So my 1 year old Koda has had no trouble sleeping on his own for the past 9 months. We had him crate trained and he had no problem sleeping in the kitchen, which is right next to our bedroom. When it became obvious he would rather sleep on the ottoman from our couch set, we moved it into the kitchen and things were hunky-dorey. However the past couple days, Koda has been insisting that he sleep in the bedroom with us. We will go through normal bedtime routine and he will go to bed on his ottoman, but about a half hour after we turn out the lights Koda is whining and scratching at the bedroom door. Once he is in the bedroom he lays down and sleeps through the night, but it just strikes me as weird that after nearly a year of being perfectly fine sleeping in the kitchen he gets like this.

I first thought it was a separation thing because my husband was gone one night on a trip with his friends, but the behavior continued after he got back. I don't consider this a huge problem, but was wondering what you guys think triggered this and what suggestions you might have about getting him back to his own bed?

It sounds like he's kind of just maturing and expanding his boundaries a bit, and I don't necessarily think it's in a bad or challenging way. Dizzy has learned that when I brush my teeth it's bed time. A few months ago, he went through this phase where when I would brush my teeth, instead of going to his bed, he would jump up on the couch and curl up, while looking sheepish and hoping either he wouldn't get in trouble, or I wouldn't notice. He never disturbs anything in the apartment, so instead of getting annoyed with him, I would just totally ignore him and go to bed myself. He would almost always get up and go into his own bed a few minutes later. Now, he's loose and can sleep anywhere he wants, and either sleeps on the wood floor, or in his bed.

You have a couple options with Koda. If you really want to insist he sleeps in the kitchen, then you'll just have to be more firm about it. Does he have a command like, "go to bed?" If not, teach him that, and then every time he scratches at the door, open the door, and say, "go to bed," and point toward the kitchen. If he doesn't go, gently take him by the collar, say, "go to bed," and walk him into the kitchen and point to his ottoman. He will probably be pretty determined at first, but I doubt it will take more than a couple days for him to get the point. If you decide to do it this way, you can't ever cave and let him sleep in your room, otherwise, it will take a lot longer for him to give up.

If it doesn't bother you to let him sleep in the bedroom, I'd just get another dog bed and put it on the floor in the bedroom so he can decide whether or not to sleep in the kitchen or the bedroom, or even go back and forth throughout the night.

Don't be surprised if every time you think you have your dog figured out he changes things on you! My dog is 2.5 years old, and I swear he keeps us guessing all the time! After all this time of never wanting to sleep on our bed with us, in the last 3 weeks, he all of a sudden wants to be there. Quite possibly because he's closer to the air conditioner, but whatever the reason, my husband and I are always shaking our heads, because just when we think we know his routine, he changes it on us.