LOL... You know how I feel about this subject!
With this cold front coming in my mobilty has been crippled. I was wondering if i let Molly sleep with me for a night or two if that would be the end of nightime crating or create a winning issue. I have a dog door that she can get out of if not in her crate. I do let her nap with me during the day. I just don't want to start an unwanted thing at night. I triied to take her out but she looked at me yawned and went back to sleep.
LOL... You know how I feel about this subject!
Jollymolly (01-07-2015)
That may be somewhat dog dependent. I have let Ava sleep outside the crate a few times with no ill effects to the routine of sleeping in the crate. But those were all isolated incidents, not multiple nights in a row.
What has caused Ava to think she doesn't need to be in the crate is the addition of a foster dog. Apparently she feels that because that dog is in a crate at night, she doesn't need to be in a crate. She doesn't protest she just doesn't go in the crate immediately like she normally does, I have to tell her.
My working dog sleeps on the bed with us at night. He is crated during the day if he isn't with me. I can also crate him at night and he is fine in the crate. Occasionally, if he stays with family - they will crate him at night; occasionally we do as well. The bed has rules. The bed belongs to me. The minute a dog decides it's their bed is the minute I kick them off. He is the last one up. Once we are settled, we call him up and he is allowed up. No toys on the bed. No playing on the bed. He is allowed to leave the bed in the night if he gets hot. He can lay on the floor, or his crate which we leave open. I sleep with the bedroom door open, but he knows that leaving the bedroom is not allowed at night (unless I tell him it's okay to leave to check out a sound or something).
I usually allow dogs to stay on the bed. There has to be rules though, because the minute they believe it's their bed is when they start disliking the crate. I know that my dog is much more comfortable on the bed than he is in the crate. He doesn't fight the crate if I tell him to "go to bed" at night. He still walks right in and lays down. If you have a dog that has been really successful with crate training - bed is okay so long as there are rules. Successful to me means no luring, no bribing, no treats to get the dog into the crate etc. My command to crate up is "go to bed". I can say "go to bed" anywhere in the house and I will find him in his crate shortly after.
Jollymolly (01-07-2015), MikeLynn (01-07-2015), sheltieluver (01-07-2015), SoapySophie (01-07-2015)
I've known a lot of people who let their puppies sleep with them "just one time" and didn't sleep again for another two weeks or so when they tried to crate them again.
If you are okay with her sleeping in the bed with you, it should be fine. Most puppies can sleep through the night without going potty fairly early on, depending on the pup.
And no matter how big your bed is, it won't be big enough.
Dallas dawg (01-10-2015), doubledip1 (01-07-2015), Georgie (01-07-2015), Jeff (01-07-2015), Jollymolly (01-07-2015), LucyTudeOn4Feet (01-07-2015)
LOL, this made me laugh.
Anyway, I do let Hemi sleep with me, now. However as a puppy and he was still learning, one of the things I did was only on weekends. We still got up at 7 a.m. went potty had breakfast and then we went back to bed, however this time he got to sleep in bed with me. He loved it and looked forward to weekend mornings or sleep in mornings. Other than he was crated at night until 6 months. Which then I left his door open. His choice, he quite often preferred his crate and while he may start out in my bed he would be in his crate by morning. I did have the bedroom door closed and all toys were out of the room, something I still do ever single night is take a toy or two out of the bedroom before bed. Then I got Hemi his own bed and removed the crate. He was still crated during the day but at night I gave him his freedom. Now he pretty much splits his time my bed or his.
Like anything though he had to learn the rules and sometimes he needed to be reminded. Still does. For Example He liked to lay between my legs. Which would wake me up because my legs are trapped. So basically when he would lay there, I unceremoniously use all my strength and rolled over, untucking the sheets and everything, waking him up by flipping him over on the other side of the bed. After a few times he learned if he doesn't want to take a ride in the middle of the night, down lay between my legs. This recently started again a few weeks again and it only took a couple reminders by flipping him over that we don't want to lay between dads legs at night. There are other places to lay on the huge bed than on top of me.
Jollymolly (01-07-2015)
Mel has slept on her half of the, pretty large, bed since day one; she's never had an accident there, well once, but that was my fault, and I really wouldn't have it any other way. Having the bed just for myself feels lonely, and I really hate it.
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Jollymolly (01-07-2015)
The bigger issue is Molly goes to sleep at 6pm and i have tried with all my might to change this. She does have one last potty break around 10 or 11 and then she will sleep till I get up. Usally between 4-6 am. I do let her nap with me during the day. My bed is shared with my cat and other dog and I am just not sure if ill be able to take all the body heat.
As one of my friends told me when I let Thor in the bed, "Best worst decision of your life".
I get kicked and walked on and pushed off of the bed, but spending those few minutes in the morning snuggling with my boy are just the best.
I do notice that once it's warm out or he gets too overheated Thor will get out of bed on his own and sleep on the floor next to the bed. Right now, in winter, he'll start under the covers. About an hour after going to bed he'll wiggle out from the covers and curl up on the floor. It only takes him about 5 minutes to realize he's cold and he'll move back into bed, this time on top of the covers.
Jollymolly (01-07-2015)
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