# From Crate to Bed Sleeping. Is It A Good Idea?



## KayaScout (Nov 13, 2015)

Our 8 month old Border Collie mix, Kaya, is quite the handful. But is so full of love for us. We have had her for 5 months and since the day we got her, she sleeps in her crate at night (with the exception of overnight trips to the lake house where she sleeps with my boyfriend). She has never really been a huge fan of the crate, and we know why, and we are working on it. However, she has been getting up 2 or 3 more times a night the last month. One of those times she really does need to potty, but the other times she just wants out of her crate. We've tried the "cry it out" method to no end. But with the crate in our bedroom and it being 12, 2, 4 am, we want to sleep . 

She has been housebroken since we got her, only 2 accidents ever. And that is due in a large part to us. We are diligent about taking her out, she hardly has to ask to go. She is also a Border Collie puppy, so she is a strong chewer when she is bored. My boyfriend and I would like her to sleep in bed with us so she sees less of the inside of our crate. The nights we have tried, we get an hour in and she chews the comforter. My fear is she's never been out of the crate at night, what is she has to potty, she doesn't know how to ask in this case. She also does not have free range of our bedroom for chewing reasons. 

We want to transition her to sleep outside of her crate in our room, but I have my reservations. Chewing, asking to potty, and never wanting to go back in the crate again. Does anyone have any advice on this? Again, we are working on positive crate association so we don't need help there. Thanks for any info you have!


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## HVani (Jun 11, 2015)

IMO she might still be too young. 

I just tried this transition with my 1 year old terrier mix. She would wake me up several times during the night to go outside. Usually it was just to play. She's old enough and healthy enough to hold it through the night but would not settle all night in bed. 

I had to go back to her sleeping in her crate at night. I also moved her out of the bedroom and moved the crate to the livingroom where I spend most of my time. Now she will sleep in it on her own when we are hanging out. I also sleep much better now. 

Once she's older I think we can go back to sleeping in the bed. Right now I think she's just too young.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

My current puppy was allowed to sleep out of the crate at 7 months. My older dog was 9 months I think. Honestly, we never had any issues. They just snuggled in and went to sleep. The puppy does tend to wake up earlier and we worry about her having an accident in the bedroom after she's up, so we have to be ready to get up right when the alarm goes off at 6. She sometimes sleeps in the crate on the weekends so we can sleep in and not worry about it.


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## Margot49 (Oct 2, 2015)

Our Chi mix, who is about 4,female, sleeps in our bed. We have an estimated 1 - 2 year old male Shih Tzu that sleeps in a crate next to the bed. I still cannot trust him to not get up during the night and mark something. I know he can hold his urine all night but sometimes those boys can't be trusted.


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## KayaScout (Nov 13, 2015)

Thanks for all your thoughts! (I also realized I accidentally put this in the grooming forum, oops!). My boyfriend really wants her to not sleep in the crate, and I understand and do too. She is in there also when we are at work. But don't worry, she gets a 3 mile walk or 5 mile hike a day and 1 hour of mental stimulation. We were thinking of slowly transitioning her to just be in the bedroom with us while we watch TV and get her to the point where she can just relax in there like she does in the living room.


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## Marvel (Sep 26, 2015)

Quill (who is 3 and a half months old right now) has the opposite problem of HVani's dog.

He has slept in the bed since the day I brought him home because I'm a sucker and love having a cuddly puppy next to me. The first week I set alarms every couple of hours and then decreased them when I realized he didn't need to go out that often. Eventually I left them off completely because I could feel him wake up and start shifting around. He never once pottied in the bed while he couldn't jump down, and now has only had one potty incident in the room -- totally my fault for being slow and lazy about getting up to let him outside. Being in our room, he learned quickly to sit at the door and whine if he needs out.

He loves his crate and often goes in there on his own to sleep/chew bones/etc. It is right next to our bed. I don't think him sleeping in bed has made him not want to go in there...if anything, I feel like he spends more of his own free time in there because of it. He now sleeps in the crate when my BF is home because he doesn't like sleeping in bed with the BF AND me, and I don't trust him on the floor quite yet. But he sleeps better in bed than in the crate. In the crate, he will wake up at least once a night (around 3 or 4) to potty. In bed, he sleeps from about 10 to 7:30 without an issue. And I always hear him wake up and jump off the bed, probably because I am paranoid about him peeing in the house. 

As for chewing, I'm never too worried since he sleeps through the night, but I also take precautions. Our floor is kept 100% clear of things he could chew, so only the comforter might be an issue...but he never chews that unless he's trying to chew my toes under it. I usually keep his nylabone on my bed, because when he was younger he would wake up earlier (the breeder fed at 5:30) and if I had a bone/toy for him he would chew on it and entertain himself so I could sleep in until I wanted to feed him. 

Maybe you could try alarms and wean off of them if you notice she is still sleeping and not needing to potty, and put her favorite chew object at the foot of your bed? I know some might not like the idea of a toy in bed, but I have no issue with Quill's chewing objects. He rarely looks at his antlers or nylabones as true toys, so he would never get worked up and playful over them being in bed.


