We broke down and put a child gate on the stairs this week. We didn’t need one during the entire time we had three children, but now that we have a dog, it’s gate time.
We removed the gate in Poly’s room downstairs because it served only to trap her in the bathroom area after she jumped it. Now we put newspapers in that space and just close the door. Poly does seem to be more accepting of being in the room overnight. Whether it’s the lack of the gate or she’s just getting used to it is unclear.