# My Dog Is Suddenly Refusing To Sleep In His Usual Room



## Tyger

Hi Everyone, I am new here and looking for some advice.

My dog Rogue is 3 years old and a GSD/Staffy mix. We have had him since he was 8 weeks and since then he has always slept with my son as they are inseparable. He has always went to bed without problems, my son say "bedtime" and he trots through to their room. 

Suddenly about 3 weeks ago he came out of the room at 3am and pounced onto my husband shaking like a leaf. and it took ages to calm him down. I checked out my sons room (he was fast asleep) and I did find a massive slug on the floor (like 4 inches long) and got rid of it. Rogue went back to bed no problem.

Everything was fine for 3-4 nights then he started coming out of my sons room at about 4am, sometimes i would find him on the couch in the morning and other times he would cry to be let into our room. Then suddenly he was fine for another week. Now he refuses to sleep in my son's room. He will lay in there and sleep while he is watching tv but as soon as he puts the light out he runs out of the room - he wants to sleep on our bed (not happening with a 6foot+ husband and a 175lb dog!).

We have tried to lie with him and reassure him in my sons room but it is like as soon as he starts to fall asleep he will sit bolt upright and pant heavily (i think he does it to stay awake). The longest he will stay there is an hour then he is asking to get in our room. I make him sleep on the floor, but he hates that and wanders around and sighs half the night which is very frustrating!

We have tried crating him overnight but he tugs on the bars all night long (usually he is fine with his crate.) He goes potty before bed and he has plenty of food and water. He is also in good health not long had his annual "mot".

My son really misses his buddy at night, and feels like Rogue hates him or something (he is very emotionally sensitive) and he is disrupting my husband and I's sleep. Is there anything we can do other than trying to show him he is safe to sleep with my son?

The only thing I can think of is that the slug freaked him out and he is now associating that room with fear?


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## Dogless

12 1/2 stone of dog!! He's huge - no wonder he's too big for the bed . I'm not sure what to suggest bar persisting with crate training or allowing him to sleep on the couch. Maybe he'll go back to sleeping with your son in time? Not very useful I know but I don't see the point in persisting with getting him to sleep in there if he's not comfortable for whatever reason.


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## astro2011

No advice really but I wanna see a pic of this big boy!


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## Sled dog hotel

Dogs learn by association and that can be bad as well as good, some will just shake a fright off, others it can become a phobia, and it sounds like that whats possibly happened, something has spooked him so badly he has now got a phobic association with that room it seems.

I notice too that you say he seems OK for awhile and its when the light goes off for your son to sleep he starts to get edgy? Just wondering if part of it is associating it with a combination of the room and darkness. Can your son sleep with a baby or dim night light on? If he can might be worth investing in a baby night light or dim night light to see if that makes any difference and if he will settle with a light on. If you can sleep with one on too, you could maybe try it with him crated in your room otherwise.

There wasnt any bad storms or thunder and lightening the night it happened was there? That may even be a possible if something like that frightened him and it was dark he now associates the dark and especially that room with the fear he felt at the time.

It is possible it could have been the slug, Ive got a great big lump who is terrified of flies in the house, and wont stay in the house with one, and gets really stressed, and takes him a goodwhile to come back in again until he he is sure its gone.

Only other suggestions that may help is to use a natural calmative like an adaptil plug in, scullcap and valerian, or zylkene, Dogless who posted has had success with sothing called Nupafeed stressless I think. Somethings work better on one dog then another but there are quite a few not heavy duty drugs just natural calmatives that can ease the stress and calm them.


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## Tyger

OMG! typo alert!  Not 175lbs!  lol He is 75 lbs!!  that's big enough.. but here is my boy!


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## astro2011

Gorgeous lol! There was me thinking he was a Great Dane or something lol!

I'd also try a lamp in the room if your son can sleep with light.


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## Dogless

He's very handsome indeed!


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## Tyger

Sled dog hotel said:


> Dogs learn by association and that can be bad as well as good, some will just shake a fright off, others it can become a phobia, and it sounds like that whats possibly happened, something has spooked him so badly he has now got a phobic association with that room it seems.
> 
> I notice too that you say he seems OK for awhile and its when the light goes off for your son to sleep he starts to get edgy? Just wondering if part of it is associating it with a combination of the room and darkness. Can your son sleep with a baby or dim night light on? If he can might be worth investing in a baby night light or dim night light to see if that makes any difference and if he will settle with a light on. If you can sleep with one on too, you could maybe try it with him crated in your room otherwise.
> 
> There wasnt any bad storms or thunder and lightening the night it happened was there? That may even be a possible if something like that frightened him and it was dark he now associates the dark and especially that room with the fear he felt at the time.
> 
> It is possible it could have been the slug, Ive got a great big lump who is terrified of flies in the house, and wont stay in the house with one, and gets really stressed, and takes him a goodwhile to come back in again until he he is sure its gone.
> 
> Only other suggestions that may help is to use a natural calmative like an adaptil plug in, scullcap and valerian, or zylkene, Dogless who posted has had success with sothing called Nupafeed stressless I think. Somethings work better on one dog then another but there are quite a few not heavy duty drugs just natural calmatives that can ease the stress and calm them.


Thanks, my son could sleep through a nuclear bomb so I might try the night light, although it is darker in my room where he want's to be!

There was no thunder etc the first night.. maybe some noise from the steelworks but he is used to that. I think it is the slug that spooked him, it just seemed strange to think it scared him so much - but he did almost have a heart attack once when we had a field mouse in the kitchen - big softie!

I'll try some of the natural options - does that just get added to food?

To be honest it's not that I particularly mind him being in our room, it's just he tries to get in bed with us and between him and the hubby I wind up hanging onto the edge for dear life!! and that my son misses him!


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## Sled dog hotel

Tyger said:


> Thanks, my son could sleep through a nuclear bomb so I might try the night light, although it is darker in my room where he want's to be!
> 
> There was no thunder etc the first night.. maybe some noise from the steelworks but he is used to that. I think it is the slug that spooked him, it just seemed strange to think it scared him so much - but he did almost have a heart attack once when we had a field mouse in the kitchen - big softie!
> 
> I'll try some of the natural options - does that just get added to food?
> 
> To be honest it's not that I particularly mind him being in our room, it's just he tries to get in bed with us and between him and the hubby I wind up hanging onto the edge for dear life!! and that my son misses him!


The adaptil is a plug in diffuser works. Scullcap and valerian and zylklene are tablets and capsules, not sure about the Nupafeed stressless havent used them personally dogless has and got good results.


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## Dogless

Sled dog hotel said:


> The adaptil is a plug in diffuser works. Scullcap and valerian and zylklene are tablets and capsules, not sure about the Nupafeed stressless havent used them personally dogless has and got good results.


Yes, I really rate Stress Less. It has been great for Kilo. I use the liquid but it does come in tablets I believe.


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