Crate Question

[Sandy]

Toby, who was 2 in August, sleeps quite happily in a crate in our room.  Lately he seems a little fidgetty, for lack of a better word.  I spread a little blanket in the bottom (the crate has a plastic tray), but he always moved around so much that it's in a little ball by the morning.  I haven't put anything more permanent in there because he gets hot.  When he fidgets and moves around, the sound of his nails and collar on the plastic tray wake me up and keep me awake, even when I wear earplugs.  Does anyone out there have something they put in the bottom of the crate that dulls that noise?

 

If I let him out of his crate, he will be on our bed pretty quickly.  Two adults and an 80 pound dog make the bed WAY too crowded for comfortable sleeping.... :)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Murphy loves to stretch out, so he gets really uncomfortable even in the large crate and can't settle. We took the crate down a couple of months ago. Now he sleeps in our master bathroom with a gate at the door. He can still see us, but he has lots more room and is more comfortable. I have the same problem with him...if I let him free in the bedroom he'll keep jumping on the bed during the night. Do you have an adjacent room where he could be gated and still see you?

[Sandy]

No, we don't. That would have been an excellent option.

[Frances Pendrous (Horan)]

I agree with Jane. I think, even the largest of crates are too restricting for our big doodles. We dismantled ours when Frankie Girl was quite young as she just got way too hot in there and it seems like there was not enough air getting in. You have a problem. We are lucky as Frankie has never gotten up on our bed as it is really high and although she can jump up okay, she is scared of getting down:) How about letting Toby sleep in the hallways to your bedroom. Can you baby gate off the rest of the house? I use to use baby gates everywhere for Frankie instead of crating her as she grew so big. I guess the answer is either higher your bed or the latter...good luck :)

[Sandy]

I guess in an ideal world I never should have allowed him on the bed. Then this wouldn't be an issue. I could put a baby gate at the top of the stairs, and keep him upstairs, but I know for a fact he would be on our bed in an instant. It's actually quite a high bed, but he pops up without even taking a run at it. :)

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

What about a rubber mat on the bottom of the crate? Like the one's that you can get cut at like Home Depot or Lowe's - I think they use them for runner's or commercial floor mats maybe. It still wouldn't be hot like a blanket but you wouldn't be able to hear him moving around.....

[Dot, Maggie and KoKo]

Maggie also had her crate pad in a ball every morning so I bought one of those discontinued rug samples most rug stores sell. It's like sleeping on the living room carpet, stays flat on the bottom of her crate and its inexpensive.

[Sandy]

Oh -- very, very good idea! I'll look into it. :)

[BG and Gavin]

I would ditch the crate at his age and size too. It will not be easy, but I would put the time into training him to not jump up on the bed. It's never too late. Our house guest dog sleeps on the bed at her house. The first night she jumped up on ours 4 times and was shoed back down. But, that was it - she has not tried again since. Good luck.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Sandy, I bet you could train Toby to "go to his bed" instead of YOUR bed. We got Peri an extemely comfortable bed from Costo online (it is a donut shaped one and is SUPER soft and comfy) - she has used it for about 1 year. She still hops up on our bed every single night while we are getting ready for bed. And every single night we say "go to your bed", she hops off and goes to her bed on the floor. We trained her to do this by giving lots of praise and a bedtime treat on her bed (only did that the first month). Peri knows she cannot come up when it is dark outside. We even let her up in the morning if we are watching some news but we INVITE her up.

Just a suggestion!

[Christine & Camus]

Camus does not sleep in his crate at night, he is free to roam and his preferred sleeping spot is not on his bed, but on the bathroom floor. However for times when he is in his crate -- I use inexpensive rubber-backed rugs in the bottom of Camus' crate. I have several from Costco. They are machine washable and somewhat difficult to bunch up in the crate. (He did not like the memory foam pad that I put in his crate.)

Another technique, that was trainer recommended, that I used long ago with another dog was to tether her with her leash to the side of my bed. Roxy was comfortable on her bed and content since she could see me. And, she slept through the night with no problems.

[Deirdre]

I've used a cotton twin fitted sheet tucked around the plastic tray it's a lot of work to get it on but will worth it.

[Camilla and Darwin]

We just fold up a blanket and put it in there. During the winter we layer 2 blankets. He seems to find it more comfortable that way, and it eliminates the noise.