Sheldon: Crate and Baffle
February 28th, 2011 | by TJ |I am telling you in advance, this is pretty much entirely about Sheldon, as I am currently coping with feelings associated with the way my pregnancy is going and I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.
As I am sure I have mentioned and photographed and talked about more times than ANYONE IN THE WORLD CARES, Sheldon is still a puppy, as he was when we got him him (uh… as if he would be a puppy NOW, but not a 9 months ago, self?), and as a puppy with… issues, we crate trained him.
While Sheldon is still 65% lunatic, psychopath and life ruiner, one thing we have done well is crate training. Actually, we may have crate trained him a little too well.
The baby is coming soon, and for at least the first few months, she will be sleeping in our room. Brinkley has always slept in our room, on his bed on the floor next to our bed, and after Sheldon was pretty firmly house trained, he and his crate moved into our room as well.
Sheldon is very good about his crate and always has been, once he got the idea that it was his spot. I’m not going to go into all of Sheldon’s issues, but when we got him, he was 8 months old, had never had a home, and had been living in various kennels and shelters and even at a vet’s boarding facility for a while. He’d never had owners and his life had basically been chaos. We couldn’t even get him to acknowledge us, except to bite, for a few weeks, because we truly don’t think he knew what people were for. His history, I think, explains a lot of why crate training worked so well for him.
For a long time, he slept on the bare floor of the plastic crate, because he destroyed whatever we put in there. Eventually, though, we were able to stick an old duvet in there to make it nice and comfortable. On top of that, we have always kept his crate covered on all sides but the door with a dark blanket. Think about if you were shut in a cage all the time – isn’t it much more secure to feel closed in than to be open and exposed to the room, but with nowhere to escape?
So. As I have been trying to say concisely – because I had an appointment at Dr. Stache’s today for an ultrasound, and while the baby looks fabulous as always, my blood pressure was over their line of concern. It is becoming more and more clear how very little I need to do, physically, to push my blood pressure past where the doctors are comfortable. Just being upright at all is enough. It also dawned on me today that we’re having these twice weekly appointments now, and each one is going to be nerve wracking in that we will wait to see how the test goes and then potentially be told to head over to the hospital. Right then. To have a baby. Immediately. All of this put together has exhausted me, so I am limiting myself to 1500 words for this post today, and LOOK AT ME, WASTING THEM ALL AWAY.
AS I WAS TRYING TO SAY CONCISELY – Sheldon likes his crate. He gets in willingly at the appropriate times each day. He’s on a very regular routine and puts up no fuss at bed time or when he is re-crated between when Phil goes to work and when I wake up.
With the baby coming and staying in the room for a while, we are simply out of space. He is a big dog, and his crate is very large. His crate is higher than and has more surface area than our kitchen table. It takes up the entire room on Phil’s side of the bed. The crate needs to go.
Now, I know that some dogs continue to sleep in their crates their whole lives, and that was an option we considered for Sheldon. However, the crate CANNOT stay in our bedroom any more. We’ve decided that it would be best for Sheldon to start sleeping out of the crate so that we can completely take it down, on the theory that taking away his crate will seem like less of a “punishment” than being put out of our bedroom at night to sleep in some other place where we would find room for the crate.
Sheldon has a VERY finely tuned sense of justice and fairness, where Sheldon is concerned, at least. Brinkley IN the bedroom and Sheldon OUT of the bedroom would cause self-righteous tantrums that you have NEVER seen. I am not even shitting you a little bit, Internet – when Sheldon thinks we’ve put him in his crate so that we can take Brinkley somewhere WITHOUT HIM, he flies into an absolute rage and kicks like a donkey to shove his bedding into a big angry pile, then flings himself down on the BARE PLASTIC, as if to say, “Now I’m uncomfortable, and I hope you feel like assholes.”
So. Moving Sheldon’s crate to another location is not really an option.
This is also especially a concern because the baby will be IN the room. We do not want any “YOU’VE REPLACED ME WITH A SMALL SHRIEK MACHINE!” incidents happening. Everyone will be staying in this bedroom, all five of us, until the baby moves to her own room.
So we’ve decided to begin the process of de-crating Sheldon.
