Conflicting advice about dog at night time

[rockcakesrock]

We are hoping to get an adult rescue dog in the New year. We have never owned a dog before and are reading as much as we can.

One rescue site states that a dog should not be locked into the kitchen at night. Another book has said that it is the owners responsibility to ensure that the dog is not destructive. To do this temptation should be put out of the dogs way. That they are likely to chew wood or leather.

Our living room has no door and has leather and wood furniture. Our plan was to put the dogs bed in our cosy kitchen at night time. What do others do and can you give me an explanation of why it is a bad idea.

The alternative is to keep the dog in my bedroom.

I'd use a crate - the dog is safe and secure, and it also gives them a cosy cave to withdraw to in the day.

Personally I keep my dogs in my room because if someone breaks in they're downstairs on their own which I don't like the thought of. I also think it depends on the dog itself. If it's an adult rescue then the rescue centre might have some details from the previous owner, if it was lucky enough to have one.

To a certain extent, it's a matter of personal preference. My dog sleeps in my room in her own bed. My brother's dog sleeps in his bed with him.

I agree it depends on the dog. Maybe wait until you have the dog with you and see how it goes.

Say 'it is the owners responsibility to ensure that the dog is not destructive' is all very well in theory, but rescue dogs sometimes have problems because of their past experiences. Yes, issues can be addressed through training and treating them well, but it takes time.

Depends on the dog.
Some will need to be near you.
Some will be used to a crate.
Some will chew.
Some won't!
When we got a puppy we did crate training but I slept beside the crate to start with.
If you're new to all this the group on FB Dog Training Advice and Support has great files. Run buy positive trainers. No rubbish about pack theory etc.

We have 4 ddogs. 2 sleep upstairs outside my door, though they would prefer on the bed.
And 2 sleep in the utility, 1 because she eats things like toy cars and would chase the cats all night around the house and the other because she chews dc feet - ds has a scar from when rotty ddog decide to share his bunk bed.

Our rescue dog sleeps in her bed shut in the kitchen at night, she cried the first night she was here for about 10mins but never heard a peep from her since.

She doesn't use a crate as they make her panic and stressed out.
She doesn't sleep upstairs because she would annoy the cats all night.
She doesn't sleep in the living room because the cats can get in there and she would annoy them.
She has never chewed any furniture.

we have just adopted an adult rescue. We have been fostering and had a few dogs through the house in the last few months including friend's dogs which we dog sat for.

They are all different,
In our house it is dogs downstairs, cat upstairs, so no dogs upstairs and certainly no dogs sleeping in my room or on/in my bed (that's the cat's place!)

We have found that it really depends on the dog's previous experience.
Some dogs are fine with being given their bed and a toy and left downstairs. Most try and come up a couple of times, and we took them back and resettled. We have found that shutting them and their bed in the kitchen did not work at all, and one dog we had was terrified as soon as you closed any door, even if he was in the room with you. Although he was fine if you left him at home, it seemed to be internal doors.

None of them have chewed furniture at all. One chewed everything toy like she could get her hands on, including my oven gloves, because a bit of stuffing was poking out. One dog collected our shoes when we were out. Our current adoptee gets bored and goes and fishes clean washing out of the laundry pile and takes it to his bed.

We dog sat one dog who has a crate, and that was really easy, as once her crate door was shut she lay down and went to sleep. I think our current dog would hate a crate though, as he really wants to be close to us.

The other thing is that what works/is needed for the first few days may change as they settle.

I know that all the dogs pretty much quietly creep upstairs once we have gone to bed , and sleep on the landing!

It depends on the dog, its temperament and its background

Perhaps counter-intuitively, it is the nervous, anxious dogs who you shouldn't really let upstairs. Don't fall into the trap of treating a scared dog like a scared child and thinking it will benefit from being close to you at night - it could well do more harm than good for the dog

I've had rescue dogs who I couldn't let sleep in my room/bed because they would have over-attached and it would have potentially created a separation anxiety issue
My last rescue would pee on my bed if she got stressed, so absolutely had to be kept downstairs

Dogs with guarding tendencies tend to do better if they are kept downstairs or confined to a room, as they feel that is all they have to guard. Once they are given the run of the house, or allowed to sleep upstairs, they see a bigger area they need to guard/patrol, which can lead to them pacing around a lot, or getting quite stressed out when they are told not to

Conversely, the dog I will let sleep on my bed is my take-it-or-leave-it labrador, who only wants my bed for the warmth and squishy duvet, rather than any innate desire to protect me or the house

Ideally, you would want to crate the dog overnight with a nice squishy dog bed within the crate and possibly a towel over the top so it feels safe and den-like, but some dogs will react negatively to this if they've had bad experiences in the past, but they can be trained to see it as a positive thing.

If you don't have doors, baby gates will work for most dogs, and you could even get a playpen to set up at night to keep it away from furniture until you know the dog a bit better and know it isn't destructive

DDog sleeps in bed with his humans, often under the duvet and snuggled up next to me! He's a rescue of questionable origins and picks where he sleeps (he does have his own bed) and it doesn't cause any issues and I quite like it

When our dog was a youngster she slept in a crate in the kitchen. She now sleeps in her basket in the kitchen, with the door closed. I really can't see what could be wrong with this.

Our dog sleeps in the kitchen with the door shut. However she Is not destructive and doesn't steal food. I think it depends on the dog really.

As others have said it depends on a dog. We rescued an older puppy. Dh slept on the sofa with her the first couple of weeks until she settled into a routine. She goes out for a pee, comes in, pat on the head, night night.