Inspired by watching my cat lay on her 6’ (2 m) tall cat tower and sleep like a baby. Zero regrets, even if it makes us look like insane cat people for having a giant cat tower right in our living room. She lives here, she gets furniture too!

  • @bitchkat
    link
    English
    11 month ago

    That’s great to here. I have a 6 year old JRT that was rescued from a puppy mill this past winter. We just found out the hard way she’s super protective of my bed (on vacation with my friend and her 6 year old).

    • @ChonkyOwlbear
      link
      11 month ago

      Amateur opinion here but it sounds like a form of resource guarding. Our poodle did something similar. She would crawl into bed with whoever went to sleep first and then growl at the second person and try to occupy their sleeping space.

      The dog needs to learn that all resources come from it’s people. If the dog was resource guarding food, you would switch to feeding the dog by hand for a few months to teach this lesson. With the bed, the dog needs to know that it is there at your permission. If it acts aggressive, everyone involved needs to get up and call the dog out of the room, and then lock it out of the bedroom for the night. You could also set a dog bed outside the bedroom and throw treats onto the bed to direct the dog there before shutting it out of the bedroom. Getting to sleep in bed with you becomes a reward for good behavior in the dog’s mind.