Our boy is crate trained and sleeps there most nights.
The only main exceptions are when we have company (depending on the guest he’ll sleep with them or sleep in our room or nobody will get peace because he’s too obsessed with the house guest) or if it’s a night we’re expecting severe weather and we need to book it to the storm shelter quick (yay Midwest!).
That said. He would sleep in our bed with us every night if we left him 😂. I usually go to bed before my husband most nights and he’ll do snoozles with me until his papa comes to bed and puts him into his crate. It’s his favorite part of our night routine
Haha fantastic bedtime routine! How old is your dog?
Is there an age you predict he will be allowed out of the crate at night? What does he have to prove to earn that?
He’s getting up there now (8 years this coming Christmas Day!) and we discussed letting him sleep with us when he starts showing signs of slowing down and having more mobility issues.
We’ve had him since he was 2.5
He’s fabulous outside of the crate either way. There was a trial period when we first got him where we didn’t know his personality well enough to be sure but as soon as we knew he wouldn’t make a mess or go after the cat (cat is now his best friend lmao) we were fine with occasional no-crate nights. At this point it’s more of a routine thing for him than it is safety/behavior thing :)
We always let them out once they age enough to prove they won't chew up the house unsupervised at night.
Some people believe in continuing to crate for most of its life bc it is less stressful for the dog when you crate them for car rides, overnighter trips to cottages or families houses, vet visits etc ...
Everyone differs but I was recommended to crate train and I’m glad I did. When my pup was still potty training, she would not go even if she had to, even if diarrhea, if she was in her crate (I assume because it’s their safe space). So she’d wake me up and I’d take her out, and didn’t have to worry about her soiling there or elsewhere. I had my shepherd sleep in her crate at night until about 5 months, then I started slow, letting her sleep outside of it in a closed room with minimal “hazards” to see how she’d do. Over time once I trusted her more to not sneak off and do naughty things in the night, she got access to the whole place. Maybe around 10 month mark. But I always leave her crate door open and she typically sleeps part of the night in there voluntarily. I liked starting from early age to make it their safe space and a comfortable spot. She does go in my bed now but will not sleep all night there (probably too hot). Oh, and the crate is also good for enforced naps.
Great comment it's exactly how we did it for all 5 dogs we've had in our life. We have a one year old and actually she's good enough to be out of the crate at night but bc we have a 3 month old it's been easier to crate them both for now.
This is the same thing we did with my girl, except it was closer to a year old we started letting her out at night. She liked to chew the wallboards so we had to make sure she was out of that stage before we let her roam free lol
I have never kept a dog in a crate. For car travel, I've got him used to the box, but it's basic
And the dogs all slept about where I did.
Okay, komondors and kuvasz don't.
Maeve, within 24 hours of me bringing her home, figured out how to get up from her breasts to bed.
That settled the "where the dog sleeps" thing.
Got mine a 6 weeks old I have a call king bed and I put her crate on the bed by my head I put her in the bed about 2 weeks after and she has never wet the bed
My boy (4) sleeps in my bed, my girl(1) sleeps in a crate. She doesn’t really have an off switch and if the cats move at all she would be up poking around trying to figure out what they are up to. She doesn’t seem to mind the crate at all. She has her own room, she goes into her crate during the day just to hang out. And also gets frustrated if we don’t go to bed on time. Maybe when she gets older if she doesn’t have to investigate every single movement that happens, but for now, it helps everyone get a good nights rest.
We are just more advanced when it comes to behavioral science regarding dogs.
Best example is your video. Let both dogs interact freely, instead of hindering interactions for no reason. Let alone that the cage is too small, and has literally nothing in it but a bowl for the puppy to interact with.
No reason? This is the very first day they met and the puppy is 6 weeks old. The pup weighs 10 lbs and the very excited young athletic one year old is 62 lbs. The pup needs to have times separated for its own physical safety and to rest and nap.
The crate is an XL which is considered too big to stop a pup that small from peeing or pooping in the corner of it. You actually have no idea what is in it "besides a bowl" bc you can never see most of it in the video?
Don't know about behavioral science but you Germans seem pretty good at soccer. Maybe not so advanced sense of humor though.
And to be clear, I was just confused by the word "uppity" and the general context. If I had known that you were about to get historically political, I wouldn't have commented on your comment at all
“More advanced” my ass. More like your politicians fell for the ideology the force free cultists are spewing and looked to score cheap points with their constituents with something that sounds nice in theory but actually completely goes against the actual best interests of the animals.
until mine was about 5 months old. i kept the crate door open but had a dog bed in my room for her. she chose the crate for a month or two then she just got too big and wanted to stretch out. (the crate was an XL)
she does not leave my room unless she hears a sound and has stayed on her bed until the morning for nearly 8 years.
crate training gave her a safe space that was her own.
We have a 15 month old and a 7 month old, they’ve never slept away from us. They hang out in whatever room we’re in and when we go to bed they’re usually in it with us. Our little one does have a spot in the closet (her puppy hole) which she has slept in since she was like 2 months old. We keep having to move furniture around to make it bigger for her lol
I’ve never crated my current GSD. She was easy mode for a puppy, nevermind a German shepherd puppy. But my first I crated till she settled and her brain finally came in and that was around 4 years. It all depends on the dog
My boy started sleeping outside of his crate around 1 yr. He has his own bed at the bottom of mine and will snuggle, nap and lay on the bed with me but he will hop down onto his own bed when he is going to sleep for the night.
