[Guest]

Eventually I would like to get Bruce his own bed to sleep on at night instead of his crate.  I feel bad that during the day he's in and out of crate till we're both home, and would like for him to have his own dog bed and some freedom at night.  The problem is, every morning when he wakes up in his crate, he barks to go out and then pees and poops almost immediatley, we really have to rush him to the door.  I'm thinking if he's not in the crate and we are not fast enough, he'll just go to bathroom on his own.  He's 13 weeks old and doing pretty good on his house training.  We probably take him out over 12 times a day so he won't go in the house although.  

Question is, how long should I continue to have him in his crate at night?  Do most people here use a crate every night regardless of their dogs age?

Thanks for any information.  I have more recent pictures that i'll put up when I get home.  He's doing very well with commands!

 

[southerngirls]

I have a 2yr old and a 9 month old and they are both crated at night. the  only times i have not crated them is when i would be gone excessivly during the day so they would stay in my room at night with me. This has happened 2 times in the past 7 months. I dont let either of my girls have free reign but there are member who do.

 

[sully]

You'll probably get a bunch of different views on this one.    Just from reading the board, some people crate their dogs at night for their entire lives, some just a few years, and some not at all.  Personally I think whatever works best for you and your dog is the way to go.  How is he in the crate?  If he's fine in the crate then that's a good thing, but I see your take about all that time spent in the crate, night and day.  I only crate Oggie when I can't watch him which is mostly when I'm not home.  He's 17 weeks now and at first I tried to crate him at night but he just hated it, I soon realized he was perfectly behaved if I let him sleep on the floor next to my bed.  He sleeps like a baby all night and when he gets up, I know it's time to take him out.  But all dogs are different, some can not be trusted with that freedom at night.   My problem is he's not well behaved when I do need him to use the crate, so it's kinda a catch 22.

 

[HannaBanana]

At 13 weeks they still dont have "that" much control of their bladder.

 

[samsonsmom]

It's definitely a personal opinion. I like the fact that mine are not confined at night, but, I would keep a puppy crated until I truly felt they were totally house broken and also wouldn't get into things while we are sleeping....Some dogs actually enjoy their crate and use it as a nest or a place to get away from things even after they are allowed their freedom, mine never did get to that stage, but some do...So, you have to make your own decision as far as when to let Bruce stay out of his crate at night

 

[Guest]

Well we have a hit a speed bump in crate training.  Everything was on the up and up, he would go in there at night with out a wimper... until... we started letting him sleep on the bed after he went out to pee in the morning.  

He wakes up between 4 and 5 a.m. every morning, pees immediatley outside, then wants to go back to bed, so we let him sleep with us.  After a few mornings of him sleeping on our bed, he did not want to sleep anywhere else, so its like we are breaking him into his crate again.  I'll hold off for awhile on the dog bed, maybe until Christmas.  Thanks for the quick responses!

 

[HoosiersDaddy]

Hoosier is 8 months and we just took him out of the crate. Thats only because we  are 95% sure he is potty trained. He also communicates to us now when he has to go. With us, the crate was just too big in our small bedroom and he was beginning to outgrow it. He doesn't have full reign of the house though...we close the bedroom door. Occasionally, he gets up and walks around a bit, but goes back to sleep quickly. We've been at it for about 3 weeks now and he's only gotten me up in the middle of the night twice.

 

[Guest]

If we take him out to pee at 9:30 at night, should he be able to sleep till at least 4 a.m?  He started off sleeping till 4, but now he's waking up at 2 a.m. with the crying.  Last night, I opened his door to his crate and he didn't even want to come out at first, I picked him up and brought him outside and he did pee.  But, should we ignore his wimpering and make him wait till 4 a.m?

 

[sully]

13 weeks is pretty young, he' cant hold it very long.  You should expect to have to get up at least once during the night for even maybe a couple more weeks.  Oggie finally is able to hold it through the night, but we don't go to sleep until about 11 pm and he can make it until 5 or 6.  And he's 18 weeks today.

 

[samsonsmom]

At that age, you can expect to have to make a trip outside sometime during the nite for a bit, he's still a baby and he just can't hold it that long..Had to laugh at how easily he got used to pilling up in the bed with you, boy they get spoiled easily, don't they?

 

[sharonL]

Like Hoosier.....Fiona has just started staying out of her crate at night for about the last 3 weeks so that would have made her 7 1/2 months old when we left her out.  She has not had any accidents in the house since we started leaving her out.  The only time she is in her crate is if we are leaving the house and she would be alone.  

Even though she is perfect when we are here, when we leave her alone she will always find something to chew (toilet paper, magazines or even sit and destroy a toy) so even though I trust her on not going to the bathroom in the house I do not trust her to not tear something up.

I could not have left her out at 13 weeks....she would have went on the floor.  I think at 13 weeks we were still letting her out during the night.

I agree it all depends on the doggie itself, but at 13 weeks it would be alot to expect....Fiona does not have a problem with her crate, she really likes it and I will sometimes find her sleeping in it during the day and I find her sleeping in it at night too even when I am home.  We just leave the door open.....