There were a few questions after I shared the video of the built in crates in my home, about where my dogs sleep at night. The short answer is “anywhere they want” which might be a surprising response.
Of course, it does not start that way. We can’t bring a new puppy or rescue dog into our home and have them sleep anywhere they want as that is not safe and does not create confidence or security for our new family member! So, I thought I’d give the long answer by way of a blog.
I might have a slight obsession with dog beds … Encore in one of many.
My Dogs Sleep in the Bedroom
When I get a new puppy, I put him or her in a crate on top of a chair beside my bed at night. This way, the puppy sleeps right near my face and can hear me breathe and practically feel my breath and not be worried. As we both fall asleep, I stick my fingers through the crate door for a few minutes. I have never had a puppy cry or fuss at night, plus I get to fall asleep looking at my beautiful new puppy!
We hear from so many people whose puppy might be put in the garage, or in the bathroom, or in the kitchen, and well away from everyone at night. The puppy does not have to sleep on your bed, but we want our dogs to learn to be part of our family. Your dog will be more comfortable, and you will have a better relationship with your dog if your dog is included and sleeps nearby.
If a puppy needs to go out throughout the night, I quietly reach inside the crate and hook the leash to the collar and lift the puppy out to carry him all the way outside to their potty spot. I say nothing, allow the puppy to potty and then pick him up and return him to his crate. The principles of “don’t wake the mamma” are being built. Nothing fun happens if you wake me.
TIP: For these late evening potty trips I use an oversized leash and clip it around the width of the collar so I don’t have to get a tiny puppy lead clipped onto a tiny puppy collar ring. You can read all the details on a successful housetraining routine in another post here on my blog.
In the morning, the puppy waits in his crate while the other dogs go outside. Then it’s the puppy’s turn for my full attention to morning potty routines. When Crate Games are established, I maintain that criteria – hand on door = sit, leash on – and I carry the puppy out doors to his established potty spot on leash and our morning begins.
The puppy crate goes on a chair next to the bed.
Transitioning to Sleeping Out of the Crate
As my puppy grows, the crate comes off the chair and goes to the floor. Then the crate is moved further away from the bed. I’ll move it over against the wall, and then maybe to another part of the bedroom, so the puppy does not grow too much dependency on me, but they can still be in the same room.
Eventually, when the puppy is between nine months and a year of age, depending on the puppy, they will transition out of the crate to sleeping on a bed in the room. This is never left to chance. It will start with me having a “nap” in the bedroom with the puppy in the room to see if they are able to stay off my bed and hang out and not get into mischief. This is an excellent reason for us to take a nap during the day!
What About Older Dogs Who Are New Family Members?
The routine is very similar for any older dog arriving in the family. Obviously, it’s not going to be possible for the crate to go on a chair for most dogs, but the crate could be near you, your dog could be in an ex-pen with an open crate inside it for him to sleep in.
As the dog settles in, you can transition to him sleeping out of the ex-pen. This should happen on your dog’s timeline and not your own because you want to set him up for success.
Tater enjoying a nap on a window seat.
So, there you have it, the long answer to “where do your dogs sleep?”.
Let me know in the comments how you provide safety, comfort and confidence in sleeping arrangements for a puppy or dog who is new in your home.
Today I am grateful for the birthday celebrations for Encore (16), Swagger (9) and Momentum (5) recently … love my dogs!
