Caper has a habit of making it a point to lie down/nap/sleep right where doors open and people walk. Like in the narrow hallway where he's gotten stepped on a couple of times, right in front of a closed door that could swing open and hit him at any moment (or he could block it from opening if he's lying right against it), etc. What can I do to make him change his preferences?

I've read somewhere that he shouldn't be accommodated (i.e. us stepping around him), and that we should make him get out of the way so that he eventually learns to stay clear of where you're stepping.

Should I pick him up and relocate him?

I'm curious to hear what others say, Vixen does the same thing. She goes so far as to stay in her position and let tthe door just slide her along the floor....

Do you actually feel it is a problem, as in it is obtrusive or dangerous or annoying, or are you just worried that maybe it is a problem?

The folks who would tell you it is definitively a problem and that you should not walk around or over him are folks who subscribe to some degree of dominance theories for dog behavior.  In other words, you shouldn't walk around or over him because this would be a sign of  your weakness and submission to his dominance.  

Do you personally subscribe to this type of understanding?  If so, then the answer is simple.  If not, then you should approach it more practically.

Cheers.

A couple things come to mind. It could be the pack instinct coming through and he just wants to be where you are. Lying in doorways ensures he doesn't miss anything important! Also, the doorways in our house have the best airflow, Bode likes to lay there to stay cooler.

If its really a problem, make him move and reward him when he lays elsewhere. I think the dominance theory is a little silly. I mean really, walking around a sleeping dog is "giving in" to him? But whatever you feel is right to train in your situation.

Maya does this too, I just always considered that it was the best vantage point, besides it's fun to watch the wife stumble over her  

Saber does this all the time. The problem comes in when anyone tries to step over him and he starts to get up. I've almost fallen a few times and taken him down with me. But, that doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes I make him move if it's really cumbersome to walk over/around him or he'll let me slide him along the floor so he's out of the way. It all depends. I certainly don't think that walking around him is a sign of "weakness" lol.

I have been walking into Loki and saying Move to get him to move. This is what I did with my current dogs and move is very helpful for them to know when you are doing things around the house or when my mom comes over who is handicapped. I did not do it as a dominance thing (but maybe that is what it is).

I find the commands move and out useful for dogs, though I don't do it all the time. Just when they are really in the way or are in a room they should leave. Eventually the dogs find the places best for them and us. I would be nervous of having my dogs lie in places I could easily step on them for their safety and mine.

Lucian does the same thing all the time. He even lays on the landing right up against the side door. He usually hops up as soon as he hears someone touch the door handle. He'll block doorways too, and pretty much lay sprawled out on the middle of the floor. It can be a little annoying at times, but I just step over him.

SaberK wrote:

Saber does this all the time. The problem comes in when anyone tries to step over him and he starts to get up. I've almost fallen a few times and taken him down with me. But, that doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes I make him move if it's really cumbersome to walk over/around him or he'll let me slide him along the floor so he's out of the way. It all depends. I certainly don't think that walking around him is a sign of "weakness" lol.

Kenzi is bad about standing up when I'm walking over her too. I'm short so that sucks. I've always walked over my dogs unless it's paramount that they move and if that's the case I just tell them to move and they do so. Kenzi is bad about laying behind the door I just went out though and if I have to come back in she tends to get run over with the door. She's gotten faster about getting out of the way though after having her toes run over by the back door once. She didn't like that. It's kinda like teaching a child to keep its fingers back when closing the car door. Sometimes it takes a couple squished digits to get the point across, but then I am probably a little more tough love than some people.

Our trainer in puppy class said that you should teach them to move when you are walking in the direction they are laying and you shouldn't step over them or go around them. What we did was just sort of walk into them gently and take tiny baby steps into them while saying move. It becomes an uncomfortable situation for them and they will (most of the times) move out of the way. And then you praise and/or treat them after they move.

