# Sleeping Out of Crate at Night



## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Yes, my girls have always maintained their comfort with crates even though they have not been locked in one since they were young - I keep soft sided crates open around the house, and they use them when they wasn't personal space.
In fact when I set up Timi's crate pending her arrival, I hade to keep the door shut to keep Tangee and Teaka out of it.
As far as the bed goes, I think that Dulcie should know the difference between that and furniture. My girls are allowed on the furniture, but we have a no dogs on the bed without humans rule, and they completely respect that.


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

When I first got Molly she was 16 weeks old and not crate trained......She had to learn to accept being in a crate and thankfully she accepted it really easily. By the time she was 10 months old she had ditched the crate and is now happier sleeping with me. I am glad I did the initial crate training though, because to this day she has no problem being in one. I can't say she loves being crated, but she settles in one quickly and quietly when at the groomers or vet or as necessary! Her crate is still in my bedroom with the door open and occassionally she'll still check it out or hide a treat in it!LOL!
As far as having her in your bed, don't be surprised if she initially will jump up on it and lie next to you when invited, but then leaves to settle somewhere else............Molly always comes to bed with me but after making sure I'm okay, she finds the bathroom rug cooler, and if she does stay, prefers the foot of the bed ...........She has developed her own bedtime rituals!


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

Misha was only crated very rarely and at a very young age. She was sleeping in bed with us from day 1. Recently when she was spayed I got back out the crate and she was absolutely fine in there! lol 

She does spend a day every two weeks at the groomer and she is in a cage there (with Emilio) and does fine.


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## Naira (Jan 9, 2015)

I think she will maintain her comfort in the crate.

Crating at night is always the first thing to go for me. Maybe keep her in the room with the door closed, and then next time with the door open in a certain part of the house and expand from there. 

Naira used to sleep in the bed with me, but at around 5 months old she didn't want to anymore. Maybe it was too hot. Oddly enough, last night she slept in the bed with me the whole night. Maybe because it's getting colder. 

She sleeps where she wants and when I went through the process of phasing out the crate, I was actually working night shifts. So I tried her independence while I was gone on night shift and left her uncrated at night. I feel like it sets them up for more success than during the day time because most likely they will be less active at night.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

I would keep the crate available at night for her but not close the door, since you want to give her free reign of the house. She will still go in there because she seems to like it, so you won't have any problems crating her later on when needed.

As for going up on the bed, I don't think she'll associate it with the couch, but she very well might try to get up on your son's bed !


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Dechi said:


> I would keep the crate available at night for her but not close the door, since you want to give her free reign of the house. She will still go in there because she seems to like it, so you won't have any problems crating her later on when needed.
> 
> As for going up on the bed, I don't think she'll associate it with the couch, but she very well might try to get up on your son's bed !


Two excellent points!

My son is in college now and sharing a flat with his twin brother. However, when I first got Dulcie, I still had both boys at home, which is why I got off on that foot right from the start. My son is fine with her as long as he doesn't get his hands right into her skin (and touches his eyes) or get her saliva on him (unlike with most shedding dogs and cats - he cannot even enter a room with shedding animals without being red-eyed and miserable within minutes)-- so I definitely wanted to maintain that comfort for him. Now, it is no longer an issue as he has his own bed in his own digs.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Dogs don't generalize behavior that well and that is exactly why it is very easy to teach them that they're allowed on this piece of furniture, but not that one...this bed, but not that other one. A little work in showing and preventing, you should have it made. 

I think that if Dulcie already likes the crate, she'll be able to be fine in it intermittently, though she may find that it's _even_ better sleeping with somebody. So, if you want to experiment with that, I'd still keep her on a variable schedule where she is put to bed at night in her crate on some nights and some where she gets to sleep where you'd like her to sleep.

For me, my poodles are so used to sleeping in their own crate downstairs at night and Jose` has long slept with me on my bed which is upstairs. The Poodles are perfectly happy there and I close their doors and put a light blanket over the crates. They go in at about the same time every night on their own. They really love their crates. I think I'll just keep it that way. I am afraid to have them sleep with me because my bed is quite high up and they're just so fragile....if they ever attempted to jump off or if they fell off, that worries me. Jose`', on the other hand is very reliable about staying put until I lift him down. He and my other Chihuahua use to leap off just fine when they were younger. They were tough little mountain dogs. But when they got older, we put a stop to that. So I don't think I'll change what ain't broke with these Poodlens. 

As far as alerting if there is something wrong, I'll still hear them and they can still detect anything that's amiss. Gosh, they can hear the second someone steps foot in the driveway it seems. lol. I'd just as soon keep them safe in their crates if a bad guy came in or something.

