Crate at night

[mynameisnotmichaelcaine]

Just after some advice. Pup is five months old and has slept downstairs in her crate since day one. She sleeps from around 9:30pm until someone gets up. That might be 6am in the week, 8:30am at the weekend. We never hear a peep out of her in the night, but when I put her in her crate at night she usually barks a few times - at best once, at worst for about five minutes. My head says that's ok but my heart feels guilty when she's barking. Now I've written this down, I realise it is almost certainly fine, but I'm a first time owner and I question absolutely everything. I think I am beginning to realise why all of my kids took literally years to sleep through the night...

Dogs are polyphasic sleepers. This means they sleep in short periods, like to get up and move around as well as changing positions
Changing surfaces that they sleep on also helps them regulate their temperature
Therefor, crating dogs goes against their natural way of sleeping and removes all option of them fulfilling this instinctive behaviour.
themuttyprofessor.co.uk/2017/07/20/crate-debate-crate-not-crate/

@GrrRightBackAtYou Surely if she were unhappy due to not fulfilling her instinctive behaviour, she would bark and be unsettled during the night rather than at the time I put her in the crate?

I do understand that it's not natural to crate a dog, but it's not natural for a human baby to sleep in a cot away from its parents, and most people do this and it works for them.

It’s certainly not normal for a dog to bark for 5 minutes before bed so for whatever reason she is not happy about something . Do you have a settled bedtime routine so she knows exactly what is going to happen

@Floralnomad She very rarely barks for five minutes - that's probably once a fortnight, usually when she has got over-excited in the evening. Do you mean a routine in terms of what time she goes to bed, or what she does before bed? Because we normally have the same routine - cuddles on the sofa, final wee, then treats in the crate, but it isn't always at the same time. I tend to bring her through from the sofa when she starts getting mouthy - I wonder if I'm allowing her to get overtired?

Perhaps she would settle better if her crate was in your bedroom .

[quote GrrRightBackAtYou]Dogs are polyphasic sleepers. This means they sleep in short periods, like to get up and move around as well as changing positions
Changing surfaces that they sleep on also helps them regulate their temperature
Therefor, crating dogs goes against their natural way of sleeping and removes all option of them fulfilling this instinctive behaviour.
themuttyprofessor.co.uk/2017/07/20/crate-debate-crate-not-crate/[/quote]
This is what I'd read. We moved our pup to his own bed at about 12 weeks. He does get up and move a lot throughout the night.

We've always used a crate for our puppies at night. (Labs)

They very quickly got used to it and have been known to sit outside waiting to go in, once we open it. We have had a few barks just after being crated but this is most likely because they are hyper and want to play some more.

It great for house training too - they don't like to wizz in their crate so learn to wait until they are let out on the lawn.

After 6 months or so we replace the crate with a dog bed - job done.

[quote mynameisnotmichaelcaine]@Floralnomad She very rarely barks for five minutes - that's probably once a fortnight, usually when she has got over-excited in the evening. Do you mean a routine in terms of what time she goes to bed, or what she does before bed? Because we normally have the same routine - cuddles on the sofa, final wee, then treats in the crate, but it isn't always at the same time. I tend to bring her through from the sofa when she starts getting mouthy - I wonder if I'm allowing her to get overtired?[/quote]
I think you have your answer If she is over tired you could try a natural chew for her last treats. Chewing in itself can calm dogs, so if she is a little overaroused , a quick chew to calm down and then peaceful sleep - (hopefully).

Thanks everyone. I might get a special natural chew just for bedtime.

We use a dentastix every night - vet was impressed with ddog teeth. Sometimes he chews it before sleep and other times he’ll save it until morning. We only use the crate closed at night - ddog eats random stuff so it keeps him safe. I was thinking about giving him free run if the kitchen dinner but he barked because his crate wasn’t shut. It also does mean I can take him away knowing I have a safe place for him.

Thanks so much everyone. Tonight I took her for her walk a bit earlier than usual and then had her on my knee until a bit later (closer to ten). She had an antler to chew. Stuck her in the crate after a wee and she went straight to sleep - not a single bark. I feel much calmer this evening.

Brilliant