Early start.

The stairs leading to our bedroom were very steep and uneven and we thought that Lola wouldn't make it up them and would be safer to leave her downstairs over night. This worked well, until about 5.30am when she would start to whine having decided she'd had enough of being on her own and wanted some company.
Mary, who sleeps though thunder storms and a brass band marching past the bed was always out for the count, so my options were;

i) ignore Lola til I wanted to get up
ii) call to Lola calmly and soothingly reassuring her we weren't far away
iii) yell at Lola to "shut the f%*k up"
iv) capitulate and go down stairs

Option one was a no go as she would simply get louder and louder til full on barking would totally negate any chance of sleep.
Option two would only encourage more whining, as would option 3 probably. And so, as I explained to Mary who was incredulous at my choice of option, I thought Lola was being quite cute and actually wanted to go and see her.
I was usually greeted with a pretty bouncy waggy dog, and we soon settled back to sleep even if it wasn't the most comfortable bed I'd ever slept on...