Feeling incredibly guilty, but we need our sleep.
Hi all. I have a 16 year old lab mix (had her for her entire life). She's in generally good health, outside of the standard senior dog ailments (deaf, back legs a little wonky).
My girlfriend moved in about 2 years ago, and with my dog aging, she tends to pace the room a lot at night and struggles with fecal incontinence for the past 8 months now. It's loud and we wake up many times during the night. We haven't had more than a handful of days worth of good sleep in the past 2 years.
If it were just me living here, I wouldn't think twice, but this lack of sleep is catching up to my girlfriend, and she doesn't think she can handle much more of it. Completely understandable, sleep isn't one of those negotiable things.
Last night, I very, very reluctantly moved my dog's bed to my office (adjacent to my bedroom) with all of her toys and a shirt of mine to put in her bed for the smells. She seemed fine when I came to wake her this morning, but I obviously feel incredibly guilty, especially at her age...I just don't know what else to do.
Am I being the literal worst owner ever? My dog is my baby, and she's by my side while I work every day from my office....I just genuinely don't know what else I can do.
Posted Feb 20, 2026, 4:32 PM UTC