First night in our bedroom

[Carlos and Chloe]

We decided to try and have chloe (8 months old) sleep in our bedroom for the first time this weekend instead of her crate.  We put a large pillow down for her next to my side of the bed and put a few of her toys with her.  We kept a night light on as well since I normally keep one by her crate.  I also closed the bedroom door to minimize her wandering and to prevent her from wandering into my 2 yr old daughter's room.  It did not go well.  She wandered around a bit.  First she played with a tall mirror on our door in our room and it fell down and freaked her out.  She ran and jumped on our bed by my head and scared the crap out of us lol.  Then sometime around 2:30a.m. she threw up on the carpet.  Spent 15 minutes cleaning that up...ugh  I don't think she had slept at all up until now so I decided to put her back in her crate which we keep in the kitchen.  Not even 5 minutes in her crate she was asleep :-/ 

[Helen]

Did you get a chance to take a nap during the day?

Mine sleep in crates in the laundry room, no exceptions, even the cat gets shut in there at night. They start to wake up about 6:30am and after a quick pee go back into their crates for breakfast, until the rest of the house is moving and grooving.

Isn't it funny that when we do something that we think will make their quality of life better, it always backfires on us!

[shelly]

LOL - oh boy! I think YOU need a nap too! Did she cry in her crate in another room? Is that why the change? If so, maybe bring the crate in your room for now...We kept Tori in her crate, in my son's room she never cried since the night we got her....She then moved to the den all by herself because - get this - she was 'bothered' when my son got up early for school. Recently, (she's now almost 2 1/2) we thought... why not try her loose at night as she has free roam during the day when we're not home... plus I wanted to get that metal caged crate out of my den (where she now sleeps) Tori could NOT settle down all night - she roamed and plopped from room to room ~ no one got sleep! In fact Tori slept the whole next day.... Sometimes WE are wanting a 'change' that our dogs really don't want! Good luck and get some sleep!!! :)

[Carol and Banjo]

Oh my.....it sound like a busy night for all! Hope the mirror didn't break!!!
Maybe if you placed the crate in your room and left the door of it open...keeping your bedroom door closed she might get the idea of being in your room at night and gradually opt out of the crate and onto the bedside pillow.

[Jessica]

we too had marley (6 months) sleep in our bedroom for the first time last night..BUT...I kept her in her crate...It went great...you may want to try that as a transition...Good luck!

[Gail McHugh]

thats her safe zone

[Laura & Chewie]

So glad to read this...Chewie has been out of his crate EXCEPT at night for quite some time and has proved very reliable while we are gone. I have wanted to get rid of the crate (in my bedroom), but keep thinking why change what works. He is in there quietly until he hears me stir in the morning. I have been wondering what he would do if not in there. I guess I could try one night and see.

[Melissa]

We keep Buddy in his crate to sleep. He is approaching 9 months old. We cover it with a light sheet and he sleeps all night! We had to start using it just last week for when we need to go away from the house for a couple of hours. We had him in a pen in the kitchen but he got out the other night while we were gone and did I mention he had diarrhea! Anyway, he loves his crate and so we will continue to keep him in there to sleep. We ended up buying a large one even though he is only 30 pounds. It is like his little condo, as our vet put it. :)

[Adina P]

Oh my what a night! Like having a new baby to wake up for constantly ... LOL.
If you want to transition her to your room for the future, could you fit the crate in your room temporarily?

And if she prefers the crate...that's a pretty cool thing so no loss.

[Carlos and Chloe]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll see if I can fit her crate in if/when we decided to try again...it's quite large.

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin always sleeps in his crate at night. The only exception is that he sleeps in the bedroom with us when we stay at my in-laws, because his crate is too large to transport.

When he's sleeping in his crate, he will not be up and moving until 9 or 10 in the morning. Even if we open his crate at 7 or so, he'll stay in there and sleep. (he sleeps like 14 hours at night... lol) We consider ourselves lucky because he sleeps in right along with us. He even sleeps in when WE can't sleep in. We haven't had to wake up early to let him out since he was a little puppy.

When he is sleeping in a bedroom loose with us, he'll sleep on the floor until about 6 or 7, then jump on the bed for the last hour or so. He constantly fidgets, gets up to change positions, etc. And he steps all over us. He's 70lbs, so it's definitely not comfortable! It's kind of fun to snuggle with him, but we are DEFINITELY glad to get back home where he can sleep in his crate.

[Hunter and Daisy's Doodle Mom]

Oh no! I guess the silver lining is that she didn't jump on your head and then puke on it! LOL!! OMG, I will never forget the first time Daisy was on our bed and this was when she was about 15 weeks old, she peed on it. Just put her up there for not even 1 minute and she squats. Oh, I was livid. It was 1:00 in the morning, we were on vacation at the time, so I tore all the bedding down and drove to Meijers (24 hour superstore in MI) and bought all new bedding. The cheapest bedding they had, but, oh...yeah, those first tries can be a nightmare!
Hope you're getting better sleep :-)

[Sarah and Joplin]

Aw :( sounds like a rough night. Our crate is not very user friendly and can't travel upstairs to our room with us. Since the first night we have kept Joplin on a short leash at the foot of our bed right next to her dog bed. We tried to keep her off leash one night and while she did just fine I kept myself up all night just worrying about what she was doing. Maybe leashing her will help things for you and Chloe? :)