Where does your dog sleep?

[kissmelittleass]

Getting a rescue dog this week our first time to have a dog and wondering where you all let your dogs sleep? And if you enclose the dog in a playpen?
I only know one dog owner and she uses a type of playpen with the dogs bed in the middle and shuts the dog in at night time, the dog sleeps in a spare room downstairs .
Do any of you use playpens at night to stop the dogs wondering about?

In my bed, either under the duvet or on top of the duvet with 2 cats. During the day, he has a bay window with a bed on that he shares with the cats.
He was crated when we first got him, but the cats would mock him in it and wake him at night so that idea went out the window.

On the floor at the end of our bed. She has her own bed but I think she gets warm so prefers just stretching out on the carpet.

@RickOShay

I don’t like crates at all. He used to sleep on my bed, I loved feeling the weight of him with my feet. Best place.

Dogs see crates as their refuge, their safe place. They don't see them as crates. Crates are wonderful for training puppies and young dogs. A crate makes everything so much easier in the early months.

As a young puppy, he was in a pen downstairs in the conservatory. Once toilet trained, a bed in our bedroom sometimes he jumps on the bed.

Well I don’t agree. They are unnecessary and cruel imho. Dogs are one of the best things on life. They give you everything they’ve got.
And we cage them?
We don’t deserve them.

@RickOShay

Well I don’t agree. They are unnecessary and cruel imho. Dogs are one of the best things on life. They give you everything they’ve got. And we cage them? We don’t deserve them.

You are of course entitled to your opinion, however you are humanising dogs. They don't see a crate as a crate, or a cage it's their bed, their den, their safe place. It's you who sees the crate as a cage.

Benefits of a crate for a puppy include:

Gives your dog a place to go when tired, nervous or stressed.
Can help with toilet training – dogs naturally tend to avoid making a mess where they sleep.
Helps to settle dogs into new environments.
A safe place for your puppy/dog to go when not supervised.
If the crate is suitable for travel this can make travelling with your dog much easier.
A crate for night, or when you go out, keeps the dog safe. It stops them from chewing things that might harm them.

Also crate training can be useful if dogs ever need to stay overnight at the vets as for dogs who aren’t used to crates this can be traumatic (we don’t use a crate with our dog but she’s older and fine to be left roaming when we’re out)

Thank you for your permission.
I think we will have to agree to disagree here.

But please don’t presume to tell me what I’m doing. It’s patronising and unnecessary.

Ours sleeps in his crate at night. During the day usually the sofa, he isn't crated when we go out.

Big fan of crates here.....if the dog is OK with it. we had one Weim who HATED it, scratched and scratched to get out, we tried all sorts of alternatives to find him a place to sleep where he felt comfortable, but it was a never ending battle, often ending with me on the sofa with him at 4 am. But he was a really nervy emotional dog.

Cocker spaniel, now 10, happily sleeps in crate in our bedroom

Beagle, 2, very content in his crate in the living room, have to practically drag him out in the mornings.

We lost our old girl 6 months ago. She slept in our room, on the sofa, never our bed.
She sat on the bed with us as we read, watched tv, etc. but bedtime was bedtime and as soon as the lights were switched off, off she trotted. Started when we collected her, at 4 months.
Loved her so much, but bed was bed.

In the lounge on their beds.

Older dog went through a stage of barking first thing in the morning to have some human company but once second dog came along about 4 weeks ago he has been much more settled at night. I’m guessing he was just a bit lonely, even though he’s been my only dog for years now.

They’re both guide dogs, one retired, one working. I do shut them out of the kitchen at night, and they’re not allowed upstairs.

Had a crate as a puppy although free to wander - now sleeps on the bed with us

Not always sure where she falls asleep but I always wake up with her either next to me, in our bed, or in my arms.

In the utility room in his own bed. With the door closed.
I know he'd prefer to be upstairs with us, but it's not happening!

Either her bed in our room, or our bed.

Oh my, this thread is making me so sad.

Our dogs are working dogs, who spend most of their time outside in the countryside or in their run. Mud abounds. If we wanted them to sleep on our bed or on sofas in the house, to stop the whole place stinking of dog, we would need to bathe them daily, which would be ridiculous, and bad for their skin and coats, especially the lanolin-rich labs.
So they sleep in the attached boiler room, which will one day become the utility/boot room.
They come into the house, mostly in the evenings to loll about with us, mostly in the one room with a tiled floor, which was formerly the Smoking Room, but since DH gave up, is now known as the Dirty Dog Room.
Puppies sleep in a crate until chewing stops. There is always at least one older dog nearby in a basket, so no one sleeps alone.

Totally agree with RickOShay about caging dogs. The very fact that people have to employ a euphemism and call what is obviously a cage a "crate" illustrates how unpalatable they are. It's perfectly possible to help a dog create a safe place without resorting to a cage. One of our rescues made a nest behind a sofa. She will also come and wrap herself around me if she feels cold or insecure through the night. No way could I lock her up. Ever.

To answer the op's question, ours asleep wherever they want - on our bed/in spare bedrooms/on sofas/on dog beds/on cool kitchen tiles ... We let them move around where they want and sleep where they feel most comfortable. Suits us and suits them.

One in my bed on my feet.
One on a dog bed right beside my bed.
One in a crate in my bedroom. Crate is left open, she goes in by choice.
Two in my son's bed. One on top of the duvet and one under it.

My first dog slept in the kitchen unless we were on holiday when he slept with me. As he got older he slept under my bed.

Rescue Spaniel sleeps with me.

His bed, our bed, the sofa.

Crated when he was a puppy now on my bed