Hi Susan, I have recently adopted a 6yo Maltese mix from a puppy mill who does not want to step on a doggie bed, she sleeps under my bed. Should I push her to sleep on her bed? She’s been with me for two months. I got different beds all over my house but she doesn’t care. Will she ever sleep on her bed? Any suggestions? Just worries me 😕
We have three dogs they all start by sleeping in a crate in our room and as they get older we give them more freedom our oldest (6yo) chooses to sleep on the couch the middle (1y 7m) sleeps on the bed and the youngest (8m) chooses to sleep in her kennel
I live in a tiny house, and I sleep in my sleeping loft. My cavoodle puppy sleeps in his crate next to my bed (until about 7am when we both sort of wake up and he then comes under my blankets with me), my four year old cavoodle sleeps at the end of the bed on the right, my Turkish Angora cat sleep under my chin, snuggled up to me on the left, and my rag doll cat sleeps on the cupboard looking disdainfully down on all of us lol. When I need to get out of bed for the bathroom, I have to navigate my way out of bed, because if the cat crosses paths with a dog – there will be fireworks. Cat rules the house lol. Sometimes, my four year old cavoodle goes under the blankets in teh middle of the night, and I don’t know how I do it, but somehow, I move them all around so that there is no world war three lol
Please help. My dog as a pup slept in a crate on the bed. As he grew out of it he now sleeps on the bed which is fine BUT he wakes several times a night and goes to the kitchen and rings his bell to go outside. He is well housetrained so he never makes a mess. I want to keep that training. But he wakes sometimes 2 or 3 times every night! I get up to let him out but I don’t think he has to pee that often. I watched #26 and now I put on a leash and take him out into the fenced yard. He was unnerved by that the first time. I had to pull him out into the grass. He wanted to stay on the patio and sniff the air. Any other ideas for me. He is 2 years old. A healthy Yorkie.
Lucky me! I have been reading and watching Before I pick up baby Fergie in mid May.
I have my plastic crate already. Am getting furniture out of my room to have a more comfortable Safe Training Area. After buying my horse a new lead shank, I noticed it was nylon, which I don’t like. No problem! The large hook will be perfect for a bleary eyed walk down stairs and out to potty area!
Fergie is a Golden. I have some time before I look for bedroom beds. My rottweilers just slept in the lower right corner of the bed!
Will join Recallers on May 1st. Need to really get those first games learned!
I am grateful for Susan, my wonderful horse,
Love Sunny Days, and my dogs/horse friends who love me and support my endeavors.
We have a 5 month old puppy who sleeps in his crate in the den, which is only 20 ft from our room. When we first had Zeke at 8 weeks I had him in his smaller kennel next to me; however, after a week I found that he didn’t settle the same. I realized that as he became older, he could not fully relax as he was “up” looking around wondering what was going on all the time. We decided to put his crate in the den (some days I play a puppy therapy calming music app). He immediately settles nicely in the den area and sleeps so soundly! Sometimes when he’s edging towards being overtired, he will actually whine to go into his kennel: He is still sleeping 3-4 hours in the am, 3 in the afternoon, (both times after playing games) and goes down for the night for 7-8 hours. At night I leave the door open and a night light in the room across from him that joins onto our room. It’s a very small distance so he can hear us without too much stimulation, and the reassurance during the night that we’re nearby. At times I will go out during the day time naps and he is sleeping soundly when I return. I’m really thankful that my breeder had blankets and stuffies with our scent and mama’s scent in them, along with accessibility to multiple crates to sleep in within their courtyard. They had a very similar routine which helped with their transition. All this was new to us because prior to this, our first dog as well as every dog we looked after, slept in our room either in kennels, on dog beds or in our bed! They are so different. Lol
Thanks for this Susan! I have followed your advice on sleeping, since bringing my pup home. It has been smooth sailing, one step at a time. Now, at 17 months, her first choice is to sleep on my bed, but most nights, she will jump down and cuddle up on her own bed, on the floor. She is pretty content. 😊
Our 6yo dog came to us at 6 weeks old (from a shelter). We were still clueless at that time. At 9pm he went into our bedroom and curled up beside our bed. He has slept there for over 6 years. When we got a second pup, we put his bed on the opposite side of the bed, due to space limitations.
I did the same except I did not put the crate on the chair yet still beside my bed. The Shelby slept in her crate. I got the soft crate with option of opening the top. So when she was anxious, cried, I just put my hand on the crate and did a soft ‘shhh’.
In regards to Shelby needing to go out during the night, I did the same drill as Susan. It didn’t take to long for her to sleep through the night.
