So I wanted some advice (if there is any) on breaking this fear she has...
I adopted her at around 9 months and she's 2.5 now. We have a great relationship, I worked with a trainer and she basically lives off leash as she's very obedient but also a wild child when I let her go 'free'. She's 75% husky, 24% german shephard.
So the first 6 months of me adopting her, she would come upstairs, nuzzle the door open and jump in bed to wake me up (at 7am no less) and to go out and use the bathroom, etc. She'd come into my office (where I have a bed and some toys for her) and hang out through my workday here and there.
Now if I say 'let's go to bed,' she darts into the downstairs bathroom and under the sink (her little cave) as she knows that means go upstairs. She rarely comes upstairs and if she does she's skittish and she must *really* need something (go potty, water dish empty, etc). And no coaxing will get her upstairs - the more I try, the further she runs away. Dragging her upstairs seems like it will only further traumatize her, so I just gave up.
Two things happened that I think have caused ger to fear upstairs. One is the first two baths I gave her I did in my bathroom (since it has a door to the shower) and I could get in there with her and give her a good shower (which no animal likes). I've since switched to what I should have done initially and I wash her outside with a hose. Secondly, one time she wandered into my bedroom and the door closed behind her and I think she was stuck in there for like 2-3 hours (I was busy working and assumed she was just downstairs chilling).
I've thought about moving her food and water bowl upstairs to force her to come up, but that feels little too manipulative. I don't care if she sleeps in the room with me (she honestly moves around so much it's annoying af), and I don't care about her keeping me company in my office or anything like that. I just feel bad she's scared of upstairs and wished she knew it was safe up here to come hang out and not be so scared of coming up. Any tricks or ideas to get her over it?
I do on occasion sleep on the couch because I feel like she gets lonely down there and she sure enough will sleep on the couch with me and snuggles up often through the night,