I've been wrestling with this whole de-crating idea for a few weeks now and I wanna do it with Arnie. He is 10 months old now, so clean and sleeps through and all those things are under control. He also doesn't chew on things he's not supposed to anymore. The last few nights we have been putting him in his crate and not locking it. He will eventually figure this out and go find himself a spot on the lounge or the footstool or wherever he feels most comfy. I would prefer for him to sleep on a doggy bed that we will put in the place of his crate, but I think he will just wander and find something more appealing to sleep on. Any ideas on how to make this happen? I know it is "place training" that can solve this, but what is the best way to do this and train him to sleep on his bed without wandering?
You want to "place" trace him to stay in one spot all night? I think that will be hard to do with you asleep. In obedience the longest stays we did were three minutes. Even if the dog does not have to hold a position all night seems awfully ambitious. Plus, not to sound mean, but it does sound a bit mean to the dog to expect him to stay on his bed all night especially in summer when he might want to find a cool spot. Oban is constantly moving to find a cooler spot, even in winter. Often he sprawls on the hardwood, no bed at all. We did though, train certain places were available to the dog only by invitation. The big chairs and chesterfield and our bed. That was with Jet and I did check when coming home from work, no indented, warm, hairy spots on the chesterfield, she did not get up on it. Maybe that would be solution for you? Allow certain spots and he can pick from them? Oban was 5.5 months old the first time I left him out of the gated kitchen on his own all night. He curled up on the mat beside my bed and didn't move all night. After that he slept on his own bed at the foot of ours and moved off to the bare floor and back to his bed.
Thanks @Snowshoe. Yeah I am thinking now, after having typed it all out, that training him to sleep on a single bed all night might be a bit ambitious. His place training isn't too bad anyway, so would the best way to move forward be to take the crate down and get him a nice bed in its place and just be ok with the fact that he is going to move around throughout the night? To be honest, I'm not hating that idea. I am happy for him to move around, I just want him to understand that that is his bed (when I get him a nice bed), and that is where he is supposed to sleep
Give him an option or two, but certainly don't expect him to stay there all night. As Snowshoe said, it's just not reasonable to expect him to stay in one spot all night. Plus, if you give him his "place" cue at bed time, you're just going to end up destroying that, as he will eventually move without being released. Block off any items of furniture you don't want him to get onto, and restrict where you allow him to go with doors. Other than that, appreciate that he'll make use of whatever space he is given.
We de-crated Quinn overnight as soon as she was sleeping through the night (no potty breaks)...we kept her crate up in our room with the door open and added another dog bed at the foot of our bed. She had the option between those two beds, and ours. We kept the door shut for a couple months and for months now she has had free range of the house over night, but rarely leaves the bedroom unless there is someone still up and about...when everyone goes to bed, she does too and stays in the room, even with the door open. We have never had a problem with chewing, but have a chew toy in the room that she will sometimes chew if she wakes up early!
Pretty much the goal that most people strive for with crate training is a sleep through, dry and no chewing puppy? We've had that for months now.
Betsy slept downstairs until she was about 5 months, then weedled her way upstairs to sleep with the rest of us. She is pretty good. She finds herself a spot, and we encourage her into a dog bed or towards the bottom of the human bed by giving her treats when she is where we want her to be. We don't attempt to tell her to 'stay' that would be pointless. We just encourage her to think 'this is a good place to be' by dropping treats in front of her nose when she is where we want her to be. Working ok, so far....
Bailey started off in a crate by our bed and once he outgrew that he got a dog bed in its place - think he was about 12 weeks old but as he was dry all night and slept really well it seemed like a good time to do it. Apart from the odd sock that he finds he doesn't chew anything he shouldn't. He gets a bedtime biscuit when we go to bed (shoots upstairs and onto his bed now) settles on his bed for about 30 seconds then proceeds to try every bit of floor in the room and landing before going back to his bed when the lights and tv go off. Funnily enough I am usually woken in the morning with a four legged bed companion (who hogs the duvet!).
Didn't you say a few weeks ago that Arnie was very attached to his crate? What's made you change your mind? I was told by a breeder family friend to remove the crate and put a dog bed in its place (when the time comes). When I eventually de-crate Xena I'll do what you're doing - leave the door open and see what happens. I'm planning to leave her in the crate until at least 12 months and go from there.
We had a different approach. We accidentally fell asleep on the sofa while watching the telly. Nothing was destroyed by morning, so decided the time was right
I'd love to decrate Stanley but he's still a bit of a liability when he gets bored bless him. Never gets left longer than 3 hours maximum but he's recently gotten the skirting board. So I think we've got a few more months of crate ahead of us. We've actually just bought a new one - we had a 36inch one which was fine when he was laid down. He could stretch, turn round etc. But when he sat up he was a bit cramped and I didn't like it. So he's got a 42inch one now. So it's bigger and uglier Who would have thought the teeny tiny 2kg we brought home would've ever outgrown that crate. Definitely not me!
Mine are de-crated at six months old. I simply put the pen down and leave their bed where the pen was. I use anti-chew stuff on skirting boards etc. All has been well so far (three pups not counting Mollie). Tatze has a new arrangement at the end of the utility room, she won't sleep unless I shut the gate She doesn't sleep in the same room as the pups as they move on to, often, be only dogs and need to learn to sleep alone.
@Boogie Wow, what a nice gate. Our gates are homemade and we did not anticipate that at 9 years old we'd still be using them. They are very sturdy but not very attractive. Due to a dog and a cat with dietary limitations the gates are still in use.
He's attached in the sense that he will go there at night with no prompting when he knows it's bed time. Our routine is to watch some Tele, where he just chills, and then when we go to bed I walk him to the back door, open it and he goes toilet, comes back and walk straight into his crate with no prompting. Plops down and sleeps. I only wanna get rid of it as it's an eyesore.
Last night I took the crate down and just had his doggy bed there. He did fine, I think. I think he spent most of the night there, which is a successful experiment
How do you know when they're ready?! My guy is only 14 weeks, but the thought of not having him contained at night scares me haha. I'm worried he won't sleep and he'll just eat my house.
We only used the crate over night for potty training - I believe we de-crated her by 3.5 months over night. She settled better and slept wayyy longer outside of the crate. We contained Quinn to our bedroom for a couple of months, but that was it. She was never destructive though - she likes to be in whatever room the people are in.
We put him to bed last night with no crate, just on his bed, and when we woke up this morning he was still there. Success!!
Corona is a little over 4 months and is a very big girl already at 39.6lbs and very long. Long legs too. We have two 36 inch crates, one in our room and one on the main floor. I do not want to purchase two 42inch crates, so last night, decided to give it a try. We kept the crate door open and put her favorite living room pillow next to the bed. I also gated the area so she couldn't go far. Aside from putting her 2 front paws on the bed a few times, in an attempt to join us, she slept on her pillow until morning. I don't think she went in her crate once. She will DEFINITELY be staying crated during the day though. I don't trust her one bit when she's wide awake! Just ask my Christmas tree! Lol
