Hi all,

Puppy has been with us nearly 3 weeks now and sleeps in his crate in our bedroom along with our two adult dogs of the same large breed. Cramped would be a good word for this! My OH wants to start moving the pup and our female dog out of the room and we are wondering about the best way to do this. Our pair have always slept with us so we don't know the best way to do it. We were thinking of putting them right outside the bedroom but suspect they will just scratch the door down wondering why it's closed but yet putting them downstairs in the living room may feel like a huge change to them. Pup has never slept without other dogs so not sure moving him to sleeping alone would be a good option. :)

Rather than closing the bedroom door completely could you put a baby gate in place so the door can still remain open?

That's an idea alright. We were just away on holidays with the dogs and on night one the two adults were fast asleep in the living room so we decided we'd try leave them out there and go to bed with the pup in his crate. They had a fit and just screamed and howled and tried to scratch the door down... we gave in and let them in as we couldn't risk them doing damage to the door. Funny as during the day they have no issue being left alone, or in different rooms, or anything, it's almost as if they have night time SA!!

When I've had litters, and I've only had two, the baby gate worked well. As a rule I have all my dogs in the bedroom (5 dogs in all), but as my girls would whelp in the bedroom I put the baby gate into operation from about 2 weeks before the due date. There was never any screaming or trying to get in, they accepted the new system without problems. As whelping date approached I began closing the bedroom door completely and again there were no problems.

I'm afraid I just went cold turkey on my dogs and moved them out the bedroom and into the kitchen.  This was years ago when I used to let all the dogs sleep in our room but, like you, we got a bit crowded.  I moved all but the oldest into the kitchen and haven't changed anything since.  These are still the ru
les in our house.  The oldie gets to sleep in the bedroom(or any pregnant bitches) but no-one else.  In fact, none of our other dogs get upstairs now.
None of my dogs bothered too much about the shift.  I had just made sure that they were tired the first night and then just let them out for the last pee stop and when they came in, I left them in the kitchen with their bedtime biccy.  Not a fuss at all.

Oh Cracar you are lucky! Mine have absolutely freaked and cried, whined, shouted and screamed. I haven't managed to listen to that for more than 15/20 minutes so maybe i should just hold out but having neighbours i am not sure i can...

Hamish was a real Mummy's boy and used to whine if I was out of sight with the door closed (grooming dogs in the garage was a classic), but by having the door opened it seemed to reassure him, but the baby gate kept him out. Give it a try..... :)

Just a heads up - my beagle can comfortably jump a babygate so I would not spend a fortune on one in case it doesn't work as yours are much bigger than my girl - I got one off ebay

What about staying on the sofa with them downstairs for a few days until they get used to it.

Roxylola, you can get a taller babygate from argos.  My GSD can jump a normal babygate but I sat one day just telling her no and putting her back behind the gate.  She got the idea eventually.  But if she really wants to come out, she still does.  So now I put a chair and the washing basket at the other side so she can't.
Inka, my dogs were probably glad to be out the bedroom.  My OH snores like nobody's business!lol Probably the best nights sleep they've ever had!!hehe I might join them.

Thanks all, they never try to jump the standard sized babygate we have, they aren't really jumpers by nature. I don't think sleeping elsewhere with them would work, they'd sleep in the garden if i was with them.

Well, you are just going to need to suffer the noise for a few nights.  My lot got big, squishy beds for their room at night and they love them.  Much comfier than the few lumps of vetbed they had upstairs!! Think that's why mine didn't moan too much!!lol.
Try having an 'activity' night? Keep the dogs super busy/interested for the night.  I would take them out a nice, slow, long walk with plenty of smells/sights then bring them home and have a game of search or whatever your play, maybe some grooming, then some obedience so at bedtime, they are tired.  Do yours come in through the kitchen from the garden? If so, just stop them in the kitchen and you go upstairs and ignore.
I have a cocker that comes and stays with me when his owners go on holiday.  He HATES sleeping in the kitchen even though all the dogs are there. He is just used to getting run of his house at home.  I have to yell over the bannister for him to 'quiet' a few times but he soon gets the message and quiets down for the night.  If your lot know 'quiet', use it.  If they don't, that can be some new training for daytime that you can use at night.
Good luck.  Nothing worse than noisy nighttimes!

LOL inka. Mine are all upstairs in the bedroom, but then I suppose the OH had to go :-)

While he was still here (and there was only one dog then) I remember having to put poor old Red Weasel in a crate in the living room since there was a mutiny brewing about sharing the bed with the dog. We were two flights up and could hear the Welsh male voice choir in full flow. At. 3.00am  I had to give in. I went downstairs with my grooming bag, got inside the crate with him, stripped his ears and clipped his nails (no talking) and then shut him in again and went back up to bed. Not a peep after that.

I suppose I could have persevered with it, but as I say, the OH's departure made life very simple.