Well, the plan went as well as I could’ve hoped. BJ missed his 9:00 bedtime and soon let of know about it by whining and running back and forth to the stairs. When we didn’t react, he fell asleep in the stairs where we left him when we went to bed.

Around 2am he came upstairs and whined and pawed at our door until Greg let him in. BJ then waited until we were asleep and spread out between us. Greg took the morning off from running so there wasn’t an alarm set, but that didn’t stop BJ. Though twenty minutes late, he poked his nose in Greg’s face. Greg went back to sleep.

At this point I’m thinking ‘BJ is gonna pee in my bed’. Thankfully he didn’t but when Greg got up thirty minutes later, his ankles were fair game.

After showering, BJ and I came downstairs while Greg meditated. BJ poked around his food dish before giving up the pretense of eating and trying to escape upstairs which was blocked by the doggy door. When enlisting BC’s aid didn’t work, he pouted and whined until Greg came down…then happily attacked his ankles.

They’re back in their routine. I give up! Clearly, BJ’s behavior has more to do with little patterns rather than instinct. I will, however, break him from sleeping in our room and demanding to go to bed at 9pm. I hope bringing his blankets downstairs will help.

I’m open for suggestions.