Why does my German Shepherd sleep by the door?

If your German Shepherd sleeps by the door you might be wondering why and what you can do about it.

This post will show you a number of reasons why your German Shepherd sleeps by the door and what you can do about it.

So, why does my German Shepherd sleep by the door? Common reasons are that it is being protective, it is waiting for you, it wants exercise or because it is being dominating.

There are actually a number of things that you can consider when trying to figure out why your German Shepherd does it. There are also a number of things you can do depending on the cause.

Why your German Shepherd sleeps by the door

Each of the different reasons why your German Shepherd sleeps by the door will likely come with a number of clues.

Below, I will mention a number of reasons why your German Shepherd might be doing it and the signs to look for.

It’s being protective

German Shepherds are naturally very protective of their owners and territory. This is why they are often used as guard dogs. The reason why yours sleeps by the door could be that it is protecting its territory.

This would be more likely to be the reason if it also sleeps by the door when you are home. If it only does it when you are not home then it would make it less likely.

Related post: How to tell if your German Shepherd loves you

It’s waiting for you

The reason why your German Shepherd sleeps by the door could be that it has some separation anxiety. This is where it does not like being left alone and being left alone causes it to become anxious.

This would be more likely if it only seems to sleep by the door when you are not at home and it shows other signs of being anxious when you are leaving.

If your German Shepherd does seem to have some separation anxiety then you can watch the video below to see a number of tips on what you can do about it.

Related post: Why is my German Shepherd so anxious?

It wants exercise

German Shepherds are a highly active breed that is supposed to get a lot of exercise. Generally, it is recommended that a German Shepherd get at least an hour of exercise per day. The reason why your German Shepherd sleeps by the door might be that it wants to get more exercise.

This would be more likely if it tends to do it when it has not received much exercise and if it does it when you are home.

Related post: Ways to exercise your German Shepherd.

It’s being dominating

The reason why your German Shepherd sleeps by the door could be that it is being dominating and showing that it has authority over the group. This would be more likely if it sleeps in a way that makes it difficult for people to get past it.

This is something that you’ll need to prevent from happening so that your German Shepherd continues to see you as its leader which will help to make it easier to control. You can prevent it from happening by training it to sleep in different areas.

Things to consider

Before training your German Shepherd not to sleep by the door it would help to know exactly what is causing it to do it.

When it started doing it

When trying to understand why it sleeps by the door it would help to consider when it first started doing it.

If it didn’t always sleep by the door and it started doing it suddenly it would help to consider what else happened at around the time that it started sleeping by the door.

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 the timing of when it sleeps by the door.

If it only seems to sleep by the door in certain situations and at certain times then it could be that there is an external cause for it.

Some things to consider would be if it only sleeps by the door when you would normally feed it, when you are not home or if it only sleeps by the door when you have not given it much exercise.

How to get your German Shepherd to stop laying by the door

Below, I will mention some things that you can try to get your German Shepherd to stop sleeping by the door.

You can look at the book Training Your German Shepherd on Amazon to get more tips about how you can train your GSD.

Use positive reinforcement training

Positive reinforcement training is where you get your German Shepherd to learn to do certain things by rewarding it for doing so.

To use positive reinforcement training to get your German Shepherd not to sleep by the door you would make it stop sleeping by the door when it does, get it to lay down where you want it to and reward it with a treat. You would then repeat the process whenever it lays down near the door.

You can also do this by applying the same techniques as in the video below:

Avoid encouraging the behavior

If your method of getting it to stop doing it is to give it things that it wants, it could be the case that it has learned to do it more in order to get more rewards.

Instead, you can try training it not to sleep by the door as mentioned above and avoiding rewarding it when it does sleep by the door.

Make sure that it is getting enough exercise

If you think that your German Shepherd might be sleeping by the door because it is not getting enough exercise then it would be very important to make sure that it does.

It is generally recommended that you give your German Shepherd an hour of exercise per day. You can do this by walking it, teaching it to play fetch or by getting a dog walker to do it for you.