I am the proud owner of a wonderful 6.5 month old GSD. He is being trained as a SAR dog for our Fire Department and is the first of his kind. Luckily the Breeder I bought him from gave me the video your puppy 8 weeks to 8 months. Since then I have bought numerous DVD's and equipment from Leerburg. This being my first GSD I had a question. At night our other dog and cat come up and sleep on the bed with us all night. Our GSD comes up for about half an hour then goes down stairs and lays in a spot he has picked out. He comes in about 6 AM and hops up on the bed gives everyone a big greeting then lays down for a half hour again. As a puppy we made him stay up on the bed until he was potty trained which took about 3 weeks. This behavior is not a problem we were just wondering if he felt he must go guard the house as he is the lowest in our pack structure. We have How to Raise a Working Puppy,Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet and follow them.

Just wondering what you think this behavior is all about. Like I said it is no problem, he does not destructively chew on things or cause any problems. I am a Paramedic/Engineer and I work 24 hour shifts so I lost the battle about having the dogs on the bed. The wife says she feels safer. And any man reading this knows there are just certain battles you can't win

Honestly?

It's probably cooler downstairs, and therefore more comfortable for a furry GSD to sleep. But, he misses your company, so he comes up and visits.

So Patricia, you are a man?

*snort*