I guess it can be a personal preference on whether you want to train them or not, but sometimes stepping over them can become sort of hazardous.

For me it helps because when Mishka is sprawled out on the floor it's hard for me to step over him because I'm so short. I don't have the leg length to span over his butt. It's also good when you're carrying things and don't want to die tripping over the dog laying in the middle of the floor. I also taught him out when I want him to get out of a room I don't want him in (bathroom, kitchen, etc.).

This hasnt been as much of a problem with my curren two but my old dog would do it especially at night and sharing a room with my elderly grandmother made it a problem. Grandma refused to tell her to move and would walk over her on her two canes in the dark to use the bathroom, but if te canes touched nova she would jump up and gram was lucky to fall against the door jam catching herself and not on the floor. So I would make nova move sometimes having to go drag her out of the way multiple times a night. I know many people think its ridiculous but I feel with my mothers rott mix it is almost a dominance thing and you have to make him move but there have always been issues with that dog and he refuses to move only with certain people, if he is loose in the house my mother gets angery but I will not walk around him or accomodate him at all. But like I said theres always been issues and the dog refuses to listen to me one bit and consistently growls snarls charges at me and has tried to bite me multiple times. The only difference is that I dont let him get away with anything while my mother will allow him to. I try not to let mine lay in places likethat and tell them to move because they are around a toddler who hasnt yet figured out that you cant step on dogs and they go by my handicapped grandmother and pregnant sister so they cant be laying there then jumping up as your half way over. But they also get told to stay so that i can walk over them. Either way they end up getting kicked or stepped on sometimes though we try to prevent it. My trainer had us teach the down command and stay so that they know they can stay if we tell them i believe she also uses that as bit of a trust builder

I don't subscribe to the dominance theory. I'm concerned from a safety perspective, since he's been bumped and stepped on a few times, and I've even stumbled over him while carrying food to the table (I would see his apparent logic there - free food raining from the sky!). And it can be annoying at work when everyone has to step over him in the bottleneck of the office with the heaviest foot traffic.

Would I start by rewarding him when he's lying down in an appropriate place? I'm thinking it'd be hard for him to differentiate since there are vastly many more appropriate places to lie down than the areas where I don't want him lying down.

Ok well dogs often lay places for tactical reasons: it's cooler, views of food, safety, etc.  Is anything like this the case?

You could just make an area you want him to be in very enticing, in various ways.  I'm not sure correcting him when he's in the wrong spot is the way to go, because he's not really misbehaving in the typical sense, but perhaps you can just prevent him from becoming comfortable...make yourself annoying, haha.   Seems like this in conjunction with making the appropriate areas enticing should work, I'd think.

Good luck.

Demon does this in the kitchen...ALL THE TIME. I just gently nudge him with my foot and say move and he eventually gets up and moves. Not very far though. He's got to be in the kitchen with me whenever I'm cooking. lol

He does tend to like to follow people around. I'm thinking those spots are the best places to set up camp if he wanted to keep surveillance on every room of the house. The spot he likes to lie in in the hallway gives him view to two of the bedrooms, the bathroom, living room, and kitchen... it all makes sense with my doggy thinking cap on

I tried nudging him with my foot and he went belly up on me. haha some shuffling steps towards him gets him to move though, and hopefully with consistently being annoying I can get him to change his habit.

Demon&Dakota wrote:

Demon does this in the kitchen...ALL THE TIME. I just gently nudge him with my foot and say move and he eventually gets up and moves. Not very far though. He's got to be in the kitchen with me whenever I'm cooking. lol

Same here!! He seems to know when I'm preparing something for him too, he gets all starry eyed and smiley and all in my personal space. Loooves lying right in front of the fridge door when I'm making food too lol the edge of the fridge door is a bit elevated though so it's poked him enough times for him to learn to get out of the way when he hears the *pop* of it opening.

If I'm preparing something for the dogs...Demon's nose is right at my elbow.