Should my puppy sleep in a crate, the floor, or the end of my bed?

Question

I am getting a terrier mix soon and I don't know how to housebreak, and I don't know where he should sleep.

Answer 1

As a puppy, before he is fully housebroken, leaving your dog in his crate at night is probably ideal. If possible, keep the crate in your bedroom, so he knows you're close by