Help! Dog Won’t Settle at Night

[Dexterrolledoffthesofa]

Since our older dog passed away last July, we’ve let our younger dog sleep in our bedroom in a travel crate. We usually let him have a cuddle on the bed first, then settle him in his crate for the night.

However, for a while now, he’s been keeping us awake—especially my husband—by panting and generally seeming distressed. He used to sleep in a crate in the kitchen with the older dog, but after she passed, he became extremely upset when left there alone, which is why we moved him to our room.

We’ve tried leaving the zip door open, but he just jumps on the bed throughout the night. The crate has plenty of room, so I’m wondering if the issue is a lack of visibility or something else? Has anyone been through similar, and do you have any tips on helping him settle?

Would love to hear any advice.

Can you not just try him sleeping downstairs like before?

I know he became upset down there but one of you could sleep there with him and slowly desensitise him again.

We bough a huge sofa for our bedroom as one of ours is particularly clingy. He loves it.

We've tried this. Starting him off downstairs just leads to him crying - it's heartbreaking.
As it is, one of us (DH usually) gets up with him around 2am, and goes downstairs where DDog happily sleeps on the sofa. As you can imagine, this is not ideal.
We've tried leaving him on the bed all night too, but he just fidgets and keeps us awake.
Thank you though

Do you mean human sized, or dog sized sofa? I'd try this but our bedroom is too small.

Honestly, I think this is one where you have to tough it out. It'll be worth a few difficult nights to get it sorted. Does he sleep happily in his crate during the day?

You need to partially cover the crate , a bit like a bird. Sounds strange but it really works.

A few nights we could cope with, but this has been happening now since July.

He doesn't use the crate in the day, as one of us is always home, and he stays in the living room.
Even a decent run/ball throw each day doesn't seem to settle him.
We tried the crate last night instead of the travel kennel in the room, yet here I am half past three in the morning downstairs with him.

I wonder if he's lonely? I don't really want another dog though - not yet anyway.

We didn't do this last night, will try it tonight see if it makes a difference.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions.

I think he needs to be in his crate in the kitchen during the day. If you're at home, start putting him in there with a treat for ten mins and go outside. Build it up and then try it with you at home.

Then you need to put him downstairs and leave him down there at night. Maybe start at a weekend when one of you can stay up and put him to bed in the early hours and someone else can get up with him so the nights are short to start with. I know it's easier to say than do, but I doubt he'd cry for more than a few nights. Took ours three nights, but he was a puppy, so I guess this will take longer as it's a habit to break. Worth it in the end though!

Thank you @BillieJ ! Will give this a go xx

If he’s anxious you need to let him sleep with you. This could be on your bed or one of you sleeps downstairs near the crate. Or he could just sleep in the lounge if he’s happy there?