She is now 9 months old and we are so suprise that no mess was done in the crate. We are now close to go to the next step, sleeping outside her crate. ❤️🐾
Now all this will be repeated in Sept. ❤️🐶
Hi Susan,
I was happy to read this. it is very similar to what we did with our English Shepherd, now 18 mos old. When we first picked him up in northern BC to bring back with us to Ontario, he slept with us in our small travel trailer and we didn’t have any trouble with him. He had a crate with the door open in an X pen and a litter box which is what the litter had been trained to use. He very quickly transitioned to going outside and to sleeping through the night. At home, we put a closed crate in our bedroom and he was happy with that. At about 9 mos, we put the crate in the hall, and slept there as if that’s where he had always been. We were concerned about moving him downstairs eventually, but he adjusted to that effortlessly as well and now sleeps in in an open crate in the ‘mudroom’ with a favourite view into the backyard. We may transition to leaving the room door open eventually, don’t want him loose at night yet. He likes his ‘bedroom’ and lets us know when we’re keeping him up too late. Thanks for all your invaluable information!
I will follow your suggestion about the crate next to the bed where I can reach out to the pup. I will also use a leash that fastens around the collar.
All of your methods that I have used work with my mature Aussie. The difficulty I have is remembering all the details, and having to pace myself with the various subjects. But no complaint in that respect.
Hi, thanks for the info. We have a new rescue puppy adopted at 6mths and I have found your posts and videos very interesting and helpful! I have a question about my senior dog. She is a 13yr old 45lb husky/collie+ mix (northern BC special). She has always slept where she likes on one of various dog beds in the house that are filled with chipped foam (her favourite kind of dog bed). However, as she gets older I have been wondering if she should sleep on something more supportive like a thick orthopaedic dog bed. Do you have any suggestions?
I was lucky with this puppy. Her breeder got her used to sleeping on her own before I picked her up. I’d left a blanket with the breeder so that she would get used to my smell. She also had some bedding with the smell of her mum on it. I built her a den in the living room where she could go and get away from it all and she was happy to sleep in there. I got up three times in the night to let her out and I didn’t need to use puppy pads.
My last puppy was quite different. I sat up in bed all night cuddling her as she was so scared. Not spoilt or anything LOL. She soon settled in and she was fine after that.
This article was amazing and worked like a charm!!! Thank-you from a first time dog owner.
My dogs all sleep where they want with one exception my youngest, she started off in a crate next to my bed (one of my older dogs are not all that happy to interact with puppies). Eventually I meved her to her puppy pen in the kitchen/livingroom initially with one of the older dogs as company. Now she sleeps on her own in the pen as she is destructive so she can’t be alone free in the room. She is unable to come uppstairs as they are too steep for her so she wouldn’t be able to come back downstairs and is too heavy and big to be carried like the others who both sleep with me.
What do you put in the crate with the puppy at night?
My older dog came to me at 14 months. When we went in my room she jumped on the bed and curled up. She’s a big cuddle bug. A couple of months later I took in a five week old puppy. She was so scared that I let her sleep on my chest for about a week and then I discovered Susan’s puppy playlist. I moved her into my cat’s soft carrier and placed it on a bedside table following all of Susan’s protocol for puppies with the edition of soft jazz music. Later I made her a bed in the ex-pen and now at five months old she prefers her open crate inside the ex-pen. She was sleeping through the night fairly quickly. My big girl can be in my room too but is no longer allowed to sleep on the bed since we had a little resource guarding beginning, me being the resource, but I can trust her not to bother anything in the house at night so she’s free however doesn’t usually move from her bed. I’m so grateful to have found Susan just when I needed her
We slept next to our pup in her crate in the beginning and then gradually withdrew. She was great with this until her second season. She just howled and howled. So we went back to sleeping next to her again and then withdrew gradually. All went well until now. She will be 2 next month. Just after her spay last month she had a really nasty infection and we needed to sleep next to her to get her out to potty in time. ( every half hour for the first few nights- then hourly for a few more !!) Fortunately she is now better, but she has not transitioned to sleeping on her own again very well and wakes up in the middle of the night crying and whimpering. I wouldn’t mind her sleeping in her bed in our room – at least that way we’d all get some sleep, but I am concerned about her becoming too dependant in us – especially since when we go away on holiday she is in a doggy hotel where she is in a room on her own and we are not even around. I hate the thought of leaving her for a week and her just crying every night so we have a bit of a dilemma. Haven’t yet worked out what to do to sort it out.
My dog’s favourite sleeping place is on a sofa in the study. I spend a few hours at night in the study, but he chooses to stay there on his own when I go to bed.
What a great blog. We have 3 dogs. Crate trained for the first few months . Our dogs are 7 , 5 , 4 and all
Just sleep
Where they want and have been since they were about 1 year olds.
