How can I keep my dog safe from my cat at night?

I know this sounds weird but I have a senior shih tzu (15yo) I have had her since she was a pup. About 4 months ago my boyfriend and I adopted a cat (he's about 2). He's the best, he's so much fun and adorable. He's not too cuddly but that's okay, I know he loves our company because he always follows us and naps in whatever room we are in. But since he is so playful, he constantly tries to play with my dog. He playfully pounces on her or grapples her trying to instigate some play time but she is completely deaf and half blind, she has no idea what is going on. She's become very terrified of him and is always seeking shelter from him.

So we keep our cat busy during the day by playing and chasing until he's ready for a nap. But at night, there's not much I can do to keep him away from my dog. At the beginning of the night he'll go to sleep on his tree or his bed and my dog goes to her bed, but then at 3 AM I wake up to some bumps in the night and I see my dog shivering in a corner with my cat continuously pouncing on her. I've tried having my dog sleep in the bed with us but she snuggles way too close, pushes me off the bed, makes me sweat and I'm also always paranoid I'm going to crush her. We've tried having our cat sleep outside the room but he got so upset meowed all night and made a mess in the apartment.

Last night I woke up because i kept hearing and feeling bumps under our bed. I saw my dog was stuck under the bed, shivering, and sure enough, my cat had his glowing eyes in the dark ready to pounce. Who knows how long he had been doing it. I don't want my dog's last years to be in fear of the weird black blur that keeps bouncing on her, she's become so skittish and flinches at everything now. I truly didn't think this would have happened. Every time I google this, I get nothing but articles on dogs attacking cats, with one article saying "just keep them apart." If anyone at all has any advice, I would really appreciate it.

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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/h8ylc5/how_can_i_keep_my_dog_safe_from_my_cat_at_night/