It started with Phil picking up every stray piece of everything in our bedroom, buying an excess of hampers to ensure that NO clothing was left withing Sheldon’s reach, and basically denuding all surfaces of everything, because Sheldon’s main mischief method is taking.
Sheldon doesn’t really destroy too much, and he hasn’t really ruined many things, at least nowhere near Brinkley’s tally. But Sheldon takes.
Shoes. Socks. Computer parts. Towels. Entire blankets. Hair ties. ANYTHING that belongs to you that he can reach, he takes. Doesn’t eat. Doesn’t set out to break (though some breakage may happen in the course of taking). He just takes.
I swear, our kid’s first sentence is going to be along the lines of the oft-shouted, “SHELDON! NO TAKING!” line in this house. Kind of like Swiper and his swiping, only with no cute lessons in being bilingual and a lot of slobber.
So everything was picked up in anticipation of Sheldon’s TAKE FEST that was sure to happen once we all settled down to sleep. A pillow bed was set up for him close – but not too close – to Brinkley’s bed.
Bedtime came around and Phil went through Sheldon’s normal bedtime routine (he was already disgruntled as Phil didn’t come to bed until after 9, when we all know FULL WELL that Sheldon likes to be in bed NO LATER than 8pm), gave him his treat, and Sheldon went in his crate, but he left the crate door open. After a couple of minutes, Sheldon ventured out cautiously to look around, and then actually settled himself down on his new bed next to Brinkley.
Success!
We were really prepared for a whole night of “Sheldon! Go to your pillow!,” but after 10 minutes of silence, I sat up to look around, and found Brinkley’s bed empty, Brinkley in Sheldon’s new bed, and Sheldon nowhere to be found.
Our bedroom is not that big, so this was puzzling.
I’m sure you can guess where he was located.
In his crate.
We left the door open anyway, so that he would know he could come in and out as he wanted. On my way back from one of my nightly ventures to the bathroom, I stopped to sit in front of his cage and pet him a bit, and he didn’t even move. He just stared at me and waited for me to be finished. He didn’t follow me out for more petting, or even turn his head toward my hand. I don’t know what I really expected, as this is the dog who will give you a VERY POINTED GLARE if you flip on the lights after he has settled down to sleep.
The door to his crate being open made absolutely no difference. In fact, when it was time to get up in the morning, Phil had to coax him out and assure him that it was okay to exit the crate.
We know that this will be a process, but so far we figure that there are two possibilities:
1. Sheldon, while he is largely psycho lunatic, has understood a few basic household rules and routines and assumed that even if we did not personally crate him, he should still crate himself, as those are the rules, or
2. He is simply not secure sleeping out in the open.
That second option is a little weird, because here’s a picture I took just this morning:
That’s where I found them when I woke up, after Phil had fed them and gone to work – normally he’d be crated during that in between time. During the day, he only goes into his crate to retrieve a toy. Taking a lesson from Brinkley, he sleeps most of the day, and seems perfectly happy to pull up a piece of floor in here in the bedroom where Brinkley and I spend the day. Sometimes, even, he leaves the bedroom and I find him napping on the couch sometime later.
So maybe he is only secure sleeping in the crate at night? I don’t know.
We plan to follow the same steps tonight, and if in a day or two he is still choosing his crate instead of his new bed, we’re going to take the cover off of the crate and see if leaving it open makes a difference in his choices. A little while after that, if he is still choosing his crate (and still not taking at night, which, I have to say, was a pleasant surprise), we’re just going to have to remove the crate and leave his crate bedding where the crate used to be.
The thing is, though, I would like to try to figure out if he’s crating himself because he thinks he’s supposed to, or if he’s crating himself because he’s attached to his crate. If it’s the latter, we need to figure out a way to remove the crate without Sheldon feeling like he’s being punished, because he’s really not. We’re doing this so he can continue to stay in here with us once the baby arrives.
So, I know a lot of people have plenty of good advice on crate training a dog (actually, I think Phil and I would fall into that category now, or maybe the category of crate over-training), but has anyone ever de-crated a dog?
Brinkley was crate trained for a couple of years, but he wasn’t really crate trained as well as Sheldon is (like Sheldon is never put in his crate in anger or as a punishment, it’s always a good thing to go in there, it’s comfortable and den-like, etc), so he never actually liked his crate. When it came time for him to be uncrated, it was nothing. He just pulled up a piece of floor and life went on.
