[TZel]

Sam has slept in a crate since we got him. He is now about 17 weeks old and has no accidents inside the house anymore. We would like for him to sleep in a dog bed on the floor at night instead of in the crate. How to we make the transition?

 

[PaddleAddict]

Just curious, but why do you wish to eliminate the crate? My puppy loves his crate. He happily goes in at night and sleeps away in his cozy den. Even if my pup was completely housetrained, at this young age I would worry that he might roam or get into something he shouldn't while we're sleeping. He might also use his freedom to wake us up, LOL!

I am totally jealous that your pup is housetrained at 17 weeks!!! At 6 months old, Jager is not even close, although things are much better these days.

 

[Taxi]

At 17 weeks he can still get into a lot of trouble... and even hurt himself. You could setup a pen which would get him out of the crate but would not give him total freedom.

 

[Olie]

My dogs range from 10 months to 2 + years. Mine are all crated at bedtime. They love it. As a matter of fact, Suri did not need to be in the crate - but she would get up throughout the night, we got her a big crate and now she sleeps happliy through the night with the other dogs.

He is still very young - I wouldn't rush it if he's good with it. Once he is older and not getting into things then leave the crate open. Good question.

 

[AgilityIG]

+1 on what everyone was saying - I think Vinnie slept in a kennel until he was at least six months and even that was pushing it for me, but he was ultra good at night. My next recent puppy, Frank (seven years ago) slept in a kennel until he was a year old. I think Taxi has a good idea if you really don't want him in a kennel - get an ex-pen and a dog bed for him, but be prepared for mistakes.

 

[partial2poodles]

I would put a very large dog pad or bed inside the cage....eventually take the pad out and fold the cage & slide it under the bed.

 

[plumcrazy]

All my dogs like their crates too - but they all sleep in bed with us at night! (Except Meau - she sleeps in Katy's bed...)

It is my choice (and by my invitation) that the girls get to sleep with us and it's because *I* love to sleep with a pack of dogs :lol: When Lucy was around 12 to 14 weeks old, I just opened the crate door and let her decide where she wanted to sleep. I have a baby gate up in the doorway of my bedroom so the dogs have to stay in the room with us - Before Lucy came to live with us, I was wondering where all the cat food was disappearing to and found out that Hannah Banana was sneaking out at night and eating all their food!

For the first couple of weeks with the open crate, Lucy would start the night in bed with us and then I'd discover that she'd slide down the ramp at the foot of our bed and curl up inside her crate... Now she's in bed with us 75% of the time and lying on the floor for the other 25%. I put the crate away to make more space in our bedroom, and she'd outgrown it anyway. Lucy was pretty much housetrained by that time - we've never had an accident in our room...

I don't know if this helps you much since it was a transition from a crate to OUR bed, not a dog bed, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

 

[Rocketagility]

Like people have said pups can get into trouble but closing a bedroom door will contain the pup. The one main problem I see is chewing if your puppy is a chewer he can chew electric cords and I don't have to tell you that is not good if you are sleeping. But if your puppy sleeps threw the night and you don't have much of a chewer then give your pup a bed and train him to go lay on it. As for the kennel keep it and use it you never know when you might need to put your dog away in a safe place.

 

[Chagall's mom]

I was so glad to read your post! I will now admit that Chagall sleeps in our bed with us every night and has since he's about six months old, he's a year old now. He is the world's best cuddler, stays quiet and still all night long and is good about waiting to be invited up and then, okay, I might as well admit this too, carried off the bed in the morning. I was very concerned that allowing him this privilege would undermine my "authority figure" status with him, but I think because he has to "sit" and wait to be invited up he continues to agree to let me be "the leader"'! lol

When we travel and he stays at his dog sitter's, he sleeps nicely all night in his crate. We also have an indoor ex-pen for him. When I'm home I leave the crate and ex pen doors open so he can go in and of out them as he chooses. When I'm out, I can leave him in either one (door closed) and he's fine. He was very quick and easy to housetrain as a young pup. I used the crate religiously then (24/7 when he wasn't being watched) and he kept it clean as a whistle. He doesn't go up on any other furniture in the house, we don't "invite" him to and he's got that figured out. He's so darn smart! Now if only I could teach him to make up the bed....

 

[bluespoomommy]

we just finished mochi's crate to bed transition. we crated her every night beside our bed and whenever we went out. she had just turned 8 months old when we started to test her out of the crate. she had been accident free in the home for about 2 months, so we thought we'd give it a go.

first night, didn't put the crate away, but she settled down nicely in her dog bed at the foot of our bed. she got up in the middle of the night and started barking. not sure why, she probably heard something that spooked her. so we immediately put her back in her crate for the rest of the night. 2nd night, same thing happened, so she was put back into the crate.

3rd night she was fine so she slept on her dog bed the entire evening and we have had no more waking in the middle of the night since. no accidents in the bedroom. after a couple of weeks, we decided to let her stay in our bedroom (behind the dog gate) while we went out for a couple of hours. mind you, the crate is still in the room, but she never goes in on her own. each time we'd test her out by leaving for a longer duration. now after a week of that and no accidents, we finally put her crate away! whole process took almost a month, but she's very happy in her doggy bed now

oh and luckily, no unwanted chewing behavior either!

P.S. your pup is still so young. wait until the teething is completely done and over with!

 

[TZel]

Thank you, everyone, for your great comments and suggestions! We have purchased a larger crate for Sam and he is adjusting to it. I think we will keep him in it at night until he is a big older. Thank you once again!