Need advice: Major Sleeping Issue

Ernie will typically go to sleep on the living-room couch sometime after my wife and I go to sleep.

My wife likes to keep the door to our room shut.

Ernie has gotten into the habit of crying at our bedroom door sometime later in the night: it can be anywhere from 2:30 am until 6:00 am.

In order not to have him awaken my wife, father-in-law, or daughter, I would leave my room to finish my sleep on the couch.
Now it is practically a routine, and I don't know how to stop it.

If we would ignore him, I think he would cry for too many nights for too long at this point.
I should have nipped it earlier.

I am considering putting in a doggy door to our bedroom, so he can just go quietly in and out...but I would prefer a different solution.

Any thoughts?

Teach him to open and shut the bedroom door?

Seriously, at least you realise you've made a rod for your own back.

Mind you, if you're happy with him in the bedroom but just want the door closed, why don't you make him come to bed when you do and then shut him in with you?

If your wife doesn't want him in the bedroom you could try staying up a bit later and getting him really warn out before you go to bed (mental stimulation games, not necessarily phsyical exercise). He may be more likely to sleep through then.

Does he have a bed of his own - if so, where is it? You could do the same as above but shut him downstairs (on the assumption that your house is not completely open plan) so that if he cries at least you can't hear him as badly. You could also try leaving the radio on.

If you are still having trouble, to break the crying, as well as him having to realise that crying doesn't get anywhere, it pays to reward quiet.

So if he's crying, wait until he's been quiet for say half a minute then go out to him. A calm praise perhaps leaving him with a tasty treat and then back into your room for you.

Here is my problem with these solutions:

When we put him to sleep in our room with a blanket on the floor, he then wakes me in the middle of the night to GO OUT of the room.
(It is pretty funny...he doesn't want to wake my wife, so he woofs softly near me.)

Locking him downstairs would not work...he would for sure extensively cry at the new loss of freedom...and my two boys have rooms on the first floor, anyway.

The third idea sounds intriguing, but I know that he will therefore wake me up every night for his treat.
(He's played this game in another context.)

Thanks for the effort so far.

I used to insist on having my bedroom door shut - until I got my latest bitch (a very nervous Shiba Inu). As my husband sleeps in a different room, I chose to leave my door ajar so she can come in and out as she pleases. She pretty much settles down and doesn't move all night.

That's got to be better than what you're going through at the moment.....

Good luck x

had something similar with Moll, she started off in the kitchen with Meg, behind a baby gate, escaped from there, then i crated her on a night and she would bark around 3.30am every morning until i got up, now she has a bed in the corner of our bedroom, and we leave the door open she comes and goes as she wants, everyone sleeps

Can't you just leave your bedroom door slightly open at night? That way he can come and go as he pleases?

Thinking about this some more I've come to the conclusion that unless you are prepared to change your relationship with Ernie slightly, your only two options are to leave the door open or to sleep on the couch as you have been doing.

I say this because from reading this and some of your other posts it is clear that Ernie knows that barking at you will get him what he wants (e.g. toys under settee, wants in a room, wants out of a room, etc.).

Whilst it is great that your dog feels able to communicate with you, presumably you don't jump up everytime one of your children wants something, so why do it for Ernie?

If you do not want to become a slave to his 'demands' you need to start putting your foot down, gently but firmly.

All my dogs know how to show me/tell me what they want but none of them do it through barking. They also know the phrase 'in a minute'...this is my signal to them that i have understood what they want, but that they must wait quietly until I am ready to oblige them.

I would suggest that you start teaching Ernie something similar. Find a word or phrase to start using when he has asked for something (only use during the day until he understands). So for example - ball goes under chair, Ernie barks at you. Don't get up immediately. Instead say 'in a minute' (or whatever word/phrase), then tell him to lie down. At first, providing he lies down, the time between him asking you and you getting his ball would be quite short, but you should gradually build on it. Any show of impatience by Ernie should not be rewarded by you jumping into action.

What I've found is that once they know that you understand them, even though you don't immediately get up to do what they ask, the 'no' is easier for them to accept. So, if he wanted you to open the door but there was no good reason to do so, it would be a 'no, go and lie down' (or whatever command you use to get him to lie down).

If he is to sleep in your bedroom, I would suggest getting him a proper bed of his own rather than a blanket. I do feel quite strongly that, even when allowed on your furniture, a dog should have a bed of his own which he knows is his...I also find it helps them settle into a routine.

I swear it's the Saluki in them.. My Mum's dog Bizkit is the same... Pharaoh probably would be too if I let him... Saying that he sleeps on my bed and I have never stopped him...

You know Saluki are traditionally the Sheikh's dogs, no one may sit on the sheikh's blanket but their dog. The bedouin sleep with their dogs curled under their blankets.. Must be in the genes to want to check on people sleeping or curl up with them

Bizkit got into the routine with my Mum that she is tucked in to her own bed at night ( a proper human bed with duvet). If she needs to get up in the night to go for a wee, she will come back up and wake my Mum to be tucked in. She tried it with me when I looked after her, but after two or three nights of NO! she got the message and settled down.

They certainly know how to wind you up and manipulate you, but be strong and be firm. When he whines at the door, say NO, Go to bed! If he continues, get up take him to his bed or the sofa if that is where he sleeps, say go to bed! and go back to your own bed. After endless repetition. He will get the message and you will get some sleep... He'll probably always try it on, but "GO to Bed Ernie" will usually work after you have the behaviour ingraned...

Earplugs? Or move his bed into your room.

I agree. I would not tolerate that behaviour from an adult dog, but unfortunately it is your actions that have escalated the behaviour. My terrier pup barked and whined for the first few nights but now sleeps silently downstairs in her crate. It took her less than a week.

If he were mine, I would be putting him in the room furthest from the bedrooms with his own bed, invest in some ear plugs and let him cry it out.