Contemplating New Sleeping Arrangements

[Guest jupiterooos]

For a long time Jupiter has slept by our bedside, in his crate. We began crating him at night because he would not settle - pacing, whining, requesting walks. Once crating began, however, he settled right down and slept twelve hours without a peep. This was a great arrangement for all concerned, but we had to move the crate out of the bedroom because it's quite small, and there simply wasn't room for the crate and a crib, no matter how we tried to make it work. Since the change several weeks ago, he's been back to sleeping poorly, which means *I* sleep poorly (his bed is on my side).

 

Last night was the absolute worst. We had a really bad thunderstorm, and he was just terrified, and kept trying to jump up on the bed. Each time I woke up and was able to deflect him away from my midsection, but I didn't rest well as I was worried he would land on me and do some damage to the baby. Finally we gave up and put him in the crate, which is now in the front room. The result? Absolute silence until sunrise, when he began whining.

 

So now I'm wondering if we'd all be better off if he was crated in the front room at night. It seems he prefers it - but at the same time, he doesn't like to be alone, and we don't relish the prospect of waking up at dawn every day. And while he sleeps more poorly out of the crate, when it's not storming he does OK, and will sleep until we get up. He has been with us four years and has always slept in our room.

 

Any thoughts on making a transition in sleeping arrangements? And how long we can expect it to take for him to settle in and get used to it?

[Guest greytloves]

Maybe after awhile he would get used to it and sleep in there longer? Do you cover the crate?

 

How about knocking down some walls and making a larger room to accomodate everyone? (kidding)

[macoduck]

IIRC remember a story posted here years ago: A greyhound was very upset about a piece of furniture that was moved. As a result the owners put the furniture back in its original location, then slowly moved it inch by inch over a period of time until it was in its final location. In this manner the dog was able to deal with the change.

[NevadasMom]

Try putting a blanket over the top of the crate-maybe he will sleep longer.

[Guest jupiterooos]

Try putting a blanket over the top of the crate-maybe he will sleep longer.

 

Already done. It didn't have an effect.

[Guest auforygirl]

What about a closet? My sister's grey loves her closet they actually put his bed in it. It is cozy like a crate but out of the way and if you need to baby gate him in, if he respects baby gates. My grey respects them to keep her out but jumps over them if they are set to keep her in... Also give him a long walk before bed. a tired grey sleeps like a rock.

[gracegirl]

So if I understand correctly you are looking to crate him outside the bedroom, but then he wakes up at dawn. Instead of sleeping later, like he did crated in your room?

 

If that's correct I unfortunately have no suggestions for you...other than the blanket. Or heavy, heavy blinds.

 

I did want to say that I let my dogs choose where to sleep and many nights they choose the living room over my bedroom....so I feel that crating him OUTSIDE your room is a very viable option. I didn't want you to get flamed for keeping him in a seprate room. I see no issue with that. I personally like to keep my door open, but have shut it several nights with the pups on the outside. As far as I can tell, they were not traumatized by this experience!

 

And....congrats on baby! How exciting for you.

[Guest jupiterooos]

I asked my OB about the possible danger of Jupiter landing on me in his terror of thunder, and she was a bit concerned. And since we keep getting middle-of-the-night thunderstorms, we decided we needed to crate him from now on - at least until the end of the storm season.

 

I added an additional dark blanket on top of his crate, and that seemed to help him sleep in a little. He did whine and bark for a while after going in at night, I was forced to deploy the dreaded spray bottle, and he gave up and settled down. I definitely slept better knowing that I wasn't going to have to fend him off!

 

Angler decides where he'd like to sleep each night, and it's almost inevitably the couch, so Jupiter is not totally alone. Ideally both dogs would be loose at night, but Jupiter just cannot be trusted, even after all these years. He spends the whole night getting into stuff.

[BootsyCollins]

Could he be x-penned into an area of your room?

 

Or drugged?

[Guest jupiterooos]

Could he be x-penned into an area of your room?

 

Or drugged?

 

No, there isn't enough room. This is what you'd call a small bedroom (we have one "small" and one "tiny") that holds a king-size bed and a desk, so there's very little space. We had just enough room for the crate, but the crib will have to go there now.

 

As for drugging him...well, I've got a giant bottle of melatonin for that very reason

[rschultz]

lexie is crated outside our bedroom. she feels safe in her crate. she cried for the first two days cause she couldnt see us, after that no problems

are u saying the crib takes precedence over the crate??????

Edited June 23, 2010 by rschultz

[sobesmom]

Maybe I'm missing something - but did the problem start when the dog got moved out of your bedrood?

 

Can you just put a dogbed or comforter on the floor of the bedroom and let the dog sleep there?

[Trudy]

Have you tried gating him in the bedroom - will the gate help him think one big crate (or small bedroom in the human case)? Though that gates Angler out at night.

[Guest jupiterooos]

Maybe I'm missing something - but did the problem start when the dog got moved out of your bedrood?

 

Can you just put a dogbed or comforter on the floor of the bedroom and let the dog sleep there?

 

No, he doesn't sleep well out of the crate. He had been sleeping on a dog bed but woke up constantly, and he tries to jump up on me when there are storms.

 

Have you tried gating him in the bedroom - will the gate help him think one big crate (or small bedroom in the human case)? Though that gates Angler out at night.

 

That wouldn't work either - see above. The more space he has to wander, the worse he gets.

