Teenage crate issues

[snuffles123]

9 month old pup has been happy as Larry in his crate from 9 weeks. He's always liked it so crate training was easy. He's been a dream sleep wise and hasn't ever caused us any problems over night.

Last weekend he was poorly with d&v and woke us up the first night of it crying and rattling at the crate door, we knew he wasn't right as it's so unusual for him. We obviously went straight down and sorted him out. DP slept on the couch to keep an eye on him for a few nights until he was better.

He's now 100% back to his usual self but he's currently downstairs crying and whimpering in his crate. He's well, fed, watered, doesn't need a wee or poo etc.

Any advice? I don't want to go down and let him out as don't want to reinforce the behaviour. But he's also my baby and I hate hearing him upset, it's so unlike him.

I don't know if he actually needs the crate anymore. He's really good in the house so it's not a safety requirement anymore like the early puppy weeks. We don't even use it when we leave him home alone. Do we just get rid? Or is it useful to keep the night crating up?

In the time it took me to type that he's fallen asleep with no intervention but it's not really ideal going forward.

I don't want him to be upset in there.

Why don’t you just leave the door open so he has the choice?

Get rid of the crate. It isn't right to keep a dog caged like that. They should be free to move about within a room.

I’d leave the crate door open and see if he just wants to sleep somewhere else.

Mine is 18 months and we still have a crate, he starts off in there but moves out quite soon at the moment as he gets hot I think. In winter he stays in there all night by choice

Yes ours is a similar age and the door has been open for the last few months. She can choose where she sleeps but mostly chooses the crate.

Dogs often have a confidence wobble at adolescence so he may need to be back with you or you with him for a while. We've not bothered moving ours out of our bedroom as she sleeps so well and so many dogs need to go back in unless you want a load of trauma with broken sleep.

Thanks. We'll give it a try!

Agree, leave crate door open. We do this and the dog still chooses to sleep in there. He's 18 months old.

Mine was like this during the hot weather. Once it cooled down a bit she went back to not making a noise

We had a crate for our pups until they were about 10 months or so. From about 6 months (once they stopped teething and chewing) we left the door open so pup had choice. Once they were sleeping on the couch every night for a couple of weeks, the crate got put away. I'd leave the door open and let your pup choose where to sleep.
PS don't give crate away, it's been really helpful to have a crate for post op rest etc.

Dogs are naturally polyphasic sleepers and like to move around when they sleep - unfortunately crates, no matter how big, can limit their ability to do that.

It's not just about them being able to stretch out and turn around, it's also about the type of surface too - they often like the option to switch from being curled up under a blanket to stretched out on a hard floor, then maybe on to the blanket, then back under again etc.

I would do as PP's have advised and give him the choice - leave the door open but give him the option of sleeping elsewhere too.

I gave up the crate when puppy was 11 months old.