Crate-trained and then nighttime open-door policy at around 2-3 when she started to be more calm and I could be sure I wouldn’t be woken with a haymaker. She divides her sleep between my bed and her own.
I judge on the individual dog. My boy started at 16weeks to sleep in the bedroom without crate (he had it if he wanted), always on the floor.
At 3y he's finally decided that stealthily climbing into the bed at 3am is a cool thing to do 🤣
All three of our dogs are crate trained and while they spend very little time in a crate now, we do use it from time to time. The Dachshund was 4 and was/is stubborn so it took him till then for that freedom, The collie was 2, and the GSD was right around 16 months when we started letting him sleep out of it at night.
We rotate who sleeps in our room at night due to the room getting hot and shenanigans. Our Dachshund who is 16 prefers to sleep in our large gated mudroom on his bed, he can't be left ungated because he can and will find trouble to get into - at 10 and after a back injury he scaled a gate to eat coffee, so we changed our gate style and at 16 still finds trouble. He will chill with us in our room till bedtime and then go to his room where he is happy and content. Our GSD sleeps in the room on our floor every other night and his crate on the off nights with the dachshund in the mud room. Our Border Collie sleeps in our room on the nights the GSD is downstairs and in the crate when on off nights. We would LOVE to leave her uncrated and gated overnight, but unless she is physically with us she gets nervous and has accidents. However, during the day when we are at work she will lay in the empty crate like it is her den and LOVES IT.
When we aren't home during the day we gate the BS and Dachshund in the mud room and the GSD in our den. He is still very puppy and we would HATE for him to accidentally hurt the dachshund. So the longest ours are in crates is overnight. We made sure all three are comfortable and view crates as a safe space in the event of an emergency and they need to be placed in one. This has created 3 well adjusted dogs who can settle and be happy in one and view it as safe.
It is in our mudroom. It is one of the big ones built to also double as furniture, so it looks almost like a sideboard. We have all of their dishes, treats, some inside toys, and food set up on it. This prevents the dachshund from being downstairs alone at night (not sure that he cares) and keeps our very well insulated master room from getting too warm. Everyone knows and loves their routine. Occasionally the dachshund will hop into the gate with the border collie and and snuggle her.
My girl stayed in her crate during the day until 2yo. We never kept her in a crate at night. She would sleep on the floor, sometimes in the bed. She does the same thing now. Either on the floor next to me, or at my feet.
Yeah Lizzy sleeps with us. weirdly she just stays as we are falling asleep as soon as we turn off the reading light or TV she hops off. She also without direction leaves us alone when we need quality time. Funny dog. Loves to be up there when we are awake other times she can't be bothered.
We did get her a crate never made her sleep in it. She was also very easy to house train. Easiest by a long stretch that I have ever had.
Where does she go to lay once she leaves your bed? My past dog would always cuddle in bed until I was asleep (or he thought I was), and then he would climb down and lay in the open doorway of the bedroom. I was told that he was guarding the room once he knew I was asleep.
Our pup, Cooper, is 7 weeks and he sleeps with us. And our old English bulldog...and our blue bully...and our mutt lol 😆 the only one that has to be crated at night is the frenchie because he's a straight up terrorist if left to his own devices
Have doggy doors to fenced in yards. About six months old when they can go up and down stairs and don’t have to worry them being small enough for hawks to carry off . I have let all of mine have freedom of the house minus bathrooms and kitchen were they might get into trouble. When they can get up on bed they can sleep there .
We had our boy crated every night until he was like 4. Once it was clear he could be trusted to not have an accident or get into something, we let him lay where ever.
I allow my dogs out of the crate at night once they're consistently able to make it through the night without needing to go out and are trustworthy enough that they're not going to shred my apartment if they wake up before me. The latter isn't usually a huge issue since dogs tend to sleep through the night in my experience and I also tend to wake up when they get up, although with my boxers it hasn't really been an issue since they're lazy fuckers that always sleep in later than I do.
my girl was around 7 months when we started leaving her crate open at night, it took about 10 minutes of confusion before she poked her head around the corner of the bedroom not sure if she was allowed before she jumped up on the bed and has been there since
Ours is 3, he’ll jump up on the bed if I’m in there alone. But 5 minutes after the wife gets in bed, he’ll go for the floor. Not sure how long he’d stay if it was just going to be me and the 3 dogs alone
Soup is 4.5 months old and will probably be crated at night until she's 1-1.5. its one of the requirements for renting my place so i want her to be comfortable and happy in her crate. its also good for enforcing naps so she doesn't get tired and snappy. plus, because i rent, it saves me my deposit as she's not going stir crazy when i pop out to the shops or go to the toilet or kitchen.