Any ideas on figuring out how to remove Sheldon’s crate without upsetting his issues (and again, I didn’t go into all of his issues, but it’s stuff like… I’m reluctant to take him to a doggy day care because to take him someplace hectic with other dogs and leave him is something that I think we are still too close to his unpleasant past to do) would be appreciated. He really is turning into a good dog (slowly) and it really took a long time for him to figure out that Phil and I were on his team, so avoiding having his raging donkey vengeance turned on us would also be nice.
ALSO and lastly, non-dog owners who are considering someday becoming dog owners: Rescuing a dog is one of the absolute best things you can do ever, ever, ever, but make sure that you inquire as deeply as possible into the dog’s history, because no matter how cute and cuddly and soft they may be, a lot of these dogs come home with issues and while it is absolutely INFURIATING when your dog ruins something you love or pees in your house, and while training always helps, there are often underlying things in their past that make them into the lunatic/psychopaths that they are and understanding what happened to them in the time before they met you can go a long way toward helping you solve these issues.
Sheldon was more of a disaster than we ever could have imagined (he bit me all the way home), but working off what we knew of where he came from has really helped a lot in reducing his asshole quotient.
By Peggy on Feb 28, 2011
I think Sheldon just likes his crate, that’s his spot, where he can just hang out.
I don’t own a dog right now, but when I’ve dog-sat my brother’s dog (crate trained rat terrier), I thought I’d be nice and let him sleep on my bed (kept him at my house, obviously, so it wasn’t as familiar to him.) He WHINED like you wouldn’t believe for me to open his crate at bedtime. That’s where he slept, and by God, I wasn’t going to keep him from it…and he was far from being a puppy.
Here’s hoping you can figure out how to de-crate train him.
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:58 pm
I hope we figure it out, but if it turns out that Sheldon is like your brother’s dog and just REQUIRES the crate, to the point that he prefers a crate to even being in the room with us, then I guess we will just have to find a new place for his enormous crate. If he turns out to be THAT attached to it, in a permanent way, we’ll probably just have to accept it. I hope not, but of course we would if it turned out he really just needed it.
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By Rachael on Feb 28, 2011
Hey TJ, I don’t have any advice, but I just wanted to let you know that I think you guys are AWESOME for taking Sheldon in & teaching him what being a loved & pampered pet is all about. It takes a lot of love, energy, and dedication to do that, and a big heart, which you guys both obviously have in spades. :)
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
I think we were just about out of patience and dedication when he FINALLY started coming around and returning the affection. Otherwise, he might have been buried in the yard up to his neck by now!
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By Melissa on Feb 28, 2011
I don’t really have any un-crating advice, although I do thing uncovering the crate might be the trick – make it less den-like so it’s not all the different from being out in the open.
But I have to say, I too have a difficult resuce dog & I read so many of your Sheldon posts, this one included, with a little smile, because man, do I relate! Our first rescue was a breeze so we were spoiled. Our current one, while I love her to bits, if I stopped coloring my hair, I’m certain it would be grey now.
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Dayna Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
My hubby and I have a theory that the first dog (rescue, mutt, pure-bred, whatever) is always a dream. The second dog…automatic asshole. It’s like some cosmic law that sucks you in with the first one and then flips you the bird with the second.
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Bre Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
I am going to second Dayna’s thoughts. First rescue dog – awesome. Second rescue dog – love him to pieces but he pisses me off regularly. It is not uncommon for my husband and I to say to each other “remind me again why we thought it was a good idea to get a second dog.”
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:44 pm
We make a habit of always telling Brinkley he’s the favorite dog in the whole house. Just so he knows how appreciated it is.
Don’t worry, though – I also tell Sheldon he’s my second favorite dog in the WHOLE WORLD. Second place isn’t bad when you think about it that way.
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
While Brinkley does have his own issues, mostly in that he is emotionally fragile and extremely needy, he is definitely the easier dog to take care of. It’s hard to remember sometimes that Sheldon is young and Brinkley is middle aged and OF COURSE they’re different, because OH MY GOD, SHELDON.