Anyhow, do whatever is workable for your life style and Dulcie will adapt just fine, no doubt.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

Somewhere between 6 months and a year, I start letting the dogs come up and sleep in our bedroom instead of in the crate. I've never had this affect their comfort being crated. 2 of my dogs are crated all day while I'm at work, and 2 have the run of the house most days. All 4, however, are well behaved and very comfortable whenever they need to be crated.

And....I gave up my furniture to the dogs years ago!


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## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

I agree it's time to let Dulcie decide She can sleep in the crate with the door open or whatever spot on the floor appeals. Buck has a really nice dog bed in our bedroom, but he prefers the hardwood floor beside it, if he's not taking up 3/4 of our bed! I feel like he's earned his freedom after no accidents in well over a year.


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## glorybeecosta (Nov 11, 2014)

My girls sleep in bed with me, but they do not jump on anything, so it is not a problem. The will stay in the crate but not to exciting for them. They go there when I have clients, but the clients say oh let them out.


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Thanks everyone! I'm going to give her the opportunity to get up on my bed if she would like to - and also use the crate a couple of nights each week. The rest of the time, the crate will still be there (it does have that wonderful memory foam bedding she loves) - I won't be surprised if she spends some time with me and most of the night in her comfy crate (with the gate open). Thanks for the input!


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## Mvinotime (May 25, 2015)

My spoo pup was crated next to my bed the first month ( he came home at eight weeks) and at about three mos I stopped crating at night and just have him the run of our room. I have four Chinese Cresteds...my nakeds sleep in bed under the covers lol my puffs sleep on beds on the floor and from the first day I started letting him out he has done great. Never had an accident, I took him out during night for awhile but do not do that any longer he is five mos old now. He sleeps is couple different spots in our room. He likes the AC vent on the floor when it's hot and goes to his big bed when it gets cooler and he also likes the wood floor the majority of the time. He is not allowed on our bed however and has never tried. He stays in a crate during day four day a week when I am at work and he loves it. Goes right in as soon as I say go to your room. Not sleeping in it at night made no difference in his daytime crating. I think he much prefers being loose at night and it has worked great for us.


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## Dechi (Aug 22, 2015)

Nifty, where did you get that memory foam bedding ? I'd like a small version for my Tpoo.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

We let Lily and Peeves start sleeping out of their crates between 7 and 9 months old (earlier for Peeves, later for Lily). Not what I would have planned on but BF took Javelin out of his crate while I was away with Lily when he was only nine weeks old and put him on the bed. So, that is where he slept until he got big enough to decide to get off on his own. He has been very good about letting us know when he needed to go out and has not been a shoe and furniture chewer for the most part. So he is a crate fail for the time being. I am teaching him to relax in a soft crate during the day since I will need him to be crate savvy to travel.

Lily happily goes into her crate at shows and never sleeps in one at home. Peeves also readily goes into his crate at shows. I don't think it would be confusing to Dulcie at all to let her sleep out. I think just leaving the crate up and the door open will give her the opportunity to show you what she really wants to do. You have done such wonderful things with her so I am sure she won't disappoint you!

Dechi we have memory foam dog beds from LLBean. http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/8393...ed-set-rectangular?feat=31-134-507408-cprrtop


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## nifty (Aug 2, 2013)

Thanks for the vote of confidence, lily cd re! 

Dechi, the memory foam bed that I purchased for Dulcie fits snugly and perfectly inside her large Midwest steel crate, although it does not have to be put inside a crate. I love that it has the two covers (so I can still have it covered when I wash one) and it also has an inside waterproof cover. The bed arrived very flat and you have to let it sit out of its packaging for a couple of hours to puff out to its actual size and thickness. This took only an hour or so for me, and I left it longer to be sure. It gets much bigger.

Dulcie loves this bed and I like that it seems to provide her with excellent comfort and support. I also really really like the sturdy denim cover. The microfiber one is nice too, but I admit I use the denim almost exclusively. It is just the right thing, in my opinion - nothing to flatten or get shabby looking over time - and again Dulcie seems to find it exactly right for her (neither too hot nor too cold, not too fluffy and not too hard). 

I got it on Amazon and here is a screen shot of the page:


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## Michelle (Nov 16, 2009)

None of our dogs stopped liking their crate. 

When someone is home Yuki is out of his crate and it is left open. My golden loves to snuggle up in there when it is unoccupied and Atticus will even go in there and take a nap. But Yuki wont go in unless I ask him too...or he knows its getting close to dinner time (he gets fed in his crate). 

My corgi LOVED his crate. We left the door open 24/7 and he would sleep in it all day while everyone was at work and sleep in my room at night, all the way up until he passed away...it was his little "den". He even hid stuff in the back under his blankets lol.

Like everyone else said, I'd just leave the door open and let her decide


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## ApricotsRock (Jan 10, 2014)

Rookie goes in his crate when we are not home, but will not go in there on his own.

He sleeps with us in our bed at night.


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