Just going to list the facts so you don't get bored!!

- Kasey is 7, he is a very calm, non-anxious dog. Never has shown any separation anxiety. You can leave for hours and when you come home he's just asleep somewhere.

- About 1 1/2 years ago we had to start making him sleep in his own room instead of ours (he slept between our bed and a wall since he was house trained at 3/4 months). He has allergies and the snoring got sooooo bad we couldn't sleep through it.

- He seemed to be fine with sleeping in this other room, it's 15 feet down the hall from us and doors are open. We just put a baby gate across his doorway.

- About 6 months ago he had a night where he started whining in the middle of the night. That was unusual so I thought he might need out - he didn't. I went back to bed and just told him to go lay down and he quit. This happened 3 times in the past 6 months.

- This weekend it happened every night, and with much more intensity. He has NEVER knocked over a gate, ever. But he did last night. He starts out with heavy panting as he sits right next to the gate. After a while he starts whining, then knocking at the gate.

- If you go to him he acts like dogs do after you've been gone a REALLY long time. He's really really hyper like something scared him, or is bothering him - but nothing has changed at all in the house or the room he's in. If the gate is removed he makes a bee line for our bedroom.

- I just don't understand why he would be perfectly fine with this other room for so long, and then start this behavior. It is like a full fledged anxiety attack. He is still normal if we leave during the day - I can leave the house for mtgs or errands for hours and he's totally calm when I get back, no getting crazy or anything.

We are so tired from being awake for hours in the night. I am taking him to the vet this afternoon to rule out anything physical, but he seems perfectly fine during the day, so I'm doubting it's that. Just wondered if anything sticks out to any of you, or if anyone has had this experience??

IMHO, I kinda doubt that there was a traumatic event that triggered this. It sounds like, TO ME, that there is a long-term effect to the interrruption of his routine. Possibly he is stable enough to deal with separation anxiety to a point (in say, a temporary sleeping arrangement), but it's staring to sink in that this is permanent.

 Quote: Lori Hall

Just going to list the facts so you don't get bored!!

- Kasey is 7, he is a very calm, non-anxious dog. Never has shown any separation anxiety. You can leave for hours and when you come home he's just asleep somewhere.

- About 1 1/2 years ago we had to start making him sleep in his own room instead of ours (he slept between our bed and a wall since he was house trained at 3/4 months). He has allergies and the snoring got sooooo bad we couldn't sleep through it.

- He seemed to be fine with sleeping in this other room, it's 15 feet down the hall from us and doors are open. We just put a baby gate across his doorway.

- About 6 months ago he had a night where he started whining in the middle of the night. That was unusual so I thought he might need out - he didn't. I went back to bed and just told him to go lay down and he quit. This happened 3 times in the past 6 months.

- This weekend it happened every night, and with much more intensity. He has NEVER knocked over a gate, ever. But he did last night. He starts out with heavy panting as he sits right next to the gate. After a while he starts whining, then knocking at the gate.

- If you go to him he acts like dogs do after you've been gone a REALLY long time. He's really really hyper like something scared him, or is bothering him - but nothing has changed at all in the house or the room he's in. If the gate is removed he makes a bee line for our bedroom.

- I just don't understand why he would be perfectly fine with this other room for so long, and then start this behavior. It is like a full fledged anxiety attack. He is still normal if we leave during the day - I can leave the house for mtgs or errands for hours and he's totally calm when I get back, no getting crazy or anything.

We are so tired from being awake for hours in the night. I am taking him to the vet this afternoon to rule out anything physical, but he seems perfectly fine during the day, so I'm doubting it's that. Just wondered if anything sticks out to any of you, or if anyone has had this experience??

Is Kasey already crate-trained, Lori? If so, I wonder if he would feel more Secure if you had him sleep in a kennel that's placed in an out-of-the-way corner of his overnight room (or under a desk/table in there) and covered with a sheet? Just a thought

His crate is in the end of a closet in that room actually. We took the door off of it many years ago so it's always open for him to go in and out of. He sleeps in there off and on. I did think of putting the door back on and doing that, but since the door has been off for so long I thought it might be too big of a change to 'lock' him in there, and it would just make the anxiety worse...