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:56 pm
I think that if Sheldon wasn’t specifically picked out to be MY dog, Phil would have given him to someone else a looooong time ago. I would absolutely rescue again, but OH MAN, at least I’d be more prepared next time. Maybe.
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Kate Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Oh man, though, we got purebred Basset Hound puppies and the first one was a DREAM. DREAM DOG. The second one? The second one is just. I. I mean, I can’t even describe how much work this dog is. Like he’s THREE YEARS OLD and on DOG SEDATIVES and he is still super super super super anxious all the time. And his nickname when he was a baby was Crying And Eating Dot Com. Oh my god. This dog. Um. What I am saying is that I agree about Dayna’s second dog theory.
So, with the crate, I would put the crate in like the living room, door open, and a pillow bed in your bedroom. Then he can choose between the crate and the bed.
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By Mariah on Feb 28, 2011
I’ve de-crate-trained 2 rescued greyhounds, but they were really easy to convince to get out of their crates and onto much bigger and more comfy beds (greyhounds are the most hedonistic dogs ever, I think). My only thoughts are to do it as gradually as you can. And you are so right–rescue dogs can be fantastic, and they can also be challenging. Good luck!
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
I thought he would like to be able to stretch out being out, but as I was looking at him last night – he sleeps with his feet braced up against the side and back of the crate! Maybe he is also hedonistic and has found that the most comfortable spot just happens to be where he can put his feet on the walls.
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By Tiffany on Feb 28, 2011
You said crate so many times it stopped making sense. Crate. Crate crate crate.
C
r
a
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e
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By Danielle on Feb 28, 2011
Hey, I have absolutely no advice, but I’m getting a puppy in 2 weeks and want to crate train it, any tips or advice. I understand not using it as a punishment, and making it a space they enjoy, but I really don’t know how to start crate training, and making it something she’ll like at the beginning.
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
I think with a little puppy, it will be even easier because you can just PUT her in. We had to put a shoulder to Sheldon’s ass there, for a while, to stuff him in sometimes.
I think the BIG thing for Sheldon is the routine. Since PHIL is so scheduled, Sheldon also has a very finely tuned internal clock. The same things happen every day – he gets up, he goes out, he eats. He sits with Phil for 10 or 15 minutes, and when Phil goes to shower, Sheldon goes back in his crate. Then I get him up a few hours later. At night, he goes out for one last break and then waits to make sure we grab a treat and heads for his bed.
We call it his home, as in “Sheldon, go home!,” and he knows what that means.
Also, treats. When we were first training him, we’d toss in a treat for him to get, then when he went in, praise him a LOT and sometimes give a second treat. Eventually, he had to step in to get his treat – once he was in, he’d be handed the treat. Now, he gets treats sporadically. He always gets a bed time treat, but when we’re leaving the house, sometimes he gets one and sometimes he doesn’t. I advise using very tiny, very healthy treats during the first few weeks so as not to fatten up your dog.
Also, like I said, his crate his his home, not his punishment. When he’s in trouble, he has a different “spot” he goes to, or he lays all the way down on the floor. The crate is only for hanging out.
LASTLY, this is just a tip for your sanity – if you are going to give toys in the crate, put down padding, because a toy banging against the hard plastic of the bottom of a crate will make you insaaaaaaane.
Oh, and don’t forget to cover all sides – dogs, like other den animals, like to feel like they’ve got their back up against something, like they would in a cave.
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Bre Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
We’ve been known to use individual pieces of dog food as a “treat” before..so as not to fatten and not to go through so many treats.
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Danielle Reply:
March 1st, 2011 at 7:54 am
Thank you so much!
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By Liz on Feb 28, 2011
Ok, here is how we decrated our 100lb puppy.
We had one of the big old wire crates – it was set up in such a way you could actually remove the door or a side. So that’s how we started: we first removed the door. And then when that got ‘normal’, we took off one of the sides. And then another. And then the top (and yes it look really weird to have a two sided crate with no top but DOGS ARE WEIRD and I don’t have time to figure out WHY I just needed to go with what was WORKING.
