[theporkieyorkie]

Ok...I'll try to keep this simple because I could easily write a novel. The long/short of it is this....I can't have the boys in my bed anymore....for both their benefit and mine.

Prince is 11 and his eyesight isn't the best and I haven't had a full nights sleep(6-8 hours) and it's starting to effect my health and well being as well.

It gets complicated because they've always slept with me and bed time is their favorite time of day. Treats and playtime happen in bed before we go to sleep. Even if there were no treats or toys, they would do nearly anything to be with me....including scale baby gates. I wasn't trying to take treats and playtime in bed away....just merely make them sleep in their own bed when it's time to go to sleep.

Last night was my first attempt to have them sleep in the kitchen with the playpen stretched across it so they couldn't get to the bedroom. I got a huge fluffy bed and small beds and toys and pee pads....and even gave them each a piece of really expensive steak. I was really scared that Ricky was going to try to climb it and fall on my tile and hurt himself, but he did not.

Instead, Prince just stood there, looking into me sleeping in the bedroom(he spent most the first 7 years of his life in a cage) and Ricky just sat there and barked. Now....Ricky hardly ever barks. When people knock on the door....Prince barks to alert me, but not Ricky. When my moms dogs came over, all 3 of them barked, but not Ricky. This is one of the rare occasions I've heard him bark...and bark and bark.

Finally, after he was consistently barking and I was crying for a good 30 minutes as it was killing me to kick them out of the bed in the first placed, I let them out and back in bed.

So....any advice/tips as to how to make this transition easier on all of us??

As I said, my bedroom is small so I can't just put the playpen in the room(I think they'd cry anyways even if I did though because they'd still be behind a gate on the floor and not in the bed)

PS...they have no problem sleeping on their beds on the floor if its their idea and it's not behind a gate....it's just when I put them behind the gate and make them stay out of bed, it's horrible.