No Crate at Night- When do you know?

[Pam & Trixie]

Trixie is one of the Pups that can not take the heat..And its not hot here at all yet!

The kennel we have in our bedroom is not a wire crate.  Nor is the one downstairs....but if we buy a wire crate- it will replace the downstairs crate- where she stays when we are not home.

 

She breathes so hard during the night & tosses & turns in her crate- because she is hot.  it was 55 last night with the window wide open & the ceiling fan on & She still was roasting.  She is keeping me up all night.

 

So we would like to try her out of the crate for sleeping.

How do we know shes ready?  She doesnt get into much trouble during the day (no chewing, etc)

She has not had an accident during the night & Has slept through for about 6 weeks now.

 

Any suggestions on this?  Do we just give her a dog bed & hope she will sleep there all night?  LOL

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

For me, the biggest reason to crate a dog is for their safety.  If you start by puppy proofing your bedroom, i.e., removing anything and everything within her reach that could possibly hurt her, including keeping all clothing items up and out of her reach, and you are confident of her potty habits, then all you can really do is give it a try.  Every dog is different and you won't know unless you try.  Only you truly know your puppies personality and habits, so you just sort of have to go with your gut.  If you have a master bath with a tile floor or even vinyl floor, she might actually prefer that to the bed as it will be much cooler on her.  Also, if this doesn't work and you purchase a new crate for down stairs, there is really no rule that says that now that she is sleeping through the night that she can't be in the crate downstairs.  She doesn't have to be in your room.  Our girls sleep in their room on the other side of the house.  That was their choice, not ours.  It is where they go when we are not at home, and it is just where they feel comfortable.  We let them come in with us when we first go to bed for some "snuggle time", but when we say bedtime they hop up and go to their room and wait for their treat.  When they first started sleeping in their room at night I used a baby monitor so I would be sure and hear them if they needed us during the night.  Now is one of them wants out for some reason (very rare) they just give a good ole loud bark.

[Pam & Trixie]

Thanks.  I wish we had a master bath...With tile.

And we have carpet in the bedroom so that is warm on her.  I may wrap a sheet arounbd the dog bed- that might help her stay a little cooler.

Our room is pretty puppy proof.  I will need to check under the bed though.

 

Im so used to having my dogs in our bedroom...I dont think I could handle her being downstairs.

 

And we would use the wire crate if we bought it - in our room- Except it would be too big for our room. 

I think we will try it by this weekend...or sooner if she is too noisy in her crate!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

By 6 months Peri was sleeping in a bed on our bedroom floor.  She has not had any problems and still sleeps in our room uncrated nightly.  We do keep our door closed though.

[Meridith and Lola]

Lola didn't like sleeping in the crate in the living room so at 16 weeks she started sleeping in my bedroom without a crate.  I bought a dog bed but she actually preferred the floor for a long time.  She didn't start sleeping on my bed until well over a year - mostly her decision!!.  She was house trained very quickly so there wasn't a problem. The first few weeks she would sometimes wake me to go out but mostly she slept through the night.  I started with the door closed to keep her from wandering but after a few months, she had run of the apartment.  She would wander at some point but always end up back in the bedroom by morning.

If Trixie is trustworthy it probably won't be a problem.

[Adina P]

Our dogs sleep in our room on the floor (or dog beds...whichever they feel like at the moment).  Boca has been doing this since 6 months but is NOT trustworthy otherwise.  She seems to understand that bedroom time with lights out is sleeping time and is VERY good about it.  I guess you can always TRY it and simply be sure there's nothing there your pup can destroy or eat.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I could only crate my two a short while at night, because they both got so hot. We have two fans going at all times and they both prefer to sleep on the cold, hard floor. I would shut your bedroom door and just open the crate door and see how it goes.  We do not have any carpet in our bedroom and I got rid of the rugs in there too, just so they would be more comfortable. After I knew they did fine in the bedroom, we now let them sleep wherever they want to in our house at night, and I will find Vern in his crate. Go figure!

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

Lola was sleeping in our room (our bed, actually!) at about 14 weeks. We're HUGE suckers for her. She was housetrained and a sleepy angel at night, so we had no problems....besides the occasional vomiting, but that was from medication allergies. We love having her in our room with us, and don't regret starting that early at all.

[Pam & Trixie]

it sounds like the transition to no crate goes well for many at a young age.

I am excited to try with Trixie.

I hope it will help her sleep alot better.

[Kyoko]

Charlie is 2 1/2 and still sleeps in her crate, that is because she choose to do so... When she is tired at night and everybody is quiet and in their bed, she just goes in my room and goes to her crate.

[Jessica & Lucie]

My dog is very heat sensitive too, and sleeps in the coolest place she can find. 

Maybe you could try a cooling dog mat in the crate, I've looked into getting one so I can feel ok leaving the AC on 80 during the day (electric is really expensive here but I don't want Lucie to be uncomfortable!) Here is one I found on amazon- http://amzn.to/m2pOXE 

I'm not sure it would last all night, but your dog would probably choose to sleep on it if it was the coolest surface in the room whether it was in her crate or not. She probably wouldn't sleep on a dog bed as it would likely be warmer then on the carpet.

[Doris]

She is ready when you are ready to NOT sleep through the night!  I love my doodle, but he does wake me up during the night.  We are lucky that he is not destructive and if he wanders around he is just looking for a cool spot to sleep!

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

I would try a dog bed in your room, we have both of ours sleep with us (minis) and Myla has since the 2nd month home because she would not stop freaking out in the crate. Chloe liked her crate after DH let her out she would go back in her crate until I got up. We just replaced the flooring in the "crate room" so we finally folded the crates up for good. They have been staying out on their own now. It depends on the dog I think. We keep the bedroom door open but have a baby gate up so they stay in there so they are not unsupervised!