Help me teach an old dog a new trick.

[Zebracat]

My standard poodle used to happily sleep downstairs, but when we got another dog 3 years ago,who has severe separation anxiety, somehow, they all ended up in the bedroom. And then the poodle started sleeping in our bed, in the middle,. We made numerous attempts to stop this, but he does cry.
Probably not unrelated, I have now developed a hip problem, and I have to change my sleep position, so clinging to the hem of the mattress while the poodle sleeps sideways in the middle of the bed is no longer an option.
He’s 12, his back legs are starting to go, and he’s got that weird strangled bark that old dogs get. He’s struggling to make it upstairs anyway.
I think we need to get the dogs into the kitchen at night. Dh and I are going on holiday shortly and our adult ds will be caring for the dogs. Should I ask him to shut them downstairs then , or should I do it now. What could I do to help them get used to it. Or do I need to just suck it up, and leave things as they are?

You can't just go back to shutting them downstairs and expect them to just happily go off to sleep if they've had years of being in the bed.

You may get lucky and they'll stay in their beds straight away but the likelihood is they'll bark and be unhappy as their comforts (you and the bed) have both been removed without warning.

Can they not sleep in beds in your room? Get a nice orthopaedic bed for the poodle for example? I think getting them off your bed will be much easier than getting them off the bed and downstairs.

Thanks for answering.. we have an orthopaedic dog bed in our bedroom. He won’t touch it. We bought him a huge fluffy bed too, the other dog sleeps in it. I’m thinking about buying a single bed and then if he won’t sleep in it, I will! But the other issue is that he is beginning to really struggle with the stairs, so at some point soon, he won’t be able to get up to the bedroom. I love him dearly, hate him to be unhappy, but my health is really suffering and I have to find a solution.

Start in the day time. So get the best comfy beds in the kitchen. Treat them for going in to the beds. Reward them calmly and with no vocal command.

When they are happily choosing to sleep in their beds in the day time you can then begin to think about leaving them downstairs in the night time. Depending on how they are doing I may choose to sleep downstairs with them for a few nights.

He's going to miss the warmth of being on your bed, try putting a Snugglesafe microwavable heat pad in his bed.,

Thanks. I will start today

But the other issue is that he is beginning to really struggle with the stairs, so at some point soon, he won’t be able to get up to the bedroom. I love him dearly, hate him to be unhappy, but my health is really suffering and I have to find a solution.

Absolutely, but it won't happen overnight. As Polly said, you may find you need to sleep downstairs for a few nights and slowly move away from them as they're so used to having your presence at night-time.