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## KayaScout (Nov 13, 2015)

These all seem like good ideas! The only issues I foresee is that 1. she doesn't like her crate. 2. she isn't used to our room since she isn't allowed in there unless she needs to be in her crate. The times she has slept outside of her crate for special occasions, like being at the lake house and we didn't want to lug the crate there, she was great and slept the whole night until like 7am which is unheard of for her. BUT that was also after a day of constant play and over stimulation, and an environment where she wasn't 100% used to.


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

Honestly, I think you have to just go for it and don't worry about it so much. If she's done it before on trips she'll probably be fine.


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## Marvel (Sep 26, 2015)

I agree. I was nervous with Quill at first (hence the alarms every two hours), but honestly if you're nervous I've found you're less likely to sleep deeply and will wake up if she hops off the bed. Worst case scenario she has a potty accident because if the only thing she has to chew is your comforter, I think you'll probably wake up feeling her tug at it and so that won't be an issue.

And its not like I trained him to ask to go out -- he realized that the door was the way out and if he whined there, he got to go outside. As for not liking her crate, just make sure you keep doing what you're doing and that she is still spending time in there during the day. Like I said, Quill spends more time in there on his own when he doesn't sleep in there every night. Who knows, maybe your girl will too?


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## elrohwen (Nov 10, 2011)

I've honestly never had a dog chew anything at night once the lights were out. I wouldn't let a young dog wander the house, but I really don't think you need to worry about chewing. I would worry about potty accidents in a younger puppy but 8 months is fine.


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## HVani (Jun 11, 2015)

Just more proof that dogs are individuals  

Rikku is a bit immature for her age.


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## KayaScout (Nov 13, 2015)

That is reassuring, thank you! She has mild separation anxiety. We are trying to get her to the point of not spending 100% of her time with us when she can in hopes that she will want to spend some more time in her crate voluntarily...eventually. She is a dependent little girl, but we want to break her of that. My plan is like yours, once she connects the bedroom door to getting to the rest of the house and outside to potty, hopefully she will whine there as opposed to in her crate. Fingers crossed!


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## KayaScout (Nov 13, 2015)

Usually, I'd agree. BUT Kaya is an aggressive chewer and it intensifies when she is bored. We have everything readily available to her that she can chew on and not destroy and sometimes she still says no thanks I want to eat the couch right now. We rotate her toys but sometimes she just isn't interested. She is very housebroken, but again its because we are diligent. She hardly has to ask to go out, and with her not knowing the room, who knows if she will know what to do. We rent so we'd like our deposit back so her having an accident on the carpet or chewing the molding is what I'm worried about.


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## Marvel (Sep 26, 2015)

Well for accidents on the carpet, use an enzymatic cleaner like Nature's Miracle. It actually gets rid of stains and odors. Quill has had a few accidents, both here and in the last house we were in (darker carpet AND very light carpet) and you would never know it. 

Chewing, maybe you could try a chew deterrent? I've never tried it because Quill tends to only chew his toys, but a girl at puppy playtime swears by it...maybe someone else can comment on if this is a plausible idea. But I highly doubt that she would get up, hop off the bed, and be chewing things without you noticing it -- if she even woke up. Quill literally never wakes up when he is in the bed, and you will never know how Kaya acts unless you try it. If you are really worried, try alarms. Most likely you will find she is still asleep when your alarm goes off.


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## KayaScout (Nov 13, 2015)

I think alarms will be a good idea. I am a light sleeper anyway and even more so when I'm worried Kaya will have an accident or something. We have tried a deterrent...she loved the taste that little brat haha! We have plenty of Nature's Miracle on hand because she used to pee in the crate cause she couldn't hold it. I suppose we wont know until we try. We'll give it a shot next weekend, incase we lose sleep!


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## superblade (Dec 19, 2015)

The most important thing for sleeping is comfort. Like your bed, you won't make your bed hard to sleep or too small to sleep.
I just didn't see what is your crate like? Is it comfortable to sleep?
Maybe she need more room or more soft mat. You can pay some attention on this.


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## baldjerry (Dec 27, 2015)

Not sure on the size of the crate as it should be the right size. I always went by the 1 year rule in a crate. Even left it up and they would seem to go in it to lay down and take a nap. It was like their safe place where no one could step on them and it was theirs. They were always really shocked when the time came to take it down that it was not there anymore.

I know some people do not like dogs on a bed or a couch, but me they can lay wherever they want as I treat them like a family member.


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## Patricia B (Jun 21, 2015)

I'm thinking of buying a large crate for myself and my husband! Our two Min Pin's just take the whole bed over. I do put them in crates overnight when they're pups as it's not safe to let a Min Pin pup out of your sight for a moment. If they are quiet they are up to something naughty. I would also be concerned that I might hurt a young pup by rolling on it. However once they grow up they will make a bee line for the bedroom at any time of the day or night and it's nearly impossible to stop them. We don't really mind. They are lovely and warm in the winter and as baldjerry says they're part of the family.


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