None have separation issues ( I have
More separation anxiety than they do lol). But they will sleep with me or on the floor and rotate through the night .
Susan thank you for all your incredible information that you share
Thank you for the detail. Two 8 year old Dobermans and one 10 week Great Dane puppy here. My female Doberman sleeps on her large dog bed at the foot of my bed, she used to be right next to my bed but we have a new puppy so he’s in the crate like you detailed. She’s sleeping beautifully through the night! My male Doberman just transitioned from a crate in the bedroom to an extra large orthopedic dog bed – he’s thrilled! I love having my dogs in the bedroom with me so this was nice to read! They stay put but the second I open my eyes they are all looking at me waiting for my “okay” and the Dobers get to hop up in the bed, the female likes to borrow under the blankets and they will sleep easily until 9 while I do the puppies morning routine.
Wow, I am total opposite from these comments. Once I disovered crate training and had 2 or 3 at one time, I established a nite nite routine if play, snuggles, potty and crate for bedtime. Granted, some were older than 6 months . My dogs do this routine every nite, are in their own room and crate by 9:30 and sleep through until 7. They race to go nite nite which involves a treat in crate. I think they feel safe and “off duty”. I have had dogs in the pre crate days sleep in my bed. When 2 of my older dogs started to object to crate at night they were allowed to sleep wherever they could get comfortable.
We got Marley at 6 weeks old. On that first night, about 9 pm, he went into our bedroom, curled up on my husband’s side of the bed & went to sleep. He still sleeps there, almost 6 years later. Our younger dog has his bed on my side of the bed. Lately, he spends much of the night on the guest couch in the living room, but does spend some time with the “pack” in the bedroom.
Three years ago, we adopted a 4 yr. old Australian shepherd mix, who was crate trained & spent many hours daily in his crate. We had a nice, big crate set up for him in our bedroom, at the foot of the bed. He refused to go into the room! So, first night, he slept on the floor, on the crate mat at the foot of the bed. And it is his preferred spot still and he is 7 1/2 years old.
I tried moved my dogs crate from the dining room into my bedroom. He sleeps great in his crate so I thought this transition would be easy. But, he completely flipped out. Any tips on how to make him feel comfortable sleeping in his crate anywhere?
I really want to keep my dog in bed with me, however, I have a bad habit during sleep, I’m really afraid to hit it unintentionally 🙁
Former puppy, 8 weeks old, about 12 years ago. With no instructions, I had done exactly what Susan said: in crate, on nightstand, took him out at 4 a.m. when he wimpered, and the newspaper carrier was tossing daily paper on my walk. Since puppy was so small, 5 lbs., and I liked it, he slept with me in bed after he was “trained.” Newer puppy, same story. Little puppies like to be with me, and I like having them with me. This one has her own nighttime pad (crate pad) to sleep on, so she stays on that. Not sure how I would treat a larger dog.
Oscar does not sleep in our room anymore as he was on our bed and decided to resource guard (not sure if it was me or the bed, but he went for my husband), so now he sleeps next door in the study, in one of his beds; we have our door open but a baby gate there. He does not try to enter anymore but can hear/smell us. When he’s absolutely exhausted, he doesn’t even come upstairs, but sleeps on his part of the sofa (it’s L shaped and he has a bed on one side). Of course he also has a crate in the front room, but doesn’t tend to sleep in that, he uses it when he wants a bit of quiet time and he also has a bed in our spare room, as well as a bed in the dining area and a mat near the patio door for daytime napping. Yes, he has plenty of beds to choose from 🙂
I had it all planned out to have our new puppy sleep in a crate next to our bed. Our first night with her was in a hotel, and I was prepared to sprint downstairs in the middle of the night for her to potty. But when we put her in her crate, she just screamed bloody murder and wouldn’t stop. Concerned about disturbing other hotel guests, I finally just brought her to bed with me.
I’d been unable to sleep more than 3 hours a night ever since my Ovarian Cancer diagnosis and treatments 5 years before. But, that night, my warm, sweet, little puppy snuggled up next to me and we both slept like rocks for 9 hours. She didn’t even need to potty all night. After 5 years of insomnia, it was beyond heavenly.