Anyway, and so one: we just deconstructed the crate around him verrrryyyy slowly so that he was still “in’ his crate but that the dimensions of said crate were changing. We kept the blanket he slept on in the same spot it always had been (in fact, we left the crate bottom intact and in the same spot for a LONG time even after the crate had no walls or cover)
SO. I don’t know. Every dog is weird in his own way, and I’m not sure if this would work for Sheldon, but…it’s what worked for us. Take as you will.
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Capn John Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
If it’s possible I think this is your best solution. Start by uncovering the crate then sloooooooowly remove sections of the crate, one by one, until there’s nothing left but the bottom piece covered by Sheldon’s bed.
Then remove that bottom piece.
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
I am not actually sure of how his whole crate rig thing goes together, so I’ll have to ask Phil about deconstruction. It definitely sounds like a plausible idea, though, if he does’t pick up on this on his own.
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By amanda blythe on Feb 28, 2011
My dog is also a ‘taker’ and it drives me up a wall. I’ve tried every response and non-response in the book to try to cure him of the taking, to no avail.
Fortunately he only takes when there is someone there to appreciate his handiwork. So when we un-crated we never had any overnight ‘taking’ issues. If I remember correctly it took him a few nights of open crate to realize he actually had other sleeping options. He never tries to crate himself anymore. Now our only sleeping issue is that he waits until we are asleep and then he quietly creeps into bed with us…all 100 lbs of him.
Of course every dog is different, but if I had to guess, Sheldon just needs a few nights to explore his options.
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By Beth on Feb 28, 2011
I was thinking along the same lines as Liz – a slow deconstruction of the crate. Either that, or, if the crate has a separate bottom/tray thingy, can you take that out of the crate and let him sleep just on that for awhile?
From what you’ve said of his “issues” I’m thinking it’s just going to be trial & error with heaping helpings of patience in the mix. Wishing you luck and Sheldon some quick acceptance with the process.
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
I’m starting to think we should have just named Sheldon “Trial and Error.”
Or maybe even “Error and Error.”
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By Mandee on Feb 28, 2011
My taker, Etta, never slept in her crate, but she stayed in it while I was at work. I usually come home for lunch, so I started by just leaving her out half the day. She would still go get in it when I left (and she still does sometimes when she thinks I’m leaving) for several weeks, but eventually settled on her bed in the den instead. It sounds like you’re on the right track.
Etta is apparently a counter surfer when I’m gone. She once swiped a 1/2 loaf of bread off the counter and hid it in my dirty clothes basket. Taker.
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:46 pm
Sheldon was fingered as the culprit in a tortilla theft spree once!
I am hoping that he will adjust over time to his new circumstances. I actually thought he’d kind of LIKE the freedom, but it looks like he’s going to get around to it EVENTUALLY.
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By TJSonntag on Feb 28, 2011
I’m not really a dog person, but my Hub is, and he has a crated beagle. Lucy is 10 years old but still has to be crated because she’s a nutcase. There for awhile, I was able to leave her out during the day while I’m working from home, but shortly thereafter she took to licking EVERYTHING in sight and pooping in the floor.
No real advice here, but as an un-dog-person, I totally flinched upon realizing that you’re planning an un-crated dog with issues & brand-new-baby in the same room type of deal. You’re apparently FAR braver than me.
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
Sheldon is absolutely a dog with issues, but we’ve got a pretty firm grasp on what those issues are and also pretty good control over him.
Weirdly, he is about ZERO percent interested in babies. I mean, he’s met a baby, given an initial sniff, and moved on. Brinkley, however – our GOOD dog – flies into an ABSOLUTE PANIC at a baby in the house. Not a dangerous panic, but a running in circles, whining, aggravating, REALLY ANNOYING PANIC.
Dogs. I don’t even know anymore.
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By pinkpinot on Feb 28, 2011
**Gasp** What if Sheldon takes Garlic Bread?!?!!!
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TJ Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 2:41 pm
It’s cool, we got her a crate.
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By Kirsty on Feb 28, 2011
If you wanted to make the Sheldon-TJ-GB interaction more Dora-like and bilingual (though God only knows why anyone would willingly want Dora spilling over into their real lives, she’s bad enough where she is), you could always say “SHELDON! NO TAKING! “SHELDON! LACHE LE (or LA) PULL/TELECOMMANDE/BEBE” (or whatever)… And then, when trying to reclaim the *whatever*, you could TAKE A MAP (“une carte”) from your RUCKSACK (“sac à dos”)…
Lord, how I hated Dora…
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By imrahil327 on Feb 28, 2011
…aaand “raging donkey vengeance” is the phrase of the day.