Mine has been free roaming since 8 weeks. I’d keep him contained in each room I was in until he became more independent. I work from home and always have eyes on him. He’s now 11 months and pretty independent, will go upstairs and downstairs by himself and keep himself busy. I crate him only when I leave and will trial that when he’s 1-2 years.
Mine stopped sleeping in the crate at about 4 to 5 months. As long as I got up early enough, I was always able to get him out before he needed to potty.
My shepherd sleeps wherever she likes, normally on the end of the bed, but often at the end of the hallway where she can watch everyones bedrooms at the same time.
The daschund sleeps under the blanket snuggled up to my wife, or snuggled up to the shepherd
😅 I was weak, lol. He's slept in our bed since the day we brought him home. He didn't have accidents. He was really good at letting us know when he needed to go potty.
My girl is crate trained but she's a year old and she's only in the crate when we're gone for a few hours. She started sleeping on her own bed in our bedroom around eight months and has never had any issues.
Our boy is almost 1 & he sleeps in his crate because he still can't be trusted to not destroy things if given the chance. When I tell him it's time for bed, if he needs to go potty he walks to the back door, if not he noses open his crate door & lays down for bed. And if I'm staying up too late for him, he'll put himself to bed lol
We don't create our dogs however we do tether them in the kitchen and they sleep together on their mats.
That way they don't get into stuff but they're not crated all night.
Never crated any of my dogs. I just slept on the couch for a while when I got my puppy (can't believe that was six years ago already) and she was still getting used to her new environment.
Our pups 6,6, and 11 are committed crate dogs. Even when offered the bed, they get up and return to their crate. I truly like it better this way because I sleep better, and when we are traveling, they are used to the crates and aren’t a burden on wherever we are staying.
My wife and I took our boy in around four months old. I knew he was crate trained, but had spent too much time there due to his original owners occupation and schedule. I brought his bed in by ours around the 7 months mark and he had little issue going there if we needed him to.
Around that time mom decided not to keep him, I started letting him sleep in the room with us.
I've never had a family dog not have access to the house at night either, but then again I can't remember a really bad/concerning pet who needed to be crated either.
Now don't get me wrong, when his balls first dropped, he was a terror. Total teenager, he tested everything and everyone. Became Mr. Know-it-all..the week he went from puppy to landshark, I regretted my decision. We eventually got over that hump, but unless there is a legit concern for property, safety, or landlord rules I can't imagine crating my dog every day.
I hope you find what works for you.
My dogs have always slept in our room with us at night. We sort of enforce the not in our bed rule, but as I am typing this my boy is beside me in bed. He never took to crate training. He worked out how to open them and would escape. Our girl came from an abuse situation and the crate was her safe space so didn’t need to train her but she goes in and out of there in the day. We tried actually to take the crate away and she got very stressed. So we’ve built a table around it so she can be in my office with me while I work. We have a pen gate to divide them in our room at night because my girl is 18 months old and very much would bother my boy who’s nearly 7. So until she is totally calm around him they have their own space in our room.
My male GSD sleeps under the bed, the female GSD sleeps in the bed, and my work dog (Malinois) sleeps on the floor right next to my side of the bed. He has no desire to sleep in the bed which I’m pleased with. They are all crate trained and have zero issues going into or staying the crate. We just need them in there at night.
Like poodles?
I wouldn't let them sleep out of the crate until after they're potty trained and past the chewing on everything phase. That's different for every dog. I personally do not let any of my dogs sleep on my bed. I have enough trouble sleeping as it is.
I tried for months to crate train my girl as a puppy... It never took so I eventually let her sleep in my bed. I had to take in her brother less than a year later, so then I had her, him, and my older dog all on the bed with me.
Got sick of that and at about a year old for the pups they all got kicked out to the couch.
I sleep with my GSD in my bed, as well as a staffy/husky and an ACD/Aussie. I used to crate the ACD/Aussie when I wasn’t home, but he’s always slept with me.
We had the crate out and open for her to go to as she pleased I think from 6 months to about year. We had it covered with blankets so it was her designated relaxing/ sleeping spot.
We got her a few beds with raised edges on 3 sides after that, she fell in love with them instantly and lays on the beds almost constantly when she's inside (purely by choice). If you want a link to them, I'll gladly share, highly recommend with how much she loves them!
Our gsd loved sleeping in her crate. Around 18mo, she let us know she didn't want the crate at night anymore(didn't immediately settle like normal). We left the crate door open so she could choose her bed outside of the crate or at the foot of the bed. We once tried around 15mo, but she was not ready and paced for a while. We waited till we did a couple of home alone trials(left and watched on cam). Now she is my nightly snuggle bug and bedhog.
Sure, in Germany the crate-thing isn’t a thing. The most people hasn’t one. Only the Police has them. Our GSDs sleep and live like all dogs with us. The point is Gassigehen (walk the dog) 3x a Day and training
Edit: but don’t walk the puppy. Stuart to go in the yard and when he is 6 month, start with short walks. And don’t let him play the hole time. A mother dog wouldn’t let them too. But it needs not a crate to stop them, only you. It’s a question of good are you as Dog trainer.
