Puppy Sleeping Arrangements

[macka]

Hi,

Apologies for the long-winded post. This is my first puppy and I need advice!

Our puppy (x-breed) is nearly 15 weeks old and we have had her since she was 10 weeks, and we love her!! She is an inside dog when we are home and she goes outside when we are not (though she still has access to the laundry from outside).

Since we got her she has been sleeping in a very large cardboard box (90cm x 50cm wide, and 80cm tall), which is open at the top. It's big enough so she can stretch out as much as she wants, but she can't get out of it as the sides are too high. The box is currently in our bedroom. The first few nights she whined a bit when placed in the box, but now she understands that the box = bed time and she goes to sleep in there quite happily.

At the moment, she sleeps from around 9:30pm (when I take her for her last wee) to 6:00am, when she clambers to be let out. We get up, take her outside for a wee, and she trots back off to her other bed in the laundry and re-settles of her own accord, leaving us to go back to our bed. I'm over the moon that she is already sleeping through the night from such a young age, with no accidents in the box, so far!

We are now starting to consider what we would like her permanent sleeping arrangements to be, so that we can have a plan to ease her into them. Ideally we don't want her sleeping in our bedroom forever; we'd like her to be either inside in another room of the house, or in the laundry, which opens onto the backyard.

Our choices are as follows:

1. She sleeps inside in her bed, no longer in a box because she is (eventually) toilet trained.

How would we go about getting to this arrangement?

2. She sleeps inside in a crate, which I would need to purchase (I'm ok with that if necessary).

If she is in a crate, but not in our bedroom, will we hear when she needs to go out? Will she sleep longer as an adult, or will we be getting up at 6:00am forever to let her out? Interested to hear from people that use crates how it works with an adult dog.

3. She sleeps in her bed in the laundry, which already has doggy-door access to the backyard.

I'm thinking that if she's no longer going to be in our bedroom, she may as well be in the laundry where there is already a doggy door to the backyard. My main concern with this is that it is cold out there at the moment, though I could get her one of those heat pads or a jacket, or something. Also, I don't want her to feel like we're throwing her out of the house!

What would you do, and how would you go about making the transition?

Thanks for your advice!

[Akitaowner]

you need to decide where you want her to sleep as an adult

1. in the house

2. in the bedroom

3. in the laundry

and then work towards that. If pup has already been in the bedroom sleeping the transition to somewhere else maybe be a bit whiny and noisy until pup realises what is happening.

If your happy with pup in the bedroom why not just get a crate for the bedroom? make sure its big enough for pup as an adult.

place bedding etc all in the crate - a crate really is just another box!

Dogs will hold their bladders longer as they get older however mine (who sleep in the house, but not our bedroom) are always up and about at about 6 and tend to 'entertain themselves' if we dont get up and give them brekkie.

it was only around christmas i stopped using a very large pen (she outgrew her crate) for my girl (whos now 20 months) she was confined, as she used to get up to mischief before we got up, but had plenty of room a bed and her chew toys. she could still see and sniff my boy who had run of the rest of the house, but not the bedrooms.

you might find a puppy pen better than a crate somewhere in the house. Providing you keep your regular schedule of toileting pup shouldnt mess - or need to wake you up. Also depends if pup is a climber...

[Kelpie_Pup]

We have had our puppy in a crate since we picked her up at 8 weeks of age. the first week she was in our room, and she woke between 4-6am needing to go to the toilet.. we would take her out, and then bring her back in to go back to sleep. she was quite happy with this. she was making it through the night about 5 nights after she came home. it would only have been a matter of about a week before she would stay in there quite happily, not making any noise. she now, at just 5 months, will just lay in her crate, if she doesn't wish to sleep, until we take her out. this can be as late as 8am sometimes. mind you, we do take her out to the toilet last thing before bed and first thing when getting up.. still ensuring she is toilet trained.

provided you use a crate on the proper way, it is such a marvellous training tool. i cannot recommend it highly enough

[CliftonPark]

I have developed a 2 crate system, but a crate with puppy play pen attached would work just as well if you have the space. (however 2 crates are more secure if you have a climber) They now sleep in the laundry as the family room was getting very smelly in the mornings and it is where I wanted them to eventually be anyway.

My puppies (I have 2 that are 12 weeks old = double poop and wee). Due to having days I cannot drag myself out of bed in the early hours of the morning

for toileting I have attached 2 crates together. One crate has their bedding in it and the other is empty except for Puppy toilet training pad. So if I'm not up in time they can get up and toilet in the attached 'toileting crate'. I just have to remove the soiled training pad and mop up the tray. It works well when we need a sleep in or they don't make it through the night. I will be very glad when they have bigger bladders!

[sas]

I'd pop her in a crate but in your bedroom to start with and then over a period of time you slowly move the crate to where you would prefer it to be. I prefer my dogs in the bedroom but that of course is just my personal preference.

Dante was sleeping through the night at 11 weeks, mind you he's a giant dog.

[macka]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have bought her a crate and will start out with it in the bedroom and work towards having it in another room.

[Miss Boss Doggy]

A crate's a great idea. Having a crate trained dog makes life heaps easier. They have a home away from home wherever you go, and they are safe. We have 4 dogs and 2 crates in our bedroom. Two of our dogs have issues with each other so they go in the crates at night. They sleep right through. We cover the crates to make a nice dark little den and they love it. We have water in there (in those dishes that attach to the side of the crates) so they can drink when needed. We're very careful to not put them in there when they are in trouble though, we want them to like going in there, so we try hard to keep the crates a positive place to be by giving them treats and toys etc in there. It's hard sometimes to not put them in there when they are being pains tho!

[Kobayashi]

Sorry about the repost pic, but heres willows set up Slightly different now, but in the same place.....

She hasnt actually used it yet, her official crate bed i bought yesterday is too big, grrr, so its back to petstock for an exchange. Currently willow sleeps on the bed with me, and holds her need for the toilet in till whenever she feels like getting out of bed now (which is sometimes AFTER me!!!!!)

She quite happily laid in bed till 11:30am the other morning!

[Miss Boss Doggy]

Here's one of our crate setups, you can see the white water dish at the back. And inside is our little Poca dot (kelpie x)... I disturbed her snooze to take the photo...

[sjl79]

We crated Timmy next to our bed and did loo trips as needed. But at around 14 weeks we made a (lifelong) decision that he will sleep with us (Hubby's dog as a teenager slept with him and he really wanted Timmy in our bed. Me not so much but now I cannot imagine it any different).

We find at 6 months, being a toy breed with a tiny bladder he still does loo trips through the night most nights, so we have a set of puppy stairs at the edge of the bed and he toddles down to use his pet loo which is on the balcony off our bedroom. The only bummer is that it's getting cold and leaving the door open is starting to be a concern. We have been trialling leaving the door closed and we tend to wake up if he crawls out from under the covers so we let him out.

Essentially, what you need to do (which Hubby forced me to as I was so up in the air) is to make a decision on how it is going to be. Then start working towards it. I watched my in-laws poor cav be shuinted from the daughter's room, to the lounge room, to the laundry and now to outside the house entirely. I think it really stuffed him around and at 2 he is a nightmare (lovely dog but entirely untrained).

Consistency is the key I think as they crave structure and routine.

[stormie]

Definately recommend the crate in your room. Orbits crate has since been moved outside into the sunroom and he uses it whenever he is outside. In my room he now has a bed on the floor where his crate used to be and he sleeps there mostly (when he's not on my bed )