Where do your dogs sleep?
Preface--My one year old sheepie, Basil, has finally really gotten the hang of house training (YAY!). He has a set of bells on the back door which he rings when he needs to go potty (or sometimes just to play outside, cheeky fellow). He never really took to his crate, even after feeding him there, keeping toys, etc. He prefers under the dining room table or roaming the bottom floor of our house and napping in the hallways where he can keep watch. Currently, I keep him in the laundry room at night, where his bed and food and water are. I tried for a time to leave him out at night, to give him a little freedom, and he seems to do alright, he roams, sleeping here and there, almost like he's on watch duty(?). And that's fine, except that he almost always rings his potty bell between 3 and 4:30am. And I know he can hold it, but I'm scared of him going anyway if I didn't hear it (or wanted to ignore it) and going backwards on the potty training. So my real question is, where do your dogs sleep at night? Is Basil still too young to leave out? Help! |
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| I don't think he's too young to leave out but I would also be nervous about having him free if he is in the habit of a 4am potty outing. Can you break him of that habit by taking up his water at night and then doing last outs at 11? I would want that to stop before I trusted him to be free in the house at night. How about going a couple of weeks in the laundry to see if he manages without the extra outing. If you do decide to give him free reign at night, I would block off any rooms that are tempting -- such as basements or rooms you never use because that's the first place they go to sneak in an inside pee. I think Henry was sleeping out of his crate before 12 months (maybe 9 months?). He sleeps in my bedroom. He can let himself out the dog door (leads to a secure, fenced dog-run) but he mainly only does that when his tummy is upset. |
| Chewie (the OES) sleeps out on the cement floored porch by choice. He likes it because it's cool out there. It is gated, but not because of him - mainly because Riley the rat terrier also sleep in his bed in the garden window out there, and he is not above sneaking a pee if left out all night. He never pees out there though. We have a senior foster basset (Harley) who has adopted Chewie. Harley came to us as an 11 yr old who was always crated at night. But, as he and Chewie bonded here, he chose to give up his super cushy dog bd in his crate and move out onto the cement floored porch to sleep with Chewie! I'm in MN, and it's winter here! As it has gotten colder and I couldn't convince him to sleep his old bones where it was warmer and softer, I bought him a new (smaller) bed that fit in the garden window and he and Riley both are up there, with Chewie on the bare cement.   they are happy, so I guess it all worked out. The rest sleep in crates or out in the house, depending on age or behavior of each. At bedtime they all file off to their spots and settle for the night. Another thing - if we are traveling or at someone elses house, Chewie roams and is restless if he is too warm. If it's all carpet, he moves all night trying to find a new cool spot. In motels he always lays either in the bathroom, or in the doorway if it's a tiled spot right inside the door. |
| Thank you for the quick responses!! I do make a habit of picking up water at about 8pm, he loves water and WILL finish the bowl if it's there. And when he's in the laundry room, he doesn't go out at 4 and hasn't had any accidents in the small space since he was very, very young. It's when I leave him out at night that he decides he needs to go out super early. (My husband and I are usually up around 6, so normally he goes out around 6:30.) I think tonight we'll do a trial run and if he rings the bells oh so early, I'll simply say no! Fingers crossed! |
| I hope he succeeds! (Maybe take the bells down so he doesn't think to ask? Would that help?) |
Tiggy has a bell to ring to go out. And if I let her roam at night she rings it at odd hours to go out. She often doesn't pee though she just goes out checks things out then comes back in.  I think she gets a) lonely and b) wants to do a yard partrol. So now I take the bells off at night. She still gets penned in her favorite corner though otherwise she will sometimes sneak a pee. Last night I left her roam free in the kitchen and no pee but in the past its been the second night that she's peed so we'll see.  |
| Oscar sleeps in the master bedroom/bathroom. We close the door out to the rest of the house, so he is enclosed with us, but he has full run of the master area. He is on prednisone, which has the side affect of making a dog have to pee more frequently, but he has no trouble holding it 7 - 8 hours. We don't take the water up either, as he has a bowl in the master bathroom. This is his routine since he was puppy, except he used to get a middle of the night potty break up until he was about 7 months old. Laurie and Oscar |
| To me the crate is the only way to go. My pup was completely housebroken by 4 months and we never had to take her out in the middle of the night. We always took her out at about midnight for her last potty, then put her in her crate for the night. I'd then take her out first thing in the morning, around 6:30 am. She never peed or pooped in her crate. I am shocked by how many people seem to get up once (or twice!!) in the middle of the night to take a dog out to go potty. I had previously only heard of this for elderly dogs or others with medical reasons for needing to go more often, not young dogs. Maybe I've just been very lucky with this puppy. She has been "easy" in every way. She still sleeps in her crate every night, and I will continue to have her sleep there until she has matured to the point where she won't get herself into trouble wandering around the house. She feels most secure in the crate, and it's by far the safest place for her. I assume once she's older and doesn't use the crate anymore, she'll sleep next to my bed.  |
| Brick either sleeps on the bed (which I can't stand because he wants to lay right in the middle), or on his bed in my room (which he hasn't done much of lately; probably because the foam is all flattened in the middle), or in the couch in the basement (especially during summer). Zeke would start in the bedroom but sometime in the night would move out into the hallway just outside the bedroom door. |
| Both our dogs sleep in our room with us with the door closed. I find if I leave the door open, they roam about as if on guard. Once the door is closed, they lay down and sleep the night. I think most sheepies want to sleep inside with the family but if allowed too much roaming room, they may not relax thinking its their job to keep watch If your dog is drinking that much water, be sure to give enough during the day...We leave a water bowl out at night, in our room, with about a cup of water in it. I measure it out! |
 gosh I dont know how you have your sheepies sleeping with you!! My 2 only go upstairs for a treat, but since it has been snowy they have had the run of the house as they arent having much exercise. I had a lay on the bed the other afternoon and took the dogs with me! The yorkie cuddled up in the crook of my arm. Not Summer!
No, hang on I will try the bottom of the bed! No, perhaps I will change direction! I am trying on my back with legs up in the air now! OMG I have got to scratch! Hang on everyone! No I will try the floor! Cor, you should see the fluff under the bed! Dont worry anyone, I am not stuck! I can get out! At this point after 15 minutes of fidgeting we went back downstairs!  |
| Sue, this is why ours don't sleep with us. They have the run of the place, it's not very big, and we have the door closed. So far so good, no messes and nothing has been destroyed. We're really very lucky with Butch, he hasn't destroyed much like a lot of other puppies we've had. Knock on wood. |
Ashley wrote: Both our dogs sleep in our room with us with the door closed. I find if I leave the door open, they roam about as if on guard. Once the door is closed, they lay down and sleep the night. I think most sheepies want to sleep inside with the family but if allowed too much roaming room, they may not relax thinking its their job to keep watch I agree. If the door is open, Maggie is on alert listening for sounds and BARKING unexpectedly but when I close the door, she sleeps fine. Henry is never on guard. He sneaks up on my bed at some point during the night and sleeps at my feet without moving. I love it. Maggie joins us when she hears me waking up. |
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our bed, their beds, the closet, the couch... all in the same night. nothing like waking up to a gigantic sheepdog head starring at you so you'll move over and make room  |
| Mady started off sleeping in her locked crate downstairs. She was perfectly fine for the first 4 months. Then one night she decided the hell with that, and barked and whined her head off after putting her in her crate for the night. I thought something was wrong, took her outside, checked her all over etc. But she seemed fine. Turned out, she had decided there was no way she was sleeping in her crate away from her people anymore. So we brought her upstairs and she sleeps upstairs ever since, she alternates between sleeping on the floor on either side of the bed, or down the hall in our shower-room on the tiled floor (coolest surface for sure). Many times, we'd like her to sleep in bed with us, but she wont, probably just too warm. In the first 2 months we had her, she would wake up around 3 a.m. and whine to be taken out. Now she can make it 9 hours without needing to go out. She will sometimes do her low guard barking if she hears or smells something from outside she's not happy with. I love her in guard dog mode. |
| ^^ Mady is just too sweet! ^^ Sam and Nola both share the room (not the bed) with us. If the lights are on they know they can play and move around but as soon as the lights go off they know it's time to settle down. Sam will sleep on my side and Nola will sleep on Joseph's side. They KNOW when the alarm goes off though that mama is gonna get up and take them outside...this usually means I get a TON of puppy kisses first thing! Other than that they don't go in the bedroom unless, of course, it's Sunday and we have cuddle time (on the bed). GASP!  |
| Hey all... Baxter (2yrs 3 mths) sleeps inside with us - and essentially sleeps wherever he likes. He has a couple of favourtie spots near our bedroom, but we never have any issues with him peeing inside or wandering around the house at all. At about 6am he'll wander into the bedroom which is our informal alarm clock so we let him out and get ready for the morning jog with him. For once we lucked in with our boy !!!!!!!  |
| OMG-SO FUNNY! I am so familiar with this, it's Hank to a T. KTB wrote: I think I will lay right next to you Mum! No, hang on I will try the bottom of the bed! No, perhaps I will change direction! I am trying on my back with legs up in the air now! OMG I have got to scratch! Hang on everyone! No I will try the floor! Cor, you should see the fluff under the bed! Dont worry anyone, I am not stuck! I can get out! |
I think a better question is where do I sleep? Ritz, 10 mo hybrid and Gideon, 5yr old hound mix both are free to sleep where ever they like (usually in bed or on the couches, with ritz he usually has to have one part of him on me just to make sure if I get up hes not missing out on anything) but Lily 10 week old oes sleeps on the bed with me. She wakes me up by playing tug o war with my hair in the morning as soon as im awake she stops. It's like shes saying "Wake up mommy NOW!! I gotta go potty!!" |
| Bella tried sleeping on the couch in our bedroom a month or so after we got her. That ended the night she rolled over and fell off the couch. now she sleeps on the bed with us laying across my legs at the end of the bed. we have radiant heat so she doesn't like the floor so much. Bella has her own fan we turn on to keep her cool and cover up hubby's snoring which is like a chainsaw. |
| Chiquita has roam of the house at night. And she does great. When we first tried it she got fidgety and to solve it we put her up in the crate anytime she disturbed us. We spent about a month getting her used to the rules: no barking what-so-ever at night no pacing no sniffing us no bumping the bed no multiple potty trips (to see the neighbor who works nights and often works on cars at 4 a.m.  ) The instant she did anything to wake us she went in the crate until morning. She only did each of these once. One thing I think that worked to our advantage is that we had already graduated to leaving her in a room (gated) instead of the crate while we are gone from the house. So she wasn't accustomed to having to be crated. She quickly understood that she had to be VERY quiet to not go in the crate. It worked great! And to be honest she has just begun to prefer her crate all over agian. We often get up in the morning and find her in it. |
| Chauncey always sleeps with us. He's decided that I'm soft and fluffy so he his laying on some part of me . On the rare occasion that he needs to go out at night he will sneak out of bed and tap the mattress on Bob's side of the bed and he will take him out. But that is rare. |
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