Why is My dog hiding under the bed

Is your dog hiding more and more often under the bed or a sofa, coffee tables … etc?

You don’t understand anymore why he does this and especially what to do to get him out from under the bed and how to help him so that he doesn’t hide under the furniture anymore?

To get your dog out from under the bed or any other piece of furniture, you just have to be with him to reassure him and make him forget the reason why he hid under the bed and redirect his attention to something else, like his favorite toy, his favorite treat like the cheese ball …..etc

Follow these steps to Get your dog out from under your bed :

1-Bend down just at his level, at ground level, you can even lie down on the floor next to your dog.

2-Talk to him in a calm tone that reassures him and if you can reach him with one hand, caress him while asking him to come towards you, a treat could also help you but only as a last resort.

3-Never yell at your dog and never force him to leave his shelter, be patient and when your dog regains his confidence and finally decides to go out, you must reward him with a high level treat and especially with lots of caresses.

It is necessary to try to reduce this time each day a little more while waiting to solve the problem at the source.

But this remains just a temporary solution! Because to solve this problem definitively and eliminate this behavior of hiding under furniture, habits of your dog, it is necessary to go through several stages, but before that, let’s see why this behavior!

Why is my dog hiding under the furniture ?

Dogs, regardless of their age and even their breed, all have this behavior of hiding either under a piece of furniture, such as the bed, the coffee table or behind furniture such as behind the Sofa, a corner piece of furniture and you may not have noticed it, but dogs also hide behind the arms and legs of their owners …

It is a natural behavior in canine species, this behavior reminds them of the safety of the den (a comfort zone), and it is normal for a dog to hide under a piece of furniture when he is stressed or feels fear.

So what are the steps to take to get your dog to stop hiding under the bed and other furniture?

Find the reason why your dog hides under or behind the furniture (the bed)

To suppress this bad behavior, you need to find what causes your dog to hide under the bed, thus the source of the problem and then work to desensitize your dog towards this trigger.

You will proceed as follows:

Determine how long your dog has been hiding under the furniture.

Monitor your dog and analyze his environment (material and sound) just a few moments before he goes to hide under a piece of furniture.

Common reasons why a puppy or dog hides under the bed or other furniture :

1- A sick dog often tries to hide

In fact, I remember that we had a dog, which disappeared sometimes for several days, and when I asked where he had gone, I was told that he went to heal himself.

I knew later that dogs when they are sick, break a leg …etc, they look for a corner, a burrow, a shelter … and they lie in it without eating or drinking for several days, until the wound heals by itself.

In fact, it seems that staying without eating helps the body to recover.

It happens that the wound doesn’t heal and the dog dies and it is said that the dog never dies with its master but often goes to die alone !

When your dog goes under the bed, try to understand if he is not suffering or curled up on himself, if you have doubts about his health take him to his Vet.

2- Fear can push a dog to hide under the bed

Fear can also cause your dog to hide under or behind furniture, here is a list of reasons that could frighten your dog and trigger this behavior:

• You may be the one who is stressed and it influences your dog because the fear of the master often spreads to his dog. Sorry to say that, he may be protecting himself from your bad moods or if you get angry.
• You may have moved into a new apartment and your dog is not yet used to his new environment.
• There is a new noise that you may not have noticed but which frightens your dog and pushes him to hide under the sofa, the thunder, Fireworks, the neighbor’s dog barking a little too loudly, a baby crying …etc…..Dog Breeds most sensitive to noise: Lagotto Romano, Wheaten terrier, mixed breeds
• You have a new friend who has caused the dog stress, so you need to work on the socialization of your Pooch …
• It’s your other pet that is scaring your dog, a cat a little too aggressive, another dog bigger than him …etc…

3- Your dog may not appreciate physical contact

Your dog is hiding under the bed because he doesn’t like to be handled, and maybe you or your children are hugging him a little too much and he doesn’t like that!

It could also be that your dog doesn’t trust you anymore after you used force with him, after shouting at him , after a bad punishment   if you don’t know how to discipline your Pooch…etc

In this case, you will have to rework the broken  bond between you  and this confidence, buy him a plastic Crate, cover it with a dark fabric so that he doesn’t use the bed to hide, so you will have easier access to him in his crate to build trust again with your dog.

