How to train your dog to sleep in their own bed

Much like parents of very young children, most dog owners would love their dog to happily go and settle down quietly when asked. 

It may not matter to you where they choose to do this: the floor, your bed, the cat’s bed, the sofa…! Nonetheless, it’s very helpful to teach your dog a cue to send them to their own bed to relax and sleep, whether all night or for short periods during the day.

This is a two-part exercise. You’re not just training your dog to go to their bed; you also want them to stay on it! So, it’s important to make this simple and enjoyable for your dog. 

To be successful, you also want to make sure your dog really loves being on their bed. And the best way to do that is to make their bed a very rewarding place to be. Grab some treats (you’re going to reward frequently, so keep them very small) before you start. 

Step One:

First guide your dog onto their bed. You can do this by gently throwing a treat on to it or by luring them with the treat. As soon as they’ve got at least one or two paws on the bed, praise and reward them with a few treats, one after another, dropped onto the bed. 

Dropping the treats onto the bed rather than giving them by hand will help build your dog’s view of the bed as a great place to be.

Step Two:

After about 10 seconds or so of rewarding them for being on the bed, let your dog see you throw a treat a short distance away from it, so that they go and get the treat.

Now you can repeat Steps One and Two until your dog is happily getting fully on the bed each time before going on to Step Three.

Step Three:

When you’ve repeated the first two steps a few times (whether in one session or over a few days) try standing by the bed and rewarding your dog for any attempt to get on it. Remember to praise and to drop the treats on the bed.

If you’ve been doing steps one and two enough, the chances are your dog will have worked out that the rewards in this game happen when they’re on the bed.

Step Four:

When your dog is getting on their bed pretty reliably, you’re going to introduce two new cues.

As you start the exercise, give your first new cue, for example ‘go to your bed’ or just ‘bed’ and, as before, as soon as they do so, reward them. 

The second cue is to ‘release’ them from the bed, for example use the word ‘free’, which you’ll say just before you throw the treat away from the bed.

In time you will be able to ask your dog to go to their bed and have a cue to tell them when the exercise is finished, and they can get off it. 

Step Five:

Now your dog is beginning to learn to go to their bed, and you can start to train them to lie down and stay there.

When they’re on the bed, either wait for them to lie down or lure them into lying down and reward them when they do so. 

By the way, you want your dog to learn that the new ‘go to bed’ or simply ‘bed’ cue means they should go to their bed and settle down, so even if you’ve trained a ‘down’ cue, don’t use it.

Step Six: 

From now on, once you’ve asked your dog to go to their bed, you’re going to wait for them to lie down on it before you praise and reward. Make sure you drop the treats near their head, so they don’t need to get up to reach them!

Step Seven: 

When your dog will go to their bed and settle down, you can begin to teach them to stay in it for longer periods, and to remain settled whatever else is going on around them. Take it slowly, over many sessions over the coming days and weeks.

Try waiting a few seconds before rewarding. Slowly increase the time you wait. As you gradually build up the length of time, you can also begin to introduce distractions such as walking away from the bed and coming back to it again to reward your dog for staying put, or just be distracting – e.g. jump up and down or wave your arms about!

Reward your dog when they stay on the bed. If you find you’ve left it too long or been too distracting, and your dog has moved, make it easier again.

Most importantly, keep your training sessions short and fun. In time, your dog is likely to love going to their bed, and will stay there, calm and relaxed, while you get on with other things, or go to your own bed for the night.

For more training advice, please visit our dog coach Vicky Carne's website.