Where does your dog sleep?

[longtimecomin]

We've just bought a puppy and so far he's slept in a fluffy bed on the kitchen floor. He's locked in the kitchen all night which means if he weeks or poos it's on a surface which cleans easily but we're thinking of getting a cage so he doesn't wee and poo through the night. He's 13 weeks old and his general toilet training is hit and miss. I asked friends and their dogs range from sleeping on their bed to outside and various arrangements of basket, sofa, etc. I'm curious to see where most dogs sleep 🤔

My old girl sleeps in my bedroom & usually migrates to my bed by morning. My boy sleeps in living room on sofa or in his crate/ man cave.

Crates are useful, my dogs see it as a den and like to go hide away in there at times. I do shut them in when necessary but they've been trained to that so doesn't cause stress which is good as they've also been confined for travelling & at vets.

I think pup is showing that they need to go out toilet in the night still and not wanting to mess the bed is more an encouragement to let you know, not hold it in till your ready to wake up.

When he was a pup we had to keep him shit in the kitchen, I felt really guilty about that, but our bedroom is only across the hall and he was terrible for having accidents in the night. He wouldn't try to wake me up or make any noise, he was just shut or piss on the carpets. That was for around 3 years or so. His bed is in my room now and he moves from room to room during the night. I'm not sure why. Sometimes he sleeps on the couch, sometimes in with the kids, sometimes in with us.

Shut in the kitchen, not shit 🤦‍♀️

Our puppy is nearly a year old. He sleeps on the kitchen floor. He isn't even the slightest bit interested in any of the beds we have bought for him.

Ours slept in a cage until she was about 6 months. She now sleeps on the landing

Mine now sleeps in a crate in the kitchen. It used to be in our bedroom but we moved him and endured sleepless nights as a result but he seems to have accepted it now. The advice on moving the crate gradually step by step towards the hall and then kitchen was obviously created by someone with a chihuahua or a huge house, as ours fits in one place only in our bedroom, nowhere in the hall and in one place in the kitchen! He has never had an accident in his crate even as a tiny pup - we got up and took him out when he fussed and he started sleeping through really quickly.

Lots of positive crate stories here. I think they're a great idea and will be using for our puppy until he's reliably house trained. Once he is then he can have run of the house.

Our dog is 9 months, he sleeps in a crate with the door open in the kitchen. We did think about getting rid of the crate but he really seems to feel that it's his bedroom and likes it in there!

On her bed in my room. Unless it's cold or it thunders in which case she ninja crawls into my bed and tries to hide under my nightie.

Our dog sleeps in his own bed which is in our bedroom.

Mine sleeps in a crate in the kitchen. During the day he usually naps in there too. You will find lots of anti crate posters op, but if used correctly the dog can find comfort in them.

He sleeps in his bed in our room.

DH gets up earlier for work than I have to, and the second DH leaves the room for a shower, he hops up on top of the duvet beside me and goes straight back to sleep.

He knows not to get on the bed when the two of us are in it - there just isnt the room!

Wherever he feels like it 🤦‍♀️ he's got beds in the livingroom, mine and dhs room and dcs rooms. He usually sleeps on dh clothes from that day on the floor down dhs side of the bed 🙄

I've got to say I can't imagine letting Dpup sleep in bed with us. I'm such a light sleeper as it is and toss and turn a lot in the night.

We’ve got a 9.5 week old puppy. He loves his crate! It’s a den during the day - door open, space for bed at one end and bed at the other and we pop toys in there too. At night, it’s covered with blankets as blackout and he happily takes himself there after his last pee-stop at 10pm.

He’s been clean and dry overnight since we got him at 8 weeks and he sleeps until 8am. Crate really helps settle him, he likes his own space!

Oops, should say: bed at one end and SPACE at the other end, with a puppy pad down in there at night

We had a crate when our puppy was younger, it was his safe space and it definitely helped with house training.

We only used it at night and for a max of 2 hours in the day if I had to go out.

At around 6 months old he rejected the crate completely and now sleeps wherever he likes, usually on my dds bedroom floor. At this point I didn't mind as he was housetrained.

I'm extremely anti dog cages. Mainly because they are so easy to misuse. It would be cruel to lock a puppy in a cage overnight in a different room where he couldn't get your attention. He'd be faced with the choice of soiling where he sleeps or having to hold it in and being uncomfortable/distressed.

I know many good owners will say their dogs like their cages. Most dogs do like a safe space - but it's easy enough to create a den for them that doesn't have bars. The availability of cages has unfortunately given the hard of thinking (I'm not talking about anyone on this thread) the belief that it is okay to cage dogs for prolonged periods of time (when out all day at work for example, or when they're just being a 'nuisance').

We took on a 10 week old rescue puppy last year and I slept downstairs every night for 2-3 weeks with him by my side. Every time he got up I got up and rushed him out into the garden to do his business, praising and rewarding him each time. Once he stopped waking every 2-3 hours I took him and his dog bed upstairs, though still rushing him outside as soon as he woke up. Hard work but didn't take very long to housetrain him.
Now he sleeps on our bed ...

On our bed... she didn't used to but she's getting on a bit now so we are more lenient with her.

@MacaroniSaysShetlandPony that’s interesting about your dog being dry from 8 weeks from 10pm till morning? I read their bladder can only hold their age plus a month. We have been bringing our 3 month old out every 4 hours during the night so 11pm, 3am, 6am. We find he whines to go pee /poo outside at those hours. We’re knackered!!

My girl tends to sleep in the lounge on one of the couches, although she does sometimes migrate to the couch in the kitchen. Occasionally she barks in the middle of the night to be escorted upstairs to our room

When they were puppies ours slept in the hallway/kitchen/utility, once they were older and could be trusted not to chew or soil things, we opened up the living room door and they have the run of most of downstairs (the dining room remains a dog free zone). We have a stair gate so they don’t come upstairs at all, we wanted the cat to have some peace.

Utility room until recently, dd now lets him sleep on her bed

I'd been sleeping on the sofa with dpup but at 10 weeks she's been reliable lasting the night for a week so she got to come to bed with me last night. She's not in the least bit interested in her crate which we got incase she needed a break from dc - she's very peopley and does not want breaks at any time. Crates are fine but you need to put the work in to proper training with most pups and expect to get up in the night once or twice if they aren't lasting. It would be cruel to lock a puppy away and leave them all night if they were needing to toilet through the night still

My greyhound is massive. He usually sleeps on the floor next to my bed. However by morning I wake up to find the bold boy folded up like a deckchair on my bed. His head resting on my leg.