4- Your dog is hiding under the bed because he made a mistake

Your dog may go under the bed when he does something wrong and he doesn’t want to be punished. 

He may also steal food or something to chew on and run under the bed where you can’t easily stop him.

The best thing to do in these cases to dissuade your dog from hiding under the furniture is to prevent him from accessing the objects he steals, to tidy up your house so that he doesn’t find any object to take under the bed !

5- Your dog hides under the bed because he is annoyed

Dogs, especially seniors, spend a lot of time lying down and sometimes even sleeping and they don’t like to be disturbed.

If you have children or another pet that does not let your dog rest and sleep, he will probably retreat under a piece of furniture to find peace and quiet and you should not let him out in this case.

6- Your dog will hide under your bed and sofa to be with you

Dogs are animals that normally live in packs and do not like to be left alone. If your dog hides under your bed, it may be because he wants to stay and sleep with you.

If you don’t mind, bring his bed into your room and he will probably come out from under your bed, he just wants to be with you because he considers you part of his pack.

How do you teach your dog not to hide under furniture anymore?

If illness is the cause of this behavior, treat your dog and he will no longer hide under furniture.

On the other hand, if it is an external element that triggers this behavior in your dog, such as a very particular noise, the arrival of the car in the garage, thunder, the sound of TV , his bedding or kennel color !! ( dogs have their favorite colors and some colors like indigo or red may get them scared ) … etc

Once you have detected what triggers this behavior in your dog, you will, as I said before, desensitize your dog to what triggers this behavior.

Don’t confront your dog with what is scaring him, but teach him to concentrate elsewhere in the presence of that trigger.

For example:

If it is the sound of the television that scares your dog and that is what makes him hide under the bed.

You will take your dog away from the TV set, turn on the TV remotely and distract your dog and play with his best toy, and bring him a little closer to the room where the TV is on every day.

Don’t forget to take your time and reward your dog for every inch he does by moving closer to the TV set !!!

Little by little, you will get your dog used to the sound of the TV and he will not pay attention to it anymore.

how to keep your dog from going under the bed ?

As last resort to prevent your dog from going under the bed and other furniture, you have no choice but to either build a covered bed for him, because the instinct to go into a burrow is too strong in your dog.

Either you block the access under all your furniture so that your dog does not find any more how to go under your furniture, you can use under bed blocker for pets ( link to Amazon ) or all that you have to make him barrier until he forgets this bad behavior.

There are two ways (Dog Barriers) that you can use to block your dog’s access under your bed, sofa, table and other furniture:

1- Offer your dog a crate, or just a large cardboard box, put your dog bed in it, it’s the terrier’s instinct that is stronger in your dog , he will feel better in a crate, don’t close the door and try to cover the crate with a rug so that it looks like a terrier, your dog will quickly adopt it and stop going under the bed.

2- Use Toy Blockers to block access under your furniture and prevent your dog from getting under the bed and other furniture. you can use other means if you are a handyman, planks, books, storage boxes … etc

Why not let your dog go under the bed?

If you notice that your dog loves to go and lie under your bed and this without any reason that forces him to do it, like the ones I told you before, let him go under the bed when he wants to! why not?

It is more than necessary to let your dog go and lie down and hide under the bed (his comfort zone) if your dog is a rescue or from the shelter.

Give him time to trust you and he will come out on his own when he understands that he is safe in your home and that you are not a danger.

Personally, if my dog decides that he likes to go under the bed, just because he feels a pleasure to do so (Its dark and cozy their!!!), I certainly won’t stop him.

But you must act if your dog goes under the bed to get away from you! , if he takes refuge under the bed, you have to act and help him to overcome the reason that pushes him and make him come back to you because he is part of the family.

Conclusion 

There’s always a reason why a dog hides under the bed or behind a piece of furniture…etc…

Always stay calm and never blame your dog, never yell on him, be patient, start by letting the dog get out of himself from under the bed, encourage him just a little and reward him when he comes out.

Then find the real reason why your dog is hiding under the furniture and treat that trigger to rectify the bad behavior.

Leave me your questions in a comment 

Hey! M. Samy here , Welcome to my Blog I'm an animal lover, especially pets and Really concerned about their well being ; I've been around and caring for all my life and Now ; a full-time Pet blogger at your service . My motto here at Famillypet is: "Pets First" ... Read More