You have my sympathy (about the carpet), Liz. Just tonight, I was talking with Scott on the phone (he's out of town), and I told him I had decided "to heck with the carpet". I moved the gate late last week in order to have Murphy be closer to me while she was having so much trouble and all 4 of them have LOVED being closer. Yes, I'm sacrificing the hallway and the bedroom carpet, but you know what? It's worth it! Stanley Steemer can work wonders on carpet cleaning every so often and I have decided that it is ok to pay them to come periodically and have our dogs closer to us more often. Murphy hasn't had a bad barking episode in days. That makes me so happy! And what was Scott going to say when he knew that I was smiling!