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By Ose on Feb 28, 2011
I crate trained my lab, and she did wonderfully. I’d like to de-crate her and I tried several times, but she just likes her crate too much. We’re lucky in that we have room for her ginormous crate in our bedroom, but it would be nice to be able to take it down.
However, if her crate is somehow unavailable, she sleeps in our closet, which does not currently have doors, so no way to keep her out of it.
If her crate and the closet is unavailable, she lays on the bed and whimpers. For hours.
I think she’ll get to keep her crate.
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By Katie on Feb 28, 2011
My sister had a bed in her dog’s crate – so when they just up and took the crate away, they put the bed where the crate was. The dog still went to that spot to lay down- that’s where her bed was so that was her spot. No gradual de-cration needed.
But then…my sister’s dog wasn’t a rescue like Sheldon, so just up and leaving the bed where the crate used to be may not work.
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By Flame on Feb 28, 2011
Isn’t it funny how you try so hard to get them to love their crate and then when you want the opposite, “No I love my crate!” I totally understand that. Raven HATED his crate with a passion as a puppy and now loves his crate.
I think you could have a few things going on with Sheldon as you already mentioned.
He might like a schedule. He may be used to doing things at a certain time and, for many dogs, that is comforting to know what is expected of them. You said his previous life was chaotic – schedules and crating might be comforting now. Make bedtime a routine. When it’s time for bed, tell them, “It’s bedtime!” and they have to go lay on their beds and then they get a night time treat (also reinforcing going to his bed).
He might have a strong den instinct. Move his bed to a corner of the room or perhaps in the area between your bed and the wall – a small, den-like space. I would try moving his bedding out of the crate and put it on his bed as well. Encourage him to lay there, but leave the crate open. My dog has a strong den instinct and we find that even though he has the whole room to himself, he’ll sleep in the corners, the area inbetween the bed/wall, the bathroom, under a table or even with his head under the bed. As long as it seems small to him, he’s happy (he also crams himself into the back of his humungous crate).
I think if you did that for a few days and then moved the crate into the other room, he’d probably be fine. Just keep the room picked up of take-able (I can’t think of the appropriate word) objects. You might want to keep your bedroom door shut as well until you know he’s trustworthy to be unsupervised at night (we still do this with Raven).
If I think of any other ideas, I’ll let you know.
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By Nona on Feb 28, 2011
Dogs, especially dogs that are adjusting to living in a home, like routine. Sheldon will get used to the idea that his new bed is in your room if you do it slowly and it becomes part of his routine.
I think you are on the right track with just leaving the door open, then taking away the blanket around the crate, then moving the crate to another room.
Ironic that he’s a creature of habit like his namesake, Dr. Sheldon Cooper.
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By Molly on Mar 1, 2011
Ah yes – we have a slightly neurotic rescue as well. We’ve had her for 7 years (she’s 10) and have come to terms with her habits but they can still be frustrating. She’s a sweet old weirdo though and I love her. Funny she’s a “taker” too. She doesn’t ruin things just carries them around while she walks in circles when she wants something.
ANYway. Our other dog was crated as a pup and we eventually just put her crate away and she was happy to sleep on a bed but in your case I would suggest moving the crate to a different room so it’s still around and putting a bed for Sheldon in your room. Maybe you could make a little blanket “tent” over his bed so it is more crate-like at first? I think a gradual approach is probably the way to go since he likes his routine so much.
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By Sarra on Mar 4, 2011
We’ve done the rescue dog -not crate trained. And we’ve had two border collie sisters-crate trained.
Everyone has good advice, I think with most things, it will be you judging what is best for Sheldon and your family.
My only thoughts on reading this are: Because Sheldon is as ‘regulated’ as he is, that the addition of having an infant in the room at night might actually add to his stress. At least initially. Babies generally don’t sleep throught the night and it is hard to change a diaper without turning on the light.
Best of luck to you!
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