Is it unusual for her to stay downstairs... - Page 1

when everyone else has gone to bed upstairs?  She's a 2yo GSD that we adopted in Feb.  When we first got her, the previous owners didn't bring any bedding, so I'm not sure what her sleeping arrangements were before.  Our other dog always sleeps where we are.  Originally, the GSD would come upstairs at bedtime with everyone else and they'd each sleep on their beds.  Whether or not she stayed there all night, I don't know.  Lately though, she's been opting to stay downstairs when everyone else heads up.  Nothing has changed that I'm aware of - she's eating, playing, still getting along with everyone, etc., she just doesn't come upstairs at bedtime.  If she comes up for a little while, she heads back down when everyone is in bed.  She does come up during the night sometimes, but she's usually downstairs in the morning when I come down.  The dogs have a bed downstairs that they nap on and I guess she's sleeping on that (it's identical to the one she has upstairs, so I don't think it's a comfort thing).  Her sleeping downstairs doesn't really bother me except that I'm hoping she doesn't feel...left out(?) or not a part of our family.

Just curious if this is unusual or if something like this is part of the GSD personality.  Might she feel she's guarding the house or something?  Thanks.

My GSD has the choice of upstairs or downstairs - but always opts for downstairs. Maybe this could be one of the two following reasons...

1. We didn't allow her to climb stairs as a pup and then when she was old enough to [around 8 months old], she was diagnosed with severe hip dysplasia, so stairs were off limit then too for a long time.

2. The upstairs level in our house is a lot warmer than downstairs, especially in the summer and possibly my dog feels the heat too much to stay up there. We never hear her come up at all during the night either. We have an 8 month old Border Collie who is crated at night downstairs, so maybe she feels she has to stay with him. Who knows...

I'd go for it being too hot upstairs, especially if your dog has a thick coat.

I don't for one minute think your dog feels left out and not part of the family because she chooses to sleep downstairs!

i know my boy would come and sleep with me for prob 10 mins then he would go out and sleep in the middle room of the house where all the entrys are from outside. our guess is that he wanted to protect his house and my brother had friends comming over at all hours of the night

 Mine do not have their own beds (the floor is wood and quite warm) but they do usually prefer to be as close as possible to where we sleep - on the kids beds if allowed, otherwise right outside the bedroom doors.  But one will sometimes go halfway downstairs during the night to a small square landing that he seems to like, its just his size when he is curled up.  I do not think this issue is anything at all to worry about, especially as your dog has two beds and the choice of where to sleep..., could be related to temperature or the need to protect the house as the others have mentioned??.

In all honesty,there could be a million reasons............. (all good ones of course), and it's nice that the humans think as they do. (I'm not being mean) but think like a dog, a pack member or a pack leader. I try not to get into the mental aspect of dogs on certain issues but here is how I read mine. The service dog and my male might be at my side or bed for a few minutes, if on the bed not even ten and they're gone. Either bathroom, (linoleum floor) or kitchen, (same). But usually strategically placed so as to see all entrance doors, hallways. I would think 95% of the time though wherever I am they are between me and the door. Hence the protectors doing their duty.

The two girls, (with the pup just released now at night from her crate a few days ago), on the bed the entire night. They want to be close to the humans. One could think they are protecting close but I would think it's totally comfort knowing the males are protecting. Now if they hear something or the males are barking at something then the girls are there also.

These are just my thoughts and nothing set in stone. For OP; temprature, floor type, entrance doors, maybe fans and AC are upstairs and she wants to be able to hear and see doors. Maybe windows or even big windows are downstairs. Mine love to look out and see EVERYTHING.

And I would also agree with the above repliers.


So no need to worry.  

good post alboe, and agrees with my experience -  the girls are the ones that would sleep on the bed or couch all night given the choice....interesting...

My girl sleeps in every room in our house and there is no specific place she prefers. During the night she ‘travels’ between mine and my kids bedrooms.  However her favorite spot is a hall between steps going up and down to the bedrooms. This way she’s got both bedrooms covered and nobody will get to us and none of us will leave without her knowledge…
 

Thank you all for the responses.  It just seemed unusual that she would choose to do her own thing, but then again my frame of reference is with our other dog...and the cat.  When it's lights out, everyone trucks it up the stairs and settles in.  Her previous owners had mentioned that she wasn't bonding with them, so we've been watching to see if we notice it.  So far, the sleeping thing is really all I notice, but maybe she just likes having her own space at night and that's perfectly OK.

Thanks again!