Why does my Golden Retriever sleep by the door?

If your Golden Retriever has been sleeping by the door you might be wondering why and what you can do about it. In this post, I will show you common reasons why Golden Retrievers do it and what you can do about it.

So, why does my Golden Retriever sleep by the door? Possible reasons are that it is being protective, it is waiting for you, it doesn’t want to miss out on anything or that it wants exercise.

There are actually many reasons why your Golden Retriever might be doing it and it might be due to a combination of them. However, there are some things you can consider when figuring out the main reason.

Why your Golden Retriever sleeps by the door

Below are some common reasons why Golden Retrievers do it and what would make them more likely to be the reason why your Golden Retriever has been doing it.

It’s being protective

The reason why your Golden Retriever has been doing it could be that it is being protective. This would be more likely if it sleeps by the front door specifically and if it starts barking when there are people at the door that it doesn’t know.

In this case, it would help to give it positive reinforcement training to get it to sleep somewhere else and to bark less.

It’s waiting for you

If your Golden Retriever waits by the door while you are away then it would be more likely that it does it because it is waiting for you. This would also be more likely if it does not sleep there while you are home. This could also be a sign that it has some separation anxiety especially if it starts showing signs of being anxious when you are leaving.

It wants exercise

Golden Retrievers are meant to get exercise on a daily basis. The reason why your Golden Retriever sleeps by the door might be that it is waiting to get exercise. This would be more likely if it does not tend to do it after getting exercise. Generally, they are meant to get an hour of exercise per day as healthy adults.

It gets rewards

It could be the case that you have encouraged your Golden Retriever to sleep by the door by rewarding the behavior. If you tend to give it things such as toys, treats or extra attention, when it sleeps by the door, it will likely do it more in order to get more rewards.

Instead, it would help to reward it when it does not sleep by the door, to give it positive reinforcement training and to try to ignore it when it does sleep there unless necessary.

Things to consider

Below are some things to consider about your Golden Retriever sleeping by the door.

When it started doing it

If your Golden Retriever did not always sleep by the door, it would help to consider what else happened when it first started doing it.

Some things to consider would be:

• If you moved home
• If someone else moved away
• If its schedule changed
• If you started working different hours

When it does it

It would also help to consider when it tends to sleep by the door since the timing might also have something to do with it.

For example, if it tends to sleep by the door while you are away then it would be much more likely that it does it because it is waiting for you. If it does it throughout the day it could be that it is just hoping to get lots of attention.

How to get your Golden Retriever to stop laying by the door

Below are some options you have when getting your Golden Retriever to stop sleeping by the door.

Use positive reinforcement training

Positive reinforcement training involves encouraging your Golden Retriever to behave the way you want by rewarding it when it shows signs of behaving that way.

To use it to get your Golden Retriever to stop sleeping by the door you would first train it to learn the down command then to get it to stop sleeping by the door when it does it, then to get it to lay down somewhere else and to reward it for laying there. You would then repeat the process whenever it lays down by the door. Eventually, it should learn to sleep in a different location.

Avoid encouraging the behavior

It might be the case that you have encouraged it to sleep there by giving it rewards when it does it. Instead, it would help to avoid rewarding it when it sleeps by the door and to reward it when it lays down somewhere else.

Make sure that it is getting enough exercise

If you notice that it tends to do it more when it has not gotten exercise it would help to make sure that it does get enough exercise. Generally, they are meant to get an hour of exercise per day as healthy adults and 5 minutes of exercise per day for every month of age when they are puppies.