This probably isn't exactly what you had in mind, but I'll throw it out there ....

I have one who started snoring as a senior. He was pretty old to move his bed at that stage. So I moved his bed a little farther from mine and bought a white noise machine for me.

I moved his bed to another "enclosed" area so it would seem similar. (It had been under a chair near my bed, so I put it under a chair not so near.)

It might have worked just to use the white sound, but I had already moved the bed to see how much that helped. (It did help, but not enough.)

This worked. It's been like this for two years now.

In the summer I use one of those tower fans (tall thin fan) near the bed instead. The sound is different, but it works too.

 Quote: Lori Hall

His crate is in the end of a closet in that room actually. We took the door off of it many years ago so it's always open for him to go in and out of. He sleeps in there off and on. I did think of putting the door back on and doing that, but since the door has been off for so long I thought it might be too big of a change to 'lock' him in there, and it would just make the anxiety worse...

Maybe leave the door off that closet, but keep him in his crate there overnight -- It is quite possible that being securely "denned" would actually lessen any anxiety, once Kasey gets used to the new arrangement of being kenneled overnight, IMHO.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

This probably isn't exactly what you had in mind, but I'll throw it out there ....

I have one who started snoring as a senior. He was pretty old to move his bed at that stage. So I moved his bed a little farther from mine and bought a white noise machine for me.

I moved his bed to another "enclosed" area so it would seem similar. (It had been under a chair near my bed, so I put it under a chair not so near.)

It might have worked just to use the white sound, but I had already moved the bed to see how much that helped. (It did help, but not enough.)

This worked. It's been like this for two years now.

In the summer I use one of those tower fans (tall thin fan) near the bed instead. The sound is different, but it works too.

I SO wish that could work Connie! I did get a white noise machine - tried a fan before that. But our bedroom is really small, there is no 'further away' from the bed in there!! It's our bed, a nightstand and a dresser - no extra space. A loud snoring 85 lb dog has no where to go. Which reminds me how much I wish we could afford to add on to our bedroom!!

Oh, and I forgot to say, the snoring is probably tied to his antihistamines, right?

A few of the possible aids when a dog is on a med (a med that isn't temporary) ....

A pillow may help to raise his head.
A humidifier may help dogs (and people) who snore in dry air.
A different shape dog bed (like shorter or rounder) might lead to a curled-up sleeping position, and dogs snore less in this position. Much less than, say, a sprawled-on-his-back position. Something to do with expanded nasal passages for incoming air. I'm not sure why, actually, but I've read both it and seen it in action.

 Quote: Lori Hall

I SO wish that could work Connie! I did get a white noise machine - tried a fan before that. But our bedroom is really small, there is no 'further away' from the bed in there!! It's our bed, a nightstand and a dresser - no extra space. A loud snoring 85 lb dog has no where to go. Which reminds me how much I wish we could afford to add on to our bedroom!!

I'm very lucky that my bedroom is my biggest room. I used to think it was wasted space off the living room until this snoring came along.

Is there a hallway where his bed could be outside your gated room and on the other side of a wall, but not as far away as the other room is?

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Lori Hall

I SO wish that could work Connie! I did get a white noise machine - tried a fan before that. But our bedroom is really small, there is no 'further away' from the bed in there!! It's our bed, a nightstand and a dresser - no extra space. A loud snoring 85 lb dog has no where to go. Which reminds me how much I wish we could afford to add on to our bedroom!!

I'm very lucky that my bedroom is my biggest room. I used to think it was wasted space off the living room until this snoring came along.

Is there a hallway where his bed could be outside your gated room and on the other side of a wall, but not as far away as the other room is?

Yes. And this is the other weird thing. We actually tried letting him be in that hallway - he could even be in the living room which is right next to our bedroom also - but it didn't help the anxiety much. That's why I'm not positive that it's a matter of being separated from us - which is why I'm going to the vet today to discuss it with her. We want to rule out a couple physical things he's been doing that makes wonder if he has a sight problem in one of his eyes.