One of ours sleeps at the foot of the bed, she feels it’s her job to protect us. The other GSD will sometimes start in bed, but often moves to his own bed or goes out to the couch. In the summer he crawls under the bed because the floor is cool, and he likes being under stuff
I have never used crates, a quite bed of there own sure, but not isolated by themselves, & yes, always sleep with our dogs, every person's has a dog on their bed, 4 shepherds, they choose when & where, never lonely, never scared!!!!
My dog sleeps in bed with my husband and I....or we sleep in bed with him. He was 45lbs when we adopted him at 9 months, now at 1.5 years he is almost double that (80lbs) and a lot of that weight gain was from his colt legs growing in. I joke and say he's "oops all legs"
All that to say I feel like it's definitely helped him bond faster and want to be cuddlier.
My husband and I had different opinions about crating. Our (now 8 y/o) boy was trained to go to his crate and hang out there when told, but he has always slept in the bed with us at night (just one night of crying in the crate broke my husband). Our girl (now 8 months) has never been in a crate because my husband got rid of the crates. Interestingly though, she will exhibit crating-similar behaviors. Ever since she was very young (basically from the very first car ride home when we picked her up), she’s exceptionally good in the backseat of the car. Will curl up quietly and sleep (regardless of whether the car is moving or parked), never had accidents, and never chewed or destroyed anything. At home, she has a bed that is the same type of safe, quiet space for her. She takes all her toys and special treats there too. Ironically, if we got her a crate, she’d probably love it.
Mine is crate trained and I am actually trying to train him to sleep outside of his crate, but it’s the only place he wants to sleep! He is about to be 2.
Probably 4 months old or so I only really used the crate to help accelerate her potty training and once I knew she wouldn't go during the night I let her sleep where she wanted in my room. I left her crate open all day and she'd often just put herself in there because it was comfy, haven't used it since she was about 6 months because she didn't seem interested in it anymore and would rather crowd my bed or sleep somewhere she can keep an eye on me and the cat 😂
Our GSD was crate & potty trained by 4 months. She sleeps with us and is now 3&1/2. We have a bell by the door if she wakes up and has to potty she wakes us up and rings the bell, but usually she’s fine through the night! The bell by the door is a huge help with training !
I just got my 3 yo GSD about a month and a half ago, and she thinks she’s a person. She lays and sleeps where ever she wants, and just grab food off my plate when I’m not looking.
I would guess that they rescued the 3 y/o. Unfortunately it's not uncommon for people to surrender GSDs to shelters once they hit the teenager stage (more independent/ less likely to listen to someone, bigger and stronger so biting hurts much more, etc.) especially if they didn't do a good job enforcing rules from early puppyhood so now bad habits are even harder to break
Never crated - caged a dog. Never had a problem. I don’t understand a cage. My 4 legged children were too much a part of my family to consider that. All chewing and odd behavior lasts a short time. I never understood why that is done. Please explain.
I potty trained my babies quickly. It takes work. By 3 months, no accidents. I did have to get up at night and bring my babies out side. Wait till the tinkled and gave them praise. It’s worth the effort. They slept with me and my husband or close by. I found that if you have one trained the next followed and the next. More than one and they never felt lonely or neurotic.
Lived my babies. One thing though I never travelled. We have a Shepard Mastiff now. He’s 7. He sleeps in the coolest part of the house in winter he tries to snuggle up with us. He’s so big and won’t budge so we have to let him sleep out of the bedroom with the cats. He’s good about it.
They are animals at the end of the day. We love ours too but we crate one of our GSDs when we peave the house because she can be a bit of a bully (stealing toys mostly) and occasionally picks on our dachshund. She is perfectly content and likes being in her crate.
We occasionally crate the other two if we know we're going to be gone and have like the lawn care guys coming. Our dogs are super friendly but a 100lb German Shepherd can definitely be intimidating if you are in his backyard.
Our boy is crate trained and sleeps there most nights. The only main exceptions are when we have company (depending on the guest he’ll sleep with them or sleep in our room or nobody will get peace because he’s too obsessed with the house guest) or if it’s a night we’re expecting severe weather and we need to book it to the storm shelter quick (yay Midwest!).
That said. He would sleep in our bed with us every night if we left him 😂. I usually go to bed before my husband most nights and he’ll do snoozles with me until his papa comes to bed and puts him into his crate. It’s his favorite part of our night routine
Haha fantastic bedtime routine! How old is your dog? Is there an age you predict he will be allowed out of the crate at night? What does he have to prove to earn that?
He’s getting up there now (8 years this coming Christmas Day!) and we discussed letting him sleep with us when he starts showing signs of slowing down and having more mobility issues. We’ve had him since he was 2.5 He’s fabulous outside of the crate either way. There was a trial period when we first got him where we didn’t know his personality well enough to be sure but as soon as we knew he wouldn’t make a mess or go after the cat (cat is now his best friend lmao) we were fine with occasional no-crate nights. At this point it’s more of a routine thing for him than it is safety/behavior thing :)
We always let them out once they age enough to prove they won't chew up the house unsupervised at night. Some people believe in continuing to crate for most of its life bc it is less stressful for the dog when you crate them for car rides, overnighter trips to cottages or families houses, vet visits etc ...
