Crate & sleeping arrangements

[Michele Kiss]

Curious to hear - as your pup has gotten older (ie post potty training) where do they sleep? Still in the crate?

Fenway is six months old and potty trained. On occasion he has been allowed to sleep in our bed and he is soooooooo good. Sleeps late, doesn't wake us, no accidents. And he's a mini so he doesn't steal much space. He's so cute and we do like him sleeping with us. However I am hesitant to allow it permanently, mainly because of our eight year old cat. Puppy-free time in the bed is the LAST thing she has left that he hasn't taken over! I feel like a bad kitty mommy to her.... (Ironically her being in the bed disturbs my sleep more than the pup does.)

So just trying to understand - for most people was the crate training more temporary during potty training, then later their pup sleeps outside of the crate? (If not in your bed, then at least their own non-crate bed?) Or do most sleep in their crate even past puppyhood?

[Michele Kiss]

@Christina HAHAHAA are you serious?! I knew he liked water but that's hilarious. Crazy pup ;-) 

[Linda And Loo]

All this talk about crates and when to give dogs their freedom got me thinking that maybe I should give my dogs abit more freedom! Today I went out for a short jog and bike ride and I did not put them in their crates, just told them I would be back soon! After about 45 min, I returned and found them waiting for me in their crates. They did not come out until I gave them the command to come! I guess old habits are hard to break! They must feel secure in their crates! They are good dogs!

[Christina Hodgson]

Callie never liked sleeping in her crate from the very beginning. We had blocked off the back hallway for her and she was confined in there for the first two weeks anyways, and she really preferred sleeping on the cooler tile floor. For the first two days we woke up every 2 hours to get a handle on when she needs to potty at night, and now we just wake her up then and go for a potty break and then straight back to sleep in the hallway. 

[Jolene, Sassparilla & Josie]

We have the extra tall bindaboo pet gates with swing door and love them. Tall enough to keep dogs safe in back room and with the swing gate easy for us (and my 90 yr old mom) to get in and out. Amazon has some great deals with extenders for wider doorways.

[Jaime + Oliver]

We stopping nighttime crating around 6 months once we had several consistent months of no potty accidents.  Oliver never really took to his crate (until recently at 1yr) and was also never a chewer/destructive so we gave him freedom earlier than we planned.  At night Oliver visits the bed, but prefers to sleep on the cooler wood floor.