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  1. #1
    Senior Dog bmathers's Avatar
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    Crating at night

    Diggity has never had an accident in his crate, either overnight or during brief daytime cratings. He’s also a great sleeper (thank goodness) and goes to sleep around 9:30pm until 7am. His crate is in the bedroom, so he’s not alone at night. At some point, I’d like to free him from his overnight crate, but I don’t want to introduce problems. When do you typically stop crating at night?


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  2. #2
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    I think we didn't let Chase sleep out of his crate until he was 2 years old- he would gnaw on things and he was a sock eater so we were pretty cautious with him. I think Lark was out by 9 or 10 months. Henry, at 5 months, is still in his crate overnight. I kept the crate in the bedroom with the door open for a while so they could go in there and sleep if they wanted. Eventually I took the crate away and they'd just sleep on a (dog) bed or on the rug. If he's good during the day when you're around and doesn't need to be crated, maybe he's ready. If you let him out overnight, I'd probably close the bedroom door so he doesn't go out and roam around the house and get into stuff while you're sleeping. Leave the crate in the bedroom with the door open and see what happens. You always have the option of going back to crating if it's not working.

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  4. #3
    Senior Dog MightyThor's Avatar
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    Two things: puppy has to easily be able to sleep through the night and all tempting chewables are removed from the bedroom. Both thor and
    Barley sleep in bed with us, and they were both given the privilege when the above two conditions were met.
    We sleep with the bedroom door closed so there is no freedom beyond the bedroom at night. Whenever there is uncertainty - puppy didn’t poop before bed, someone is acting pukey - they are crated for the night.

    Daytime is very different. The puppy is crated when he can’t be supervised. The 5 year old has free reign.
    Mighty Thor, "So Much Dog", born 1/6/2014
    And baby Barley, born 3/9/2018

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  6. #4
    Senior Dog Labradorks's Avatar
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    Depends on the pup! My older dog was around 18 months or two years old. Middle dog was about six months old. Presto could probably handle it as of a month or so ago, and I was thinking about it, but then he figured out he could get through the cat hole in the baby gate that is supposed to keep the dogs out of the litter box. Once he's outgrown the cat hole, and I hope we don't find out the hard way, I'll let him sleep outside of the crate if he wants to.

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  8. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Labradorks View Post
    Depends on the pup! My older dog was around 18 months or two years old. Middle dog was about six months old. Presto could probably handle it as of a month or so ago, and I was thinking about it, but then he figured out he could get through the cat hole in the baby gate that is supposed to keep the dogs out of the litter box. Once he's outgrown the cat hole, and I hope we don't find out the hard way, I'll let him sleep outside of the crate if he wants to.
    Re: the cat hole

    We had a cat room/holes next to both gates when we got Sunnie. The holes were barely wide enough for our fat cat to squeeze through but keep Baffle out (no chasing/speed for going through, just food/water/box). Sunnie was plump ("had a litter of puppies") and so not smaller than Baffle. We thought things were going to be just fine. What we didn't know was that she was pregnant at that time and starving because she was eating for six. She got through the holes. We slimmed them down so Trouble could barely get through. Sunnie squeezed through. We lengthened the holes and that finally thwarted Sunnie. When we found out she was pregnant and started feeding her more, she stopped showing futile interest in the hole.

    So you might need to work on those holes if Presto is determined.

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  10. #6
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    After the first night in our house Oban's crate door was left open. He'd pee'd in it, I was following the advice to ignore his cries and shrieks and when I couldn't take it anymore I found him soaked in urine, shivering and cold. NO more closed door. But he was in our gated kitchen. From then on, if I didn't make it down in time, he left the crate to pee or poop on the kitchen floor, well away from the crate.

    At 5.5 months he'd been clean overnight for a month so I gave him free run of the house. The first night he slept on the mat on the floor beside my bed. EVer after that he slept on his own bed on the floor at the foot of our bed and not one mistake or one single instance of getting into mischief. It also, being free at night, made a really big difference in his daytime behaviour. Before he'd charge from room to room as if to see what might have changed overnight while he'd been incarcerated in the kitchen. That just stopped, it was like his calm down button got switched ON when he was able to be free at night, even though all he did at night was sleep.
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  12. #7
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    Depends on the dog. We've had the griff out at night since she was 4 months old. Maybe a potty or two by the backdoor but that's why we have stained concrete in our downstairs. She's crated while I am at work, so I want her out at night.

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  14. #8
    Real Retriever Beth C's Avatar
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    All of our dogs are crated, no matter what their age. We don't like dogs on our bed, and they'll always sneak up there unless we make sure they can't.

  15. #9
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    Depends on the dog, but I'd say most between 4-6 months. Had nothing to do with house-training, it was dependent on whether they could be trusted not to destroy stuff overnight. To this day they are still confined to the bedrooms with us (or the kids). Not so much because we are afraid of what they will do, but more because it's hard to sleep with them wandering in and out up and down.
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  17. #10
    Senior Dog bmathers's Avatar
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    Crating at night

    Thanks for all your responses and thoughts!

    I’d like him to sleep on the bed at some point, but on a blanket on the end of the bed like where Sprocket slept. I don’t think he’s ready yet, plus he is doing super well in his crate at night. He loves his routine and still uses his snuggle puppy as a pillow. (I still turn on the heartbeat!) He even moves it around in his crate to keep using it as his pillow. Still, there are times (especially right after he’s had a bath, like last night) that I’m tempted!


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