Moving dog from bedroom to another room to sleep independently

[IONA DUPLESSIS]

Hi! We need help with our 7 month golden retriever puppy. He's sleeping with us in the bedroom on his own bed (no create), but we need to move him into a separate room. He's such a good boy and potty trained, but for the past couple of weeks he's keeping us awake at night because he's "running" frequently when dreaming. This wakes us up at least 3 times a night and I was hoping it was just temporary, but looks like  our boy is a heavy dreamer which keeps us from having a restful night. Now the big question is, how do we move him from our bedroom to another bedroom? We've successfully left him alone for 4h at a time when we go out, but sleeping would require 8h. Last  night he woke us up and I moved him to another room he's familiar with, however it upset him so much that after 1h he was howling like a wolf after being kicked out of our bedroom! I suspect we're going to have a tricky time with the transition so before I jump in and make more mistakes, I need advice what the best way is to proceed to keep him calm and sleep independently in another room for 8h. TIA :) 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forums,

Howling is a behavior in dogs that is triggered from losing access to their social group. The dog is trying to be re-united with his family. 

The secret is to do this transition very, very gradually, so rather than moving him to another room cold turkey, to reduce the chances for frustration or stress, you would start by moving his bed a little farther and farther from your room each day. 

If your dog struggles at a certain point, it could be because he no longer sees you or hears you or it's just too far for his comfort. In that case, you can try moving the bed back where it was the day before, and let him stay there a little while until he adjusts to that, and then move the bed again a few inches and see how it goes. Feeding a long-lasting treat on his bed can help create positive associations with the area. 

Sometimes, a compromise can be found by keeping the dog at a distance where he his paddling legs can't be heard, but running a fan/white noise machine in the room so as to create some white noise and help block the leg paddling noises. Installing a baby gate by the bedroom to help him learn to sleep just out of the bedroom, while still allowing him to feel part of the family, may sometimes help too. 

 

[IONA DUPLESSIS]

Hi Adrienne! Thank you for your advice! We've successfully moved him to just outside our bedroom door and blocked entry with a baby gate 🙂 

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there, thanks for the update! You're very welcome, glad to hear hear!

Best,

Adrienne