My boy goes in the crate on his own hes always done that we didn’t have to teach him
lol. We find ourselves sprinting to the basement in the middle of the night all time (Midwest)
I’ve never crated my 7yo bwoy
4 months old is still a little shit and leaves puddles so he still in a crate the 2 yr old sleeps with me
I crate trained just in case they ever need to be in it, but they never sleep overnight in the crate. In bed with me from day 1 at home.
Everyone differs but I was recommended to crate train and I’m glad I did. When my pup was still potty training, she would not go even if she had to, even if diarrhea, if she was in her crate (I assume because it’s their safe space). So she’d wake me up and I’d take her out, and didn’t have to worry about her soiling there or elsewhere. I had my shepherd sleep in her crate at night until about 5 months, then I started slow, letting her sleep outside of it in a closed room with minimal “hazards” to see how she’d do. Over time once I trusted her more to not sneak off and do naughty things in the night, she got access to the whole place. Maybe around 10 month mark. But I always leave her crate door open and she typically sleeps part of the night in there voluntarily. I liked starting from early age to make it their safe space and a comfortable spot. She does go in my bed now but will not sleep all night there (probably too hot). Oh, and the crate is also good for enforced naps.
Great comment it's exactly how we did it for all 5 dogs we've had in our life. We have a one year old and actually she's good enough to be out of the crate at night but bc we have a 3 month old it's been easier to crate them both for now.
This is the same thing we did with my girl, except it was closer to a year old we started letting her out at night. She liked to chew the wallboards so we had to make sure she was out of that stage before we let her roam free lol
This is the way
Our pup has slept with us since we got her. No accidents in bed
I have never kept a dog in a crate. For car travel, I've got him used to the box, but it's basic And the dogs all slept about where I did. Okay, komondors and kuvasz don't. Maeve, within 24 hours of me bringing her home, figured out how to get up from her breasts to bed. That settled the "where the dog sleeps" thing.
Got mine a 6 weeks old I have a call king bed and I put her crate on the bed by my head I put her in the bed about 2 weeks after and she has never wet the bed
Btw if you turn the volume up you can hear her strumming the guitar with her tail wagging lol
My boy (4) sleeps in my bed, my girl(1) sleeps in a crate. She doesn’t really have an off switch and if the cats move at all she would be up poking around trying to figure out what they are up to. She doesn’t seem to mind the crate at all. She has her own room, she goes into her crate during the day just to hang out. And also gets frustrated if we don’t go to bed on time. Maybe when she gets older if she doesn’t have to investigate every single movement that happens, but for now, it helps everyone get a good nights rest.
Caging your dog is illegal in Germany, so I never did and never will do so.
You aren't lying I just googled it. Is that bc the Germans believe caging your dog would lead to their PsycologicalRuin362?
We are just more advanced when it comes to behavioral science regarding dogs. Best example is your video. Let both dogs interact freely, instead of hindering interactions for no reason. Let alone that the cage is too small, and has literally nothing in it but a bowl for the puppy to interact with.
No reason? This is the very first day they met and the puppy is 6 weeks old. The pup weighs 10 lbs and the very excited young athletic one year old is 62 lbs. The pup needs to have times separated for its own physical safety and to rest and nap. The crate is an XL which is considered too big to stop a pup that small from peeing or pooping in the corner of it. You actually have no idea what is in it "besides a bowl" bc you can never see most of it in the video? Don't know about behavioral science but you Germans seem pretty good at soccer. Maybe not so advanced sense of humor though.
wow why is this downvotet so much o.o?
Because it's not true. Anyways, you guys are still on time out from the last time you got uppity
Time out? Uppity? What are you talking about😄
You know what you did
And to be clear, I was just confused by the word "uppity" and the general context. If I had known that you were about to get historically political, I wouldn't have commented on your comment at all
“More advanced” my ass. More like your politicians fell for the ideology the force free cultists are spewing and looked to score cheap points with their constituents with something that sounds nice in theory but actually completely goes against the actual best interests of the animals.
until mine was about 5 months old. i kept the crate door open but had a dog bed in my room for her. she chose the crate for a month or two then she just got too big and wanted to stretch out. (the crate was an XL) she does not leave my room unless she hears a sound and has stayed on her bed until the morning for nearly 8 years. crate training gave her a safe space that was her own.
We have a 15 month old and a 7 month old, they’ve never slept away from us. They hang out in whatever room we’re in and when we go to bed they’re usually in it with us. Our little one does have a spot in the closet (her puppy hole) which she has slept in since she was like 2 months old. We keep having to move furniture around to make it bigger for her lol
Never crate trained our girl. 2+ years and not a problem (other than being a bed hog).
Sadie is crate trained, but she’s slept in our bed since she was almost 1. I get offended if she hops off our bed in the middle of night 😂
I’ve never crated my current GSD. She was easy mode for a puppy, nevermind a German shepherd puppy. But my first I crated till she settled and her brain finally came in and that was around 4 years. It all depends on the dog
Isn’t that a Belgian malanois?
Good eye! She a Malinois/German shepherd cross. The little guy is a Brindle full Malinois.
Nice pooch!
