs, a springer and a yorkie,the yorkie is the more dominant dog as the springer is very submissive. About a week ago the springer started to swap beds, he is not forcing the Yorkie out but getting in when he isn't there, he takes up the whole bed so the Yorkie ends up else where (on a chair :mad:)
Any ideas on how to keep him in his own bed or why he is swapping?

sligoface

my two dogs often swap beds, when we got our second dog, we bought a bed for her but she started sleeping in our first dog's bed. so he would sleep in hers even though it is smaller. now either one might be asleep in either bed, they don't seem to mind, and like yours they sometimes sleep in chairs or just on the floor.

it seems like from your post that the yorkie won't sleep in the springer's bed when it finds the springer has taken its bed, but i don't think you should be too worried, he might eventually start sleeping in the other one if his is taken. if he doesn't and it really bothers you, you could call the springer out of the bed and let the yorkie get in and show the springer to his own bed to sleep, but choosing where to sleep is an instinctive, den-like behavior that i think is best left up to the dog, within reason. if the yorkie is really the dominant one as you say, he'd probably let it be known to the springer that he wanted his bed back if he was really bothered by it.

knucklehead6

my two are exactly the same... Beds and kennels both seem to be interchangeable!

The older one seems to allow the younger one 'act' dominant, but does lay down the law from time to time

kylith

Beds are interchangeable in my house too. There's one big enough for both and one that isn't. This morning T was in the small bed so R jumped up on the sofa, when T came to investigate the possibility of sofa-time R jumped straight down and ran to the small bed!

carav10

Lol I'm having a similar thing happening in my house at the moment. I originally had the plan that the pup who is out of the crate now at nights, would have the plastic tub bed with vet bed in it so she could chew it to her hearts content and my other one has the plastic tub bed with comfier mattress.

Every night, I leave the room with them in their own beds which they go into automatically when it's bedtime. All curled up ready for sleep. A few times, I've had to come back into the room to get something after 5/10mins, and they had swapped around - (reckon the older dog gets up for a snoop and the pup takes her bed) but they don't mind. A few nights ago I came back in, and the larger pup was to the back of the bed and the smaller older one curled into her in the middle, very cute :-) I'll keep the two beds so they have the choice to be separate but I've a feeling they actually pile into the one every night. Maybe I'll need to get one bigger one as the pup still has some growing to do! It used to bother me as I was afraid I'd come down to a floor of bed stuffing some morning, but all good so far so they can do what they like

lorebringer

Musical beds is common in my house - we never know who will be in what bed at any one time. Each dog has their favourite but generally it's first come first serve (or first to shove the other out of the bed...), sometimes we end up with 2 in a bed and both are only really half way in the bed and half on the floor, or sprawled across each other.

If you are concerned that the smaller dag has nowhere to sleep, it may be a good idea to ensure that all beds are big enough for both dogs to fit into so if they either of them want to sleep in either bed, they can!

eirator

Our Fat Russell has his own bed raised up under a kitchen type of work top and all big dog can do is pull his bedding out. However Evil Cat will often take over the Fat Russells bed and if Evil Cat can't get it all to himself he'll get in behind the dog and keep stretching every time the dog moves until eventually the dog is out on the floor.

Mo60

At the moment I am looking at three empty beds, all big enough for two, and five dogs all asleep spread out between two small settees and one armchair. At least they have left a space for me.

borderlinemeath

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This type of behaviour is a regular occurence! The yorkie here is visiting, and his little bed was barely slept in. My pair either share the large bed or one takes the crate. (although by the end of his stay he was happy with the crate)

ToniTuddle

The two dogs I looked after were like that. The collie would take the little terriers bed, she couldn't fit in it at all and looked terribly uncomfortable but she loves it The terrier was more than happy to curl up in the big collies bed :pac: