Advice needed in how to keep dogs out of our bedroom!

We have two very large, double-coated dogs, Tai and Ben, who both suffer from SA and ever since we took on Tai a few years ago, and Ben a couple of years ago, they have always slept in our bedroom, as did Hal before them. The consequences of them not being allowed into the bedroom was wrecked doors. So, no problem, our dogs have always slept with us.

However, both OH and I are developing serious reactions to their fluff and dander, now that there are 2 heavy coated dogs, OH has severe rhinitis and I have blocked sinuses and a blocked right ear. As a medical secretary this is serious as audio typing is a large part of my job and I need to have good hearing.

So, we have purchased an extra high child gate from Homebase, which incidentally is absolutely brilliant. It is easy to fit, no drilling required, and we used it last night for the first time. They cannot jump over it. Our bedroom door is open so the dogs can see us, and we have put their beds into a spare bedroom next door, with water and of course the windows open for them. They settled really very well, and we went to sleep thinking marvellous, this is the answer to the problem. However, at 2 pm in the morning Ben started squeaking and continued off and on until we got up. Surprisingly, Tai has been absolutely fine. I think Ben will eventually settle, but for obvious reasons we do not want to have too many disturbed nights. Could I have any suggestions and advice please? I am suggesting the following, but am not happy with any of them really, although am prepared to try anything that does not involve pain (to the dogs, not us!):-

1. A spray bottle of water.
2. Go out to Ben, put him on his bed and tell him to stay.
3. Not go out but reassure him vocally.
4. Just ignore him (this is what we did last night on OH's advice, but I'm not happy to do that - he was squeaking pitifully and I don't think it is fair to leave your dog in distress like that).
5. A rattle bottle.

It really is not an option to have them back in the bedroom, OH in particular is really suffering. I suppose the other solution would be to have an extractor fan fitted but that would cost a lot of money which we just have not got at the moment.

Help please!!

Personally I would probably just reassure them verbally without actually going out to them. Ask them to "settle down" or something similar and see how you go.

Obviously last night was just the first night and so was a little unusual for them. I am sure if you stick with it, they will soon settle quietly on their own. Dogs are so adaptable.

Good luck.

I would ignore personally, and I do realise it is hard but hopefully Ben will soon get the hint and slink off to the spare room, any kind of punishment IMO is a bit harsh as he just wants to be with you, if you give him attention just the once it will reaffirm that crying gets attention and he will persist.

Just to add that I don't really agree with spraying water in their face or rattle bottles - especially at such an early stage. You just need to give them time to get used to the new regime and I am sure they will be fine

Put Ben's bed as near to you as possible and slowly move it back away over a period of time.
Don,t like any of your options other than 3 + 4.
Early days and your new set up sounds good.

That's my gut reaction, but OH was adamant we must ignore! near broke my heart! Thanx for the good wishes.

This is what OH thinks - after all, the bedroom is literally one or two feet away from us. The doors to our bedroom and the spare bedroom are adjacent to each other and both doors are open, so I think they will settle in time. It is hard to ignore, but as you say last night was the first, it's early days.

Thanx

No I don't either. Ben shouldn't be punished, he is n't doing anything wrong. It is natural that our dogs want to sleep with us, it makes them feel safe. Suddenly, out of the blue he is banished to the periphery of his pack, and separated by an inpenetrable barrier. I am not happy with punishing him, ever, and certainly not at this stage. Thanx for your good advice.

You mean put his bed right up against the child gate? We could try that, but then that might cause trouble between him and Tai because Ben has the best position. It may be worth trying though, because when they do have a very occasional spat, they never hurt each other, it is all sound and fury.

It is mean doing what we are doing, knowing how much they suffer if they are not right with us the whole time, but obviously if we don't crack this, we would have to think about rehoming one of them, which just is not an option. It's make or break time. My personal view is hopeful - last night when a lot better than we thought it would, we thought they would rake at the gate in an attempt to break it down but because they could see us, this didn't happen!

Thanx

Think you just need persistance and gradually reduce any verbal reassurance over a few days. You are lucky that they are not jumping the stair gate that is a good start.