My boy started sleeping outside of his crate around 1 yr. He has his own bed at the bottom of mine and will snuggle, nap and lay on the bed with me but he will hop down onto his own bed when he is going to sleep for the night.
I stopped making mine sleep in the crate once he was fully potty trained
Mines crate trained but hardly ever uses it. He sleeps in bed with me.
Crate-trained and then nighttime open-door policy at around 2-3 when she started to be more calm and I could be sure I wouldn’t be woken with a haymaker. She divides her sleep between my bed and her own.
I judge on the individual dog. My boy started at 16weeks to sleep in the bedroom without crate (he had it if he wanted), always on the floor. At 3y he's finally decided that stealthily climbing into the bed at 3am is a cool thing to do 🤣
All three of our dogs are crate trained and while they spend very little time in a crate now, we do use it from time to time. The Dachshund was 4 and was/is stubborn so it took him till then for that freedom, The collie was 2, and the GSD was right around 16 months when we started letting him sleep out of it at night. We rotate who sleeps in our room at night due to the room getting hot and shenanigans. Our Dachshund who is 16 prefers to sleep in our large gated mudroom on his bed, he can't be left ungated because he can and will find trouble to get into - at 10 and after a back injury he scaled a gate to eat coffee, so we changed our gate style and at 16 still finds trouble. He will chill with us in our room till bedtime and then go to his room where he is happy and content. Our GSD sleeps in the room on our floor every other night and his crate on the off nights with the dachshund in the mud room. Our Border Collie sleeps in our room on the nights the GSD is downstairs and in the crate when on off nights. We would LOVE to leave her uncrated and gated overnight, but unless she is physically with us she gets nervous and has accidents. However, during the day when we are at work she will lay in the empty crate like it is her den and LOVES IT. When we aren't home during the day we gate the BS and Dachshund in the mud room and the GSD in our den. He is still very puppy and we would HATE for him to accidentally hurt the dachshund. So the longest ours are in crates is overnight. We made sure all three are comfortable and view crates as a safe space in the event of an emergency and they need to be placed in one. This has created 3 well adjusted dogs who can settle and be happy in one and view it as safe.
Thank you for your detailed answer! One question where is the crate they sleep in on alternate nights? In your bedroom?
It is in our mudroom. It is one of the big ones built to also double as furniture, so it looks almost like a sideboard. We have all of their dishes, treats, some inside toys, and food set up on it. This prevents the dachshund from being downstairs alone at night (not sure that he cares) and keeps our very well insulated master room from getting too warm. Everyone knows and loves their routine. Occasionally the dachshund will hop into the gate with the border collie and and snuggle her.
My girl stayed in her crate during the day until 2yo. We never kept her in a crate at night. She would sleep on the floor, sometimes in the bed. She does the same thing now. Either on the floor next to me, or at my feet.
And she didn't destroy your Kleenex boxes, TV remotes, couch cushions or shoes at night as a pup?
Well, she had her moments, but for the most part she slept all night
Couch naps with me are ok. Jail overnight.
Yeah Lizzy sleeps with us. weirdly she just stays as we are falling asleep as soon as we turn off the reading light or TV she hops off. She also without direction leaves us alone when we need quality time. Funny dog. Loves to be up there when we are awake other times she can't be bothered. We did get her a crate never made her sleep in it. She was also very easy to house train. Easiest by a long stretch that I have ever had.
Where does she go to lay once she leaves your bed? My past dog would always cuddle in bed until I was asleep (or he thought I was), and then he would climb down and lay in the open doorway of the bedroom. I was told that he was guarding the room once he knew I was asleep.
Our pup, Cooper, is 7 weeks and he sleeps with us. And our old English bulldog...and our blue bully...and our mutt lol 😆 the only one that has to be crated at night is the frenchie because he's a straight up terrorist if left to his own devices
Have doggy doors to fenced in yards. About six months old when they can go up and down stairs and don’t have to worry them being small enough for hawks to carry off . I have let all of mine have freedom of the house minus bathrooms and kitchen were they might get into trouble. When they can get up on bed they can sleep there .
We had our boy crated every night until he was like 4. Once it was clear he could be trusted to not have an accident or get into something, we let him lay where ever.
I allow my dogs out of the crate at night once they're consistently able to make it through the night without needing to go out and are trustworthy enough that they're not going to shred my apartment if they wake up before me. The latter isn't usually a huge issue since dogs tend to sleep through the night in my experience and I also tend to wake up when they get up, although with my boxers it hasn't really been an issue since they're lazy fuckers that always sleep in later than I do.
my girl was around 7 months when we started leaving her crate open at night, it took about 10 minutes of confusion before she poked her head around the corner of the bedroom not sure if she was allowed before she jumped up on the bed and has been there since
Ours is 3, he’ll jump up on the bed if I’m in there alone. But 5 minutes after the wife gets in bed, he’ll go for the floor. Not sure how long he’d stay if it was just going to be me and the 3 dogs alone
Soup is 4.5 months old and will probably be crated at night until she's 1-1.5. its one of the requirements for renting my place so i want her to be comfortable and happy in her crate. its also good for enforcing naps so she doesn't get tired and snappy. plus, because i rent, it saves me my deposit as she's not going stir crazy when i pop out to the shops or go to the toilet or kitchen.
