The Crate

[Discussing Labradoodles & Goldendoodles]

My ten month old Luigi is completely housetrained for nearly three months but still sleeps in his crate at night. When does the crate go away for bed time?

[Julie and Charlie]

Whenever you want or don't want!

I gave Charlie about 6 months in the crate at night, and one night, decided to let him sleep with me... that was the end of Charlie in the crate at night.

The only times since then have been when he was at someone else's home overnight, at a rented vacation home where he wasn't allowed upstairs, and when he was vomiting every few hours one night (messy bed clean up!), and when he had giardia- I decided he couldn't sleep with me until he tested negative for a contagious disease.

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Up until the day he passed, my 13 yr old Golden slept in his crate. We took the door off years ago. He loved his crate...it was his safe/quiet place. Quite often, I'd find him napping during the day in it.
Enzo now sleeps in the same crate...door is back on, of course. Should she decide she likes it as much as he did....the door will be taken off and left for her to snooze in too.

[Diane, Baker & Oskar]

entirely up to you...as soon as Baker & Oskar were reliable during the day & night, we retired the crate...neither was attached to it & much prefer their own beds in our room at night...actually, Oskar spends part of the night under the bed with the toys, bras, dirty washcloths & other treasures he stashes there :)

[Lori, Quincy & Frankie]

We only use it when we are not home during the day.  He gets into too much trouble when we are gone!  But he runs right in when he sees a cream cheese filled Kong and is always sleeping when we get home.  I have never seen him go in for a nap-he prefers the couch! 

[Adrienne]

Wow, Lori, I am going to have to steal that cream cheese filled Kong idea.  Dougie will love that...

Dougie is still in his crate at night but I have started to leave the door open and he has yet to come out when he is sleeping.  It is still too early to leave him to his own devices when I am away--he loves to get into TROUBLE.

[Miss Ellie]

Our little one was about 16 weeks old when we retired the crate at bed time...she now sleeps with our youngest son on his bed...and LOVES it!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I never took the crate away, just left the door open. Most of my past dogs used it as a "safe place" or "den" throughout their lives.

[Wendy and Myla]

I forget how old Myla was, but we took down her crate as soon as we were secure in the knowledge that she would let us know if she had to go potty - I love the idea of having the crate left as a secure place but our master bedroom is very small and the crate just took up too much room - We have a dog bed at the foot of our bed and Myla sleeps on that during the night and then when we start to stir in the mornings, she is right by our side with those puppy dog eyes, asking if she can come up for a cuddle!  What I have found though, is that if we have a house full of company and Myla gets overwhelmed, she will go into the bedroom and nose the door shut and lay on her bed so she has her "safe place" also.

[Joanna, Zoe & Bender]

We took the crate away when Zoe was around 8 months.  She really loved it and used it as a safe place and also took her naps in there but it was really large and my house isn't very big so I took it away.  I still feel bad til this day because she likes to go inside my closet, under the desk, and under the bed... 

[Moe]

She was reliable in the house at about 4 mo old so I left the door open but she never went in it. After a few weeks of the crate gathering dust I put it away. If she had liked it and had wanted it as a den I'd have kept it. I think it depends on the dog. I've also gotten her a bunch of dog beds but she prefers to sleep on the floor.

[Sally S Miles]

The crate will most likely stay in our room for a while, but we slowly started letting her nap with me or stay up for tv - next thing we knew we all snoozed off and somewhere in the wee hours she will head to her crate after hours on her comfy bed - I am a light sleeper and hear the clink of tags on the crate plastic.  She is also prone to getting irked if we don't go to bed on time and will stare down the hall with this look on her face that is sooo cute - crate is permanent no matter what.

[Judi, David & Maddie Irishdoodle]

Maddie will be 4 in January and she still goes to her crate whenever she feels like it. It is in a corner of the laundry room and we took the door off of it when she was approx one. We left it up because she loves to nap in it and she usually sleeps there until 4 or 5 a.m. when she quietly and softly jumps up on our bed for a few more hours. I think whatever works for you is the right time.