Do you crate new dogs/puppies overnight?

PWCorgi

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#1
The other thread that LostandConfused made got me wondering whether those of you who let dogs loose at night started that right away, or whether it was earned?

Right now we are crating Siri, but eventually I plan on letting her loose to sleep where she wants. She'll stay in an xpen/playpen style setup when we go to work, probably forever.

For those who started letting puppies sleep loose right away, how did that affect your housetraining?
 

yoko

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#2
Yoshi was 4 months when I got her so she was an older puppy. I don't know if that counts.

The first night I had her sleep in her crate but it was right next to my bed I could reach over to her at any time.

On the second night she didn't want to go in the crate. She wanted to cuddle and sleep with me. During the night she somehow got her paw stuck in the wire and started screaming.

She's been out during the night since then.

I did keep my door closed so whatever destructive things she did while I slept was kept in my room. I was able to keep most things out of her reach though so it wasn't that big of a deal.
 

Saeleofu

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#3
Gavroche was loose at night from day one. But that's sort of relative. He slept in bed under the blankets and didn't move from day one lol. He was also the only dog in the household at the time, and an adult dog.

Logan was crated overnight for...a while. Several months. He was a year old, and still a HUGE chewer. Once I could trust him to not chew absolutely everything in sight (like my diploma and my car keys), he was granted free access at night.

Both dogs are still confined to my room at night, and probably always will be, because I like to sleep with the door closed.
 
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#4
Yes, yes I do. When/if they get their freedom, I just play it by ear based on their behavior and trustworthiness.
 

milos_mommy

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#5
The first night I had Milo, he was in a little cat travel crate on my floor with a blanket in there...he was so cute and quiet while I got ready for bed and wrote about him in my journal. When I sat up to turn the light off, he was just lying there with his head on his paws, looking at me.

I got up, took him out, and pulled him into bed with me. He slept against my head. I took him out at 5am to potty, but he just laid down in the grass.

He was housebroken in about 3-4 days if we were careful about letting him out right away and keeping a schedule. (by housebroken, I mean he would go to the door in order to go potty and wait until he was outside, within reason).

ETA: he would NOT have been allowed loose overnight if he was able to jump off my bed :p he was stuck up there until he was probably 6 months old without an ottoman to jump on (which I pushed away at bedtime).
 

Laurelin

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#6
Well Summer was 4 when I got her and had been sleeping in her crate every night. I am a sucker though and pretty soon after I got her, she started sleeping on the bed.

Mia 'earned' getting to sleep on the bed after over 2 weeks of her screaming all night long. All. night. long. I was in an apartment and was sure my neighbors would be complaining. I got so fed up with it that I just said '**** it' and put her on the bed. Lo and behold, she actually slept.

Of course the downside is that nowadays she still cries if I make her sleep anywhere other than the bed. She also cries if I banish Summer from the bed for a night. I swear the two of them are too dependent on each other sometimes. So it sucks if they get sick. :rolleyes:
 
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#7
Traveler and Didgie started sleeping in bed with me right off the bat during the night, they weren't ever crated at night.

But, I do have really strict stay on the bed rules and am a really light sleeper so I wake up at any shuffling around and was able to take them out. I've never had an issue with them, no peeing in the bed or getting up and peeing. But again, light sleeper.

I think if you want her to just find a place to sleep you would be better crating.
 
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#8
Mine always, always sleep in a crate first. My 3 year old still doesn't have full night time privileges.

Rumor can sleep loose and has been allowed to since she was maybe two. I think it's pretty important that they learn to sleep in a crate because I sometimes travel with friends to dog shows and we will all crate the dogs overnight in the hotel with us.

I don't like to be woken up at night, so part of getting to sleep loose includes staying off the bed and settling down. If I hear a lot of up and down from the dog I will get up and put them in the crate. Zen is a bad pacer which is why he doesn't sleep loose very often. He also thinks that 6 am is a great time to get up every day, no matter how late we were up the night before. :)
 

Shai

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#9
Kim, Mira, and Cookie all started off crated at night and eventually earned the right to be free at night. Webster has slept loose at night pretty much since the beginning because he panicked in a crate at first. However he was a year old and already pretty much housetrained.