So, 17 months later, she still sleeps in my bed snuggled up against me and I no longer have any trouble sleeping.
Hi
I am reading a lot on puppy training and I encounter conflicting information.
I read that allowing access to the bedroom and proximity could create separation anxiety and confuse with the alpha status or leadership…this is not your experience with dogs accessing the bedroom territory right away? What if one knows the breed is susceptible to separation anxiety?
Thanks!
Hi Anick, you might enjoy the podcast video about separation anxiety prevention:
https://dogsthat.com/podcast/98/
There’s also a podcast video that discusses the topic of alpha status:
https://dogsthat.com/podcast/46/
Hi Susan!
I have a 2 yr old australian shepherd and we did crate games a year ago. She is a very quick learner and it only took a week before she was running to her crate every evening. I recommend Crate Games every time I see people post questions about training their pups.
Within the last month, though, my pup has started waking me at night to go outside. Her crate is in our bedroom and I can’t ignore the low whimpers and soft pawing at the crate (somehow, my husband can {insert eye roll}….). I know she can hold it longer than 4 hours and this is just a recent behavior. If we leave her home during the day for an extended period of time – uncrated, she never has potty mistakes.
We do all the obvious things as far as frequent visits to the back yard all evening and a long walk before bed. How do I train her to rest throughout the night like she used to do? Waking up twice a night is driving me crazy. I’ve had her at the vet and there is no medical need (no diabetes, no infections, etc) Do I just have to ignore it?
Hi Vicky, there’s a podcast video “Pro Dog Training Tips to Get Your Puppy to Sleep All Night” to help. Here’s the link for you:
https://dogsthat.com/podcast/26/
Wish I’d read this 5 months ago
Our girl is 7 months old now
And training to be my assistance dog due to my conditions I need her near me to alert me and wake me
when we first got her we put her crate in living room and went to bed she screamed the house down crying I was crying cause husband wouldn’t let me go get her even tho our bedroom is next door
Eventually I found she had weed and poop in her crate was covered head to toe including her soft bed
Eventually I watched crate games and started to do them she loved having naps in her crate and would go in it independently
On a night I started laying on the sofa with her and then on our bed with her
Now she’s a monkey who likes sleeping on bed with us which has been fine for a month until the other day
She woke and I was asleep I woke up to find her throwing up items with ripped up card boxes on the bedroom floor and sofa
I’m now back sleeping in the livingroom with her and trying to get her to enjoy using her crate with view to move crate downstairs in the kitchen where it’s quieter as she currently wakes at every sound
But she’s back glued to my legs again waking up constantly
We have an older (16 y/o) dog and are getting a puppy in a few weeks. In preparing for the new arrival we got a large crate that he will eventually grow into, but we currently have the older dog in there. He is blind so he is in there the majority of the day. My plan is to have puppy sleep in a smaller crate in the room and transition him to eventually using the bigger crate as his den or safe space and moving our older dog to another area. However, my husband seems to think both dogs can share this larger crate. I think this is a BAD idea. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I just got my puppy and I used your method on the first night. I did not get any sleep. She slept for two and a half hours , got up and screamed for 15 – 20 min. and repeated that all night. I did not give her any attention at all. At about one am I did take her out to see if she needed to go but she did not. So I brought her back in, and put her back in the crate. Am I doing anything wrong? How long do you keep your puppy on a chair? HELP!
I started my pup in my room near my bed in his crate and gradually moved him to a bed in an x Pen downstairs on a laminate floor in case of accidents. I’m a very light sleeper so I would trot downstairs if I heard him. He potty trained easily. He’s now two years old and sleeps on a doggy mat in our room. He sometimes climbs on our bed for a short while but never stays very long. He’s a Spinone so he’s a big boy! Glad we have a king sized bed.
I have always had my puppies close to me at night. No crying, No distress. They always transition to a bed easily. My current dog is training to be my assistance dog. He sleeps on a special blanket on my bed. We have a cuddle and then he moves to his blanket to sleep. If I become distressed he comes over and puts his head and neck across me. The pressure is calming. I’m finally being able to sleep through the night most nights.
If I have my granddaughter over she sleeps with me (all fresh linen) and the dog accepts that his bed is now on the floor.