Mine has been free roaming since 8 weeks. I’d keep him contained in each room I was in until he became more independent. I work from home and always have eyes on him. He’s now 11 months and pretty independent, will go upstairs and downstairs by himself and keep himself busy. I crate him only when I leave and will trial that when he’s 1-2 years.
Mine stopped sleeping in the crate at about 4 to 5 months. As long as I got up early enough, I was always able to get him out before he needed to potty.
My shepherd sleeps wherever she likes, normally on the end of the bed, but often at the end of the hallway where she can watch everyones bedrooms at the same time. The daschund sleeps under the blanket snuggled up to my wife, or snuggled up to the shepherd
😅 I was weak, lol. He's slept in our bed since the day we brought him home. He didn't have accidents. He was really good at letting us know when he needed to go potty.
My girl is crate trained but she's a year old and she's only in the crate when we're gone for a few hours. She started sleeping on her own bed in our bedroom around eight months and has never had any issues.
Our boy is almost 1 & he sleeps in his crate because he still can't be trusted to not destroy things if given the chance. When I tell him it's time for bed, if he needs to go potty he walks to the back door, if not he noses open his crate door & lays down for bed. And if I'm staying up too late for him, he'll put himself to bed lol
We don't create our dogs however we do tether them in the kitchen and they sleep together on their mats. That way they don't get into stuff but they're not crated all night.
Never crated any of my dogs. I just slept on the couch for a while when I got my puppy (can't believe that was six years ago already) and she was still getting used to her new environment.
Our pups 6,6, and 11 are committed crate dogs. Even when offered the bed, they get up and return to their crate. I truly like it better this way because I sleep better, and when we are traveling, they are used to the crates and aren’t a burden on wherever we are staying.
Oh he's so excited to play with the puppy 😭
All my dogs are crate trained BUT all 4 sleep with me :)
My wife and I took our boy in around four months old. I knew he was crate trained, but had spent too much time there due to his original owners occupation and schedule. I brought his bed in by ours around the 7 months mark and he had little issue going there if we needed him to. Around that time mom decided not to keep him, I started letting him sleep in the room with us. I've never had a family dog not have access to the house at night either, but then again I can't remember a really bad/concerning pet who needed to be crated either. Now don't get me wrong, when his balls first dropped, he was a terror. Total teenager, he tested everything and everyone. Became Mr. Know-it-all..the week he went from puppy to landshark, I regretted my decision. We eventually got over that hump, but unless there is a legit concern for property, safety, or landlord rules I can't imagine crating my dog every day. I hope you find what works for you.
My dogs have always slept in our room with us at night. We sort of enforce the not in our bed rule, but as I am typing this my boy is beside me in bed. He never took to crate training. He worked out how to open them and would escape. Our girl came from an abuse situation and the crate was her safe space so didn’t need to train her but she goes in and out of there in the day. We tried actually to take the crate away and she got very stressed. So we’ve built a table around it so she can be in my office with me while I work. We have a pen gate to divide them in our room at night because my girl is 18 months old and very much would bother my boy who’s nearly 7. So until she is totally calm around him they have their own space in our room.
My male GSD sleeps under the bed, the female GSD sleeps in the bed, and my work dog (Malinois) sleeps on the floor right next to my side of the bed. He has no desire to sleep in the bed which I’m pleased with. They are all crate trained and have zero issues going into or staying the crate. We just need them in there at night.
It's all about bladder control! 😂 If they can hold it, AND not generally destroy stuff, no crate needed! ♥️
My GSM is crate trained, but she sleeps next to me at night. She likes to sleep and play in her crate (door opened) during the day.
I’ve never had a poodle, but I’ve always had bed sleepers. So, alto answer your question: immediately. Haha
got mine at 8 weeks. was already potty trained and they slept wherever they wanted after that day. which was normally wherever i was sleeping.
Like poodles? I wouldn't let them sleep out of the crate until after they're potty trained and past the chewing on everything phase. That's different for every dog. I personally do not let any of my dogs sleep on my bed. I have enough trouble sleeping as it is.
I tried for months to crate train my girl as a puppy... It never took so I eventually let her sleep in my bed. I had to take in her brother less than a year later, so then I had her, him, and my older dog all on the bed with me. Got sick of that and at about a year old for the pups they all got kicked out to the couch.
I sleep with my GSD in my bed, as well as a staffy/husky and an ACD/Aussie. I used to crate the ACD/Aussie when I wasn’t home, but he’s always slept with me.
We had the crate out and open for her to go to as she pleased I think from 6 months to about year. We had it covered with blankets so it was her designated relaxing/ sleeping spot. We got her a few beds with raised edges on 3 sides after that, she fell in love with them instantly and lays on the beds almost constantly when she's inside (purely by choice). If you want a link to them, I'll gladly share, highly recommend with how much she loves them!
Our gsd loved sleeping in her crate. Around 18mo, she let us know she didn't want the crate at night anymore(didn't immediately settle like normal). We left the crate door open so she could choose her bed outside of the crate or at the foot of the bed. We once tried around 15mo, but she was not ready and paced for a while. We waited till we did a couple of home alone trials(left and watched on cam). Now she is my nightly snuggle bug and bedhog.
