Puppy sleeping with us

[chriscude]

I know that it's important to get our puppy used to her crate and she does take some naps in there and starts the night in there. Once she wakes up I let her out and she comes to my bed. I thought this would be a happy medium but last night she somehow snuck off to my husbands side of the bed and pooped. She's only 6 weeks old. Any suggestions? It worked great first few nights I tried but yesterday she went on the bed when hubby was home and not watching her. Should I set an alarm for so many hours or how do you other "co-sleepers" do it?

The night before last she slept 12a-6awith no trouble. Other nights I would sense her moving and get her up but I guess I just slept too heavy last night.

Thanks!

[CoraBoxer]

A happy medium for who? I don't think the dog has much preference where it sleeps unless you give it the choice. 6 weeks is extremely young. You're bound to have some issues but question is where would you want the poop/pee to land? I'd recommend crate (in your room/by the bed/somewhere else try it out). Maybe attach some bells to the crate you'd hear if she was moving about. We just made sure to let her out at intervals whether she woke up or not. At first. Tried to avoid accidents in the house. Its a lot of work at first.

[Sansal]

I think it will be better to choose just one option and stick with it. Personally I like sharing the beds with the dogs but keep in mind that your puppy will get much bigger and once she is used to the bed she won't want to sleep in the crate. If you want her to sleep on bed with you just get her used to being in the crate during the day.
If you fear you won't wake up when she moves at night set your alarm clock. She is very young and you might have to take her out once or twice a night.
During the day you must supervise her at all times or put her in her crate. Every accident in the house sets you back with house training. Take her out very frquently, after every nap, every play session, every meal and pretty much every hour besides that. Reward her for going in the right place (treats!).
I recommend downloading the books before you get your puppy and after you get your puppy from dogstardaily.com (it's free).
Make sure to socialize her a lot - at six weeks old puppies are usually still with their mom and litter mates, you will have some catching up to do. A puppy playgroup would be best.

[BoozerBaby]

Wow so young to be taken away from the pack,for my puppy I'm guilty actually my husband is guilty hehe When we 1st got our new little one at 12 wks we took a book and we marked down every time one of us took him out then there was no guess work on how long it was between breaks and it worked out well for us only 3 accidents and they were our fault for not paying enough attention.I would take him out late at night 1-2am and my husband would take him at 6-7 am sometimes I would take him out at midnight and again about 4am when he would start to get restless in his cage.That was the 1st month.Here's the guilty part now at 5months sleeps with us or on the couch or his crate really his choice I returned back to work and on afternoons since then my husband don't want to deal with the wining so he just let him stay by himself between 10 to 11:45pm so far so good knock on wood.When I get home from work he is laying in his blanket waiting for me to get home.But for sure write it down and take up his water and food Wiser free freeds but his water would come up around 9:30 pm and his food around 10:30 pm don't let him eat real late at night for now,make sure you give him enough time my guy pees in one spot and poos in another spot.Good luck

[jacquim]

When Raiden was a puppy, we started putting him in our room/bed to sleep. I initially wasn't going to crate him ever (my other dog doesn't have a crate and I've never had to use one with any previous dogs) but after learning that boxers are a little special and get into mischief, we now have one for when we aren't home that he also often sleeps in during the day (the door is open for him to go in when we are home).
He is in my room during the night with the door closed (so that he doesn't get himself into trouble wandering around at night) and starts off sleeping on a dog bed beside my bed. After a few hours he always hops into bed with my husband and I. Keep in mind, if you are planning on co-sleeping with them, that they turn into big dogs! Raiden is 70lbs and not done growing and he likes to sprawl. He lays in between us and often his back is pushed hard against one of us and his paws are constantly digging into the other person (or wrapped around one of us) and his head is often resting on us as well.
When he was younger I would get up and put him out for a pee every time he started to get up and move and we never had an accident in our room/bed. I was also pregnant when he was a puppy so was up frequently as well to pee, which helped as I would just put him out when I got up. Now that he is a bit older, when he jumps off of our bed and shakes his collar, I put him out.

I would stick to either the crate or the bed to simplify sleeping a bit for her and to get her used to a set bedtime routine. If you are sleeping deeply and not waking up to her waking up, I would set the alarm for every couple hours to put her out for a pee. She is still super young and will have trouble holding it for very long.

With us letting Raiden sleep on our bed during the night, he helps himself to it during the day to have a snooze but also sleeps on the dog beds throughout the house (my bed is the only furniture that the dogs are allowed on in the house).

Does she wear a collar? I found the tags on Raiden's collar jingling when he got up would help wake me up as well. Although, I know getting him used to a collar when he was a little one took some time as well.

[CoraBoxer]

Very unlikely she'll know to call you at that age. Chances are she won't even wake up and make any noise. Sometimes they just leak (number of factors such as when they covered, and warm) even when older.

You have to do the thinking and work for them (taking them out at intervals) and then when they pee/poo outside praise them for the work you just did lol.

They a lot less likely to pee in the crate they sleep in (as they grow) then on your bed they can jump off of. Even if at that age it doesn't matter cause you'll have to do that thinking for them, do you really want to sleep in dog pee? Crates aren't cruel. Don't go by success for a handful of night at 6 weeks old, you're in for the long haul!

[chriscude]

Well I'm happy to say that the crate is working!! She's still waking up twice between 12-5 and I bring her out and right back in the crate. Yesterday and today at 5 when I put her out then back in her cry was different and I let her eat and play. She's playing right now actually and I'm hoping she'll tire out so I can go back to bed.

