Go sleep in your own bed!

[Moby and Barley's Mom]

Hi, I wonder if anyone has any training advice for me. My 3 month old lab, Barley LOVES to sleep with my 13 year old lab, Moby. Moby is usually fine about this EXCEPT at night when Barley starts moving too much. Moby then gets up and moves to his other bed in our bedroom. Then Barley, follows him and moves into that bed with him - and so on and so on and so on and so on. We don't want to isolate either one of them - and we want to get some sleep and we want our old dog, Moby to get his sleep as well. We want to train him to want to sleep in the bed that I bought for him that is just like our other dog's bed. ((It is too big for him now - but he would steal the other one just like it from Moby if we would let him - so we got him one of his own.) He will sleep in his own bed during the day - just not at night. We crate him only for travel and my husband is opposed to crating him for sleep - although I am starting to think we should. Any suggestions other than crating?

[Sue-Ram]

He will sleep in his own bed during the day - just not at night. We crate him only for travel and my husband is opposed to crating him for sleep - although I am starting to think we should. Any suggestions other than crating?

Maybe he's afraid of the dark, so he feels more comfortable sleeping with Moby. You could let him sleep with you, and then Moby can get his sleep.

[Tanya]

I see two possible solutions (ok other than bringing him in bed with you haha)

- crate. it's actually pretty surprising at his age he's good uncrated all night!
- find a way to divide the room so the puppy cannot get to the older dog. baby gates, maybe section off a side of the bed, let the older dog in there with his bed, then block it off. Really depends on how your room is made, I was able to "block in" a foster rather than crate them by using a big box (or maybe it was a crate hahahaha) to block the dog to one side of my bed. It was a step up from crating but still limited the dog's movements.

[Moby and Barley's Mom]

He has been very good at night up to this point. (Other than taking him out once or twice a night - which is to be expected.) For some reason, he was just very restless last night even after potty breaks. I was wracking my brain last night trying to find a way to pen one of them in with a baby gate - but our house has a very open floor plan - with really wide door ways. We close the bedroom door at night - in case he decides to wander but the door to my office which is attached to our bedroom has no door and is too wide for a baby gate. We baby gated the closet - but I don't want them to have to sleep in there. Will keep pondering. Barley is currently happily asleep on his bed - in my office by himself right now - so perhaps he is afraid of the dark as was suggested. Goodness!

[DuryLane]

I think alot of the pup not wanting to sleep by himself is because of his age, being so young, he probably feels more secure laying beside the older dog. I wouldn't worry too much about the older dog not getting his sleep. If the puppy is bugging him too much about it, I'm sure the older guy will give him a warning or growl to smarten up and let him sleep.

I wouldn't want to break the closeness they have, and I don't think it is good for either dog to separate them, so maybe I'd consider either putting up with it until the little guy gets older, and then he will most likely want his own space, or if it's keeping you up at night, and you have another area of the house the two of them can sleep in, I'd try moving them to another room, but keeping them together. Remember, dogs are pack animals and prefer to be together rather than separated.

[Tanya]

The crate isn't always just about avoiding accidents. A big part of it is encouraging a dog to rest. Night time is rest time. You do'nt want the puppy to develop and keep this habit of wandering all over as it may become harder to break later on. So crating wouldn't be horrible.

How about an x-pen? I big more open than a crate. Maybe in a place he can see/be not too too far from teh older dog (but not go bug him)?

I think alot of the pup not wanting to sleep by himself is because of his age, being so young, he probably feels more secure laying beside the older dog.

I wouldn't want to break the closeness they have, so maybe I'd consider either putting up with until the little guy gets older, and then he will most likely want his own space, or if it's keeping you up at night, and you have another area the two of them can sleep in, I'd try moving them to another room, but keeping them together.

I don't know, from the description it sounds like the older dog wants space. I won't FORCE the older dog to HAVE to sleep with the puppy if they don't want to. They deserve space, it wasn't their decision to bring in a puppy. It's cute the puppy may want to be with the older dog but it is very important for the puppy to "learn" to be alone and not pester the older dog too. To become independant.

[Polly Pipkin]

Polly slept with Duchess on her bed until Duchess got fed up with her and Polly decided to move and listen to her "mum". As we know, they do like to snuggle, especially at night. Moby sounds very tolerant!

Perhaps if the beds are closer together and you tell Barley to sleep on his bed and keep reminding him, Moby will get more rest. Funny though, Duchess preferred to sleep in the closet (any closet) as it wasn't such a large space, similar to a crate.

You can get an ex-pen which you can use as a barrier too. Dog Exercise Pens: Training Pens for Dogs | PetSmart

[Moby and Barley's Mom]

I could not resist. Yes - Moby is the most tolerant and really the sweetest dog I know. That is partly why I feel that I have to be somewhat protective of him - he just will put up with most everything. (Except the little one trying to take his Kong filled with peanut butter. That was the only time he barked at him and Barley never did that again. Thank you for all your suggestions! I will see how tonight goes. Perhaps Barley was just really restless last night. I can work from home today - and try to tire him out a bit more.

[Polly Pipkin]

I love how Moby has his paws around Barley! It's like he's telling him he's in charge and it's not time to get up yet!

[Moby and Barley's Mom]

Is your dog and English lab? He looks just like our older dog. Sooo beautiful!