My babies have never been crate trained and they’re almost 8. My boy sleeps w me every night!
Mine has been sleeping with his big brother and I in bed since the fourth night home. He likes his crate but for night he sleeps with the pack lol
Sure, in Germany the crate-thing isn’t a thing. The most people hasn’t one. Only the Police has them. Our GSDs sleep and live like all dogs with us. The point is Gassigehen (walk the dog) 3x a Day and training Edit: but don’t walk the puppy. Stuart to go in the yard and when he is 6 month, start with short walks. And don’t let him play the hole time. A mother dog wouldn’t let them too. But it needs not a crate to stop them, only you. It’s a question of good are you as Dog trainer.
https://preview.redd.it/almstecby95d1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a7e1ff3761d092e88dfb05d76ce09b04a264d7e6 Oh yeah
One of ours sleeps at the foot of the bed, she feels it’s her job to protect us. The other GSD will sometimes start in bed, but often moves to his own bed or goes out to the couch. In the summer he crawls under the bed because the floor is cool, and he likes being under stuff
I have never used crates, a quite bed of there own sure, but not isolated by themselves, & yes, always sleep with our dogs, every person's has a dog on their bed, 4 shepherds, they choose when & where, never lonely, never scared!!!!
My dog sleeps in bed with my husband and I....or we sleep in bed with him. He was 45lbs when we adopted him at 9 months, now at 1.5 years he is almost double that (80lbs) and a lot of that weight gain was from his colt legs growing in. I joke and say he's "oops all legs" All that to say I feel like it's definitely helped him bond faster and want to be cuddlier.
My husband and I had different opinions about crating. Our (now 8 y/o) boy was trained to go to his crate and hang out there when told, but he has always slept in the bed with us at night (just one night of crying in the crate broke my husband). Our girl (now 8 months) has never been in a crate because my husband got rid of the crates. Interestingly though, she will exhibit crating-similar behaviors. Ever since she was very young (basically from the very first car ride home when we picked her up), she’s exceptionally good in the backseat of the car. Will curl up quietly and sleep (regardless of whether the car is moving or parked), never had accidents, and never chewed or destroyed anything. At home, she has a bed that is the same type of safe, quiet space for her. She takes all her toys and special treats there too. Ironically, if we got her a crate, she’d probably love it.
Mine is crate trained and I am actually trying to train him to sleep outside of his crate, but it’s the only place he wants to sleep! He is about to be 2.
Probably 4 months old or so I only really used the crate to help accelerate her potty training and once I knew she wouldn't go during the night I let her sleep where she wanted in my room. I left her crate open all day and she'd often just put herself in there because it was comfy, haven't used it since she was about 6 months because she didn't seem interested in it anymore and would rather crowd my bed or sleep somewhere she can keep an eye on me and the cat 😂
Our GSD was crate & potty trained by 4 months. She sleeps with us and is now 3&1/2. We have a bell by the door if she wakes up and has to potty she wakes us up and rings the bell, but usually she’s fine through the night! The bell by the door is a huge help with training !
Mine sleeps in bed with me and wakes me with kisses when it's time to get up and go to the bathroom.
mine was crate trained, but once she discovered the bed, she's like, "you sleep in the crate"
I just got my 3 yo GSD about a month and a half ago, and she thinks she’s a person. She lays and sleeps where ever she wants, and just grab food off my plate when I’m not looking.
genuinely asking here, these things never bothered you ?
I would guess that they rescued the 3 y/o. Unfortunately it's not uncommon for people to surrender GSDs to shelters once they hit the teenager stage (more independent/ less likely to listen to someone, bigger and stronger so biting hurts much more, etc.) especially if they didn't do a good job enforcing rules from early puppyhood so now bad habits are even harder to break
Never crated - caged a dog. Never had a problem. I don’t understand a cage. My 4 legged children were too much a part of my family to consider that. All chewing and odd behavior lasts a short time. I never understood why that is done. Please explain. I potty trained my babies quickly. It takes work. By 3 months, no accidents. I did have to get up at night and bring my babies out side. Wait till the tinkled and gave them praise. It’s worth the effort. They slept with me and my husband or close by. I found that if you have one trained the next followed and the next. More than one and they never felt lonely or neurotic. Lived my babies. One thing though I never travelled. We have a Shepard Mastiff now. He’s 7. He sleeps in the coolest part of the house in winter he tries to snuggle up with us. He’s so big and won’t budge so we have to let him sleep out of the bedroom with the cats. He’s good about it.
They are animals at the end of the day. We love ours too but we crate one of our GSDs when we peave the house because she can be a bit of a bully (stealing toys mostly) and occasionally picks on our dachshund. She is perfectly content and likes being in her crate. We occasionally crate the other two if we know we're going to be gone and have like the lawn care guys coming. Our dogs are super friendly but a 100lb German Shepherd can definitely be intimidating if you are in his backyard.
As soon as they can hold their bladders overnight they graduate to their bed in our room.