Am I right in assuming she needs to be up to play eat and drink this early? She fell asleep on the floor by my daughter's feet before 10 and hadn't eaten since about 9pm.

[pbowles]

Yes I think you should stick to the crate, I think a dog sleeping with their Master creates a bad situation. Our Bo will be 1 on May 4th and has 2 crates, one for bed time and one on the first floor when we go out and leave him home alone. He was by far the easiest dog I have ever crate trained. As he mature's I will slowly give him more privilages and someday the crates will be sold at a yard sale. But as for know I don't have total 100% trust in him. When he is loose in our house while we are home he rings the bell softly if he wants to go out to play, and he really wacks when he has to go to the bathroom. It also the same with his bark, he has a high pitch bark when he wants to play and a deep bark when he is alerting me to the door or hearing something. Back to the trust issue, I trust that he is house broken, but I think he would get into trouble like chewing a coffee table leg or something. Although my son did leave him out one day when he went to class, he was gone about 3 hours and Bo was just laying at the door for someone to come home. So good luck and again I think you have made the best decision to crate your puppy all night and not confuse him with putting him into bed with you and your husband. Good Luck

[JLinz]

I hope youre prepared to have a dog in bed with you for the next 9-13 years...lol

Baxter I got in December at 9 weeks he would sleep in his crate and we would go out in the morning and when we came in he would be cold so being nice i would let him lay in bed with me till i got up for work. His favorite spot would be to go under the covers and lay between my legs...

Now 19 months old I wake up every morning with a 67lb dog laying between my legs...I can tell you my back sometimes is killing me, but it is amazing what they get used to and how those little things stick with them...

It was cute when he was little and cold...now hes a big monster and just plops his rearend where ever he wants and believe me I lose a lot of sleep over it..

[chriscude]

but they're so cuddly!!

Right now she's in a crate. We decided to wait until she's a little older to let her have freedom like that. I'm thinking later that she'll be allowed out of her crate at night but sleep on a big bed on the floor. We'll see how it goes. Our 6lb Pomeranian sleeps with me but she certainly doesn't take up much room. My 7 week old Boxer has already passed her in size!!

[Noey]

Originally Posted by chriscude

I know that it's important to get our puppy used to her crate and she does take some naps in there and starts the night in there. Once she wakes up I let her out and she comes to my bed. I thought this would be a happy medium but last night she somehow snuck off to my husbands side of the bed and pooped. She's only 6 weeks old. Any suggestions? It worked great first few nights I tried but yesterday she went on the bed when hubby was home and not watching her. Should I set an alarm for so many hours or how do you other "co-sleepers" do it?

The night before last she slept 12a-6awith no trouble. Other nights I would sense her moving and get her up but I guess I just slept too heavy last night.

Thanks!

Our Roxy is 13 months old, and she is a beast about the bed.
When we first adopted her from the rescue she was badly beaten up with health issues. We slept with her to keep her warm (she was missing a ton of fur) and keep her relatively immobile. I probably should have kept her in the crate. In a few weeks I started to notice that she would "guard" the bed from the other animals. You see, she was asserting that her place in the pack order was different than we saw it.
I started to correct and put her at the foot of the bed, on the floor, each time she would say, growl at one of the other animals. Fast forward a few more weeks and she is growling at my partner, Tom., when he asks her to get in her bed. Although now the growl is more a of a grumble, we made the mistake of letting her sleep in our bed and unlearning that is a challenge.

You will hear arguments on both sides of this issue, but for us, I would have preferred to keep her off the bed (and all furniture) unless she was invited. She understands being invited on to the bed or couch for short periods of time, but she can be a bit grumpy when it's time to get down. She is a lot more grumpy with Tom than she is with me.

Right now, because of this issue, I am working with Tom and Rox every evening to build trust and teach Tom how to use calm assertive energy with her. Sometimes we don't understand why they can't just understand that we don't want them hogging the bed, and they just can't understand why we used to love it and now we are grumpy about it Vicious circle.

Here is what we do now:

Overnight we let her sleep in her own dog bed in our room, with the door closed. Her collar and tags make a ton of noise so that we hear her if she gets up. Risk: She could get into something, but she's not much of a troublemaker like that. Other risk: She definitely pooped in our room 4-5 times during her colitis. That wasn't fun and made it impossible to sleep. Pro: she is near us, as boxers love, and she gets a comfy bed and partial freedom.

Tom let's her out around 6:30 AM to pee/poo and when he brings her back in the house she gets to lay with me for 30 minutes or so until I get up.

Around 7 I put her in her cage, I say "get in your kennel" and she goes in without a fuss. One of us comes home within 7 hours to let her out to run around, pee poo, etc. and she is free to roam the house (although I close bedroom doors) until bedtime. She signals at the sliding glass door when she needs to go out.

She is not allowed in bedrooms without us present. When she is in our bedroom with us at night our door is closed. As I said, I wish she would have never been allowed on the bed. I am the one paying the price for that. She loves to roll in poo and I really pay for that if she jumps on my bed with poop on her fur.

Boundaries are good for all of us

Take care!

[chriscude]

Thanks. Most nights she sleps in her kennel but wakes up a lot. If I accidentally fall asleep with her on the bed she sleeps all night. Sometimes I just let her. LOL