[Guest kydie]

I did the inch by inch plan with my grey's bed when he first came, his bed was placed in an area not so convenient , but he could see the goings-on of the kitchen, then slowly his bed was moved to a more convenient location, the living room , I vote for the moving inch by inch plan

[Guest SusanP]

Can't you just put the desk somewhere else to make room for the crate? (I mean temporarily, until your baby is born and you can try not crating again).

Edited June 24, 2010 by SusanP

[Guest jupiterooos]

Can't you just put the desk somewhere else to make room for the crate? (I mean temporarily, until your baby is born and you can try not crating again).

 

Sadly, no. There is literally nowhere else for it. I guess we could get rid of the couch....

 

Seriously, though, I can't emphasize enough how little room we have for stuff. Luckily DH and I possess a certain amount of spatial ingenuity and don't feel at all cramped, but when we have to move something? Chaos. The crate in the front room kind of throws everything off, but we're willing to have it there because Jupiter loves it so much.

 

Here's a funny (kind of not funny ha-ha, but anyway). In Chicago, a unit must be at least 800 sq ft to be called a two-bedroom. That's the sq footage ours was listed with, and we just naturally assumed it must be true (because we were incredibly naive and didn't know that city inspectors could be paid off). A neighbor just had their exact same unit appraised, and found that we actually have 680 sq ft. Which both annoys me and makes me feel kind of proud - we make less than 700 sq ft work!

[MaryJane]

The only thing that I can think of is trying a dog bed with bolsters (higher on three sides). It makes some dogs feel more protected and thus, less anxious and more likely to sleep all night. But, I would not expect that it would help much during thunderstorms and on those nights you would probably need to crate in the other room like you have been doing.

[cleptogrey]

here's a suggestion which is a tad contary to the rest of the posts....

 

why not give your baby a space of his/her own- the corner of the living room? you as well as jupiter will sleep much better. babies make tons of noise in their sleep and often a parent will wake up to comfort them when they really don't need it. the worst night's sleep i ever had was when our daughter, as an infant, was in the bedroom. man do they make a racket!!! i also remember a friend whose baby had not slept the night and was 9 months old- they shared a room- she was never able to let her daughter learn to comfort herself.

 

for naps hopefully a standing screen around the crib will work. at night you might just escape an unnecessary wake up or 2 and jupiter will continue to sleep in. very, very important especially with a little one in the house.

 

or a loft bed with the crib and crate under it????

Edited June 25, 2010 by cleptogrey

[Guest jupiterooos]

here's a suggestion which is a tad contary to the rest of the posts....

 

why not give your baby a space of his/her own- the corner of the living room? you as well as jupiter will sleep much better. babies make tons of noise in their sleep and often a parent will wake up to comfort them when they really don't need it. the worst night's sleep i ever had was when our daughter, as an infant, was in the bedroom. man do they make a racket!!! i also remember a friend whose baby had not slept the night and was 9 months old- they shared a room- she was never able to let her daughter learn to comfort herself.

 

Well, the reason for having the crib in the room is to facilitate breastfeeding, a service the dog won't be needing. The baby will be moving into his own room eventually, but for right now, it seems best to have him close by instead of trucking down the hall multiple times a night.

[BootsyCollins]

Instead of a crib, how about a cosleeper? I loved mine, and living in a tiny house also, it took up far less space than a crib.

 

I had two types - one was designed for the middle of the bed, between mom & dad. Had rigid sides to keep baby safe, but baby is still able to sleep next to you. I also used a cosleeper that attached to the side of the bed.

[Guest TBSFlame]

Could he be x-penned into an area of your room?

 

Or drugged?

 

No, there isn't enough room. This is what you'd call a small bedroom (we have one "small" and one "tiny") that holds a king-size bed and a desk, so there's very little space. We had just enough room for the crate, but the crib will have to go there now.

 

As for drugging him...well, I've got a giant bottle of melatonin for that very reason

 

Just curious why the crib has to go in the room with you? I will never forget bringing my first son home from the hospital at 5 days old (they kept us longer back then ). That first night he grunted and crawled and made so much noise the next night he went in his nursery. lol. When my second son was born he went home from the hospital to his nursery. lol. Babies are tougher than you think.

[Guest TBSFlame]

here's a suggestion which is a tad contary to the rest of the posts....

 

why not give your baby a space of his/her own- the corner of the living room? you as well as jupiter will sleep much better. babies make tons of noise in their sleep and often a parent will wake up to comfort them when they really don't need it. the worst night's sleep i ever had was when our daughter, as an infant, was in the bedroom. man do they make a racket!!! i also remember a friend whose baby had not slept the night and was 9 months old- they shared a room- she was never able to let her daughter learn to comfort herself.

 

Well, the reason for having the crib in the room is to facilitate breastfeeding, a service the dog won't be needing. The baby will be moving into his own room eventually, but for right now, it seems best to have him close by instead of trucking down the hall multiple times a night.

Sorry, I answered before I read this.....but be prepared, you will not be getting sleep while the baby is sleeping in the room. They really are noisy little creatures.

[Guest jupiterooos]

Instead of a crib, how about a cosleeper? I loved mine, and living in a tiny house also, it took up far less space than a crib.

 

I had two types - one was designed for the middle of the bed, between mom & dad. Had rigid sides to keep baby safe, but baby is still able to sleep next to you. I also used a cosleeper that attached to the side of the bed.

 

The Arms Reach co-sleeper is what we have I just call it a crib because not everyone knows what that is.

 

And truthfully I am not expecting to sleep much.

[BootsyCollins]

I got plenty of sleep. All babies are different.