When Cookie broke her leg I was incredibly grateful for that foundation of sleeping in a crate at night because she had to for two months. She was fussy as first due to all the med and discomfort but I think it would have been much worse if it was a foreign concept.
 

DJEtzel

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#10
I've never not raised a dog, sleeping in their crate over night. I had a CRAZY SA foster Weim for a few weeks who slept in bed with us frequently right away, because she would break teeth/make her nose bleed and have explosive diarhea in the crate. The bed worked like a charm, but didn't help her SA any...

Sir was crated for the first few months at night and then we realized that he really didn't need to be (he was an adult) and could sleep in bed more happily with us.

Frag was crated at night until he was probably around a year old I'd say... Then he was very reliable out of the crate all of the time (that the garbage was picked up!) ;)

Recon is still crated and has been since we got him, but he's been earning more and more freedom out of the crate for longer periods of time, it's usually just easier to crate him even though he doesn't need to be crated while we shower, pick up the yard, etc. because I can't leave Sir unsupervised with anyone and he usually gets free roam of the house during the day. :p
 

Laurelin

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#11
My dogs are also trained not to get off the bed until I say so. If they need to go out (rare), they always let me know and I do my part to rush them outside.
 

Shai

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#13
My dogs are also trained not to get off the bed until I say so. If they need to go out (rare), they always let me know and I do my part to rush them outside.
Webster too!

Oh wait no he's just a heat-seeking missile who wouldn't leave the bed unless it's an emergency, and then he's so upset at leaving the warm that he grumbles and wakes me up.

Counting it.

:p
 

Emily

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#14
I start all puppies out in a crate, preferably in my bedroom. When they can make through the night easily (Keeva was making like 11 pm to 8 am no sweat, I think) I start them every night by putting them in the crate while I either shower/get ready for bed or just stay up another hour or so. Assuming they fall asleep, I then take them out, place them on the bed, and being puppies, they pretty much just stay asleep. I expect them to stay on the bed unless told to get down.

If they don't settle or fall asleep before I'm ready for bed, they stay in the crate. I always want my dogs to settle in a crate at night so I can crate them as need be.

I feel like a lot of people (in RL, not here) say they start the pups in a crate at night, then wake up for a middle-of-the-night potty run, and afterwards take the pup to bed. I'm super paranoid about avoiding that because I worry it's making the midnight potty run rewarding. LOL. So I never do that, out of paranoia, because I hate nighttime potty runs.

Anyway, once the dog is old enough to not destroy stuff in my room, they're aloud to get down. I keep a dog bed in my room for them, especially now with Blossom. She's kind of a horse that takes up my whole twin bed. :lol-sign:
 

adojrts

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#15
All my pups are crated at night at least until they are older pups and house trained. During the day, they are in an xpen when not under my direct supervision and they will sleep with me when I tap a nap :)
 

Southpaw

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#16
I feel like a lot of people (in RL, not here) say they start the pups in a crate at night, then wake up for a middle-of-the-night potty run, and afterwards take the pup to bed.
Because who wants to listen to them cry again when they're put back in the crate!!

I'm actually a horrible person - and super lazy? - Juno & Lucy never got middle of the night potty breaks as puppies.
 
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#17
I'm actually a horrible person - and super lazy? - Juno & Lucy never got middle of the night potty breaks as puppies.
Same here, unless they got up and needed to go. For the most part it was going out last thing at night and then at 5-7 am.
 

Emily

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#18
Because who wants to listen to them cry again when they're put back in the crate!!
LOL I know, I know. I always stuck it out though! Crate training is one house manner that I'm not lazy about - in fact, I'm quite anal. :lol-sign:
 

Southpaw

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#19
Same here, unless they got up and needed to go. For the most part it was going out last thing at night and then at 5-7 am.
Oh good it's not just me! :p But yeah, they'd go out at like 10 or 11pm and then again usually around 6am. I should add too that they weren't having accidents in their crates either, otherwise I probably would have sucked it up and done a midnight run. lol.
 

SpringerLover

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#20
I was super anal about Ruca's crate manners (mostly just because she was ridiculous about everything in general)... and she was crated maybe a handful of times in her new house? Somehow she hasn't destroyed enough for them to want to crate her again?

I worked so hard on those manners!

Lol!
 

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