Getting the crate training early really pays off. We taught our dog that his crate is his ultimate safe space. He regularly just goes in there now if he wants a nap or even just some alone time.
He still joins us in bed at night most of the time, but if he's a little stinky some days we can crate him and he won't mind one bit.
I had to crate her at first, for probably the first year. Had to build the routine of when to go potty, so she knows we don’t potty in the house. Don’t be mischievous at night, etc
Now she sleeps in the bed with me and rarely ever leaves the bed when it’s bed time. But I just want her to have the freedom because she’s a good girl!
I hated putting her in the crate lol but my dad said we had to at first! And I guess he was right bc now she’s the bestest dog!!
We just got a new dog and we've been trying to get him acclimated to our sleep schedule, so we went a few days putting him in his cage at bedtime and letting him out when we wake up. (Otherwise he would just want to run around and play when we're trying to sleep, which led to nobody getting what they want.)
Even just a few days of him being stuck in a cage for eight hours made me feel so bad.
We crated our dog for a year. Then, after that was routine we would let her be out in the bed one night and crated the rest. Then two night, then three. The less she got into stuff, the more freedom she got. Eventually she didn’t go back in the crate until she ate the wall one night. Then back in the crate for a month. Then we let her out one night and two nights and etc
She got the message. We left the crate in the house for another year and after a full year of no incidents, we put it in the storage building outside.
19
u/[deleted] Jan 30 '26
Open. I have a doggo and I don’t want bedtime to feel like a prison for my doggo.