We bought 2 lovely green plastic dog beds over the internet which arrived this morning(only ordered them on Tuesday!), only one prob-the girls are scared of them. They have only ever had the soft, oval shaped beds with sides so you can imagine their disgust at us trying to make them sleep in nasty, hard, noisy beds which 'give' when you step into them! They will actually go into the beds but won't lay down and look relaxed, they either just sit or if put into the down look very uncomfortable and sad. Normally they are both very well mannered and will go and lay down while we eat but didn't today.
Any tips on getting them over this? Kayla in particular responds well to the clicker so could I use this in some way?

I might be wrong, but usually if given a few days to get used to new things, dogs and other creatures will usually except them with no problems! For example, my family owns an Amazon parrot. He had always had the same cage for years but he was starting to outgrow it, so it was time to buy a new one. This new cage was much different. It was bigger, of course, and was shaped different. It was taller than his old cage. We put all of Yago's toys in the new cage, as well as his food and water dishes. It looked like a comfy new home. Yago didn't think so. He would't go near it! It was so different, he didn't recognize it as his own cage. Every time we would try to get him to perch on it, he would fly off of our fingers and land on the nearest piece of furniture or person. It took Yago at least two weeks to finally except his new cage. Even after two weeks, he was still afraid of it. Heck, he threw a fit when he had to be put to bed because he has to sleep in his cage. But eventually he began to except it and has never had a problem with it again. But when the time comes to buy another new cage for him, he'll probably be afraid of it all over again.

My point is, given time, your girls will probably, hopefully begin to except their new beds. Just be sure to praise them when they do go in themselves and don't force them to stay in them. Of course I may be wrong, not all creatures are the same, are they? Good luck, hope they learn that the new beds are great!

-Tara

Tara has a very good point, when we got a new bed for our old Goldie, she wouldn't go anway near it :rolleyes: When we encouraged her into it, she looked so miserable.

We left it, and ignored it, then she got into it, of her own accord, but it took a few weeks.

Patience is not one of my virtues, but on this occassion, it paid off

liberty ;)

As the others have said they'll get used to them eventually. You could try clicker training them though.  I have a dog who wouldn't go near the paddling pool so I clicker trained him to stand in it and he now goes in quite happily of his own accord and lies down in the water when it is hot.