Transitioning Out of Crate

[Erin & Sasha]

Our family has recently adopted a 1 year old Labradoodle.  She currently sleeps in a crate at night, but really does not seem to like it.  She barks and whines until she finally falls asleep, not unlike a baby crying itself out at night.  We have tried on several occasions to let her sleep outside of the crate, but we always wake up to pee accidents somewhere in the house.

 

Is there a point at which you can transition the dog from sleeping in the crate to sleeping freely in the house?  If so, what are some of the signs?  It's my understanding that the crate is more of a training aid than a long term solution.  Is this correct?

 

This is only my 2nd dog and my first dog-in-crate.  Any advice would be much appreciated. 

[Melissa]

Buddy is over 6 months and we still crate him at night and probably will continue to do this. My husband is an entertainer and sometimes has late nights (varying schedule) so Buddy's crate is in the living room so Buddy is not disturbed when my Hubby gets home and I try to keep his bedtime the same. He seems to like it. We cover his crate and I tell him time for sleep and he RUNS in there. :) To get him accustomed to it I would give him a treat as soon as he got in and then another one once I closed the door. So now he loves to go in there but usually only at night. We have a pen in the kitchen for times when we have to leave the house. He has his toys, water and a little bed to sleep on. He would probably love to have the entire house but like a previous poster I would be afraid of how the house looked not to mention what he may have injested. We had a smaller crate that we used for a previous dog, but when Buddy is laying down stretched out he was touching on both sides and he couldn't put his head up, so since we decided to use this as his bedtime we got him a larger one and he has much more room and I think he likes it more. Try the treats with the crate so she knows it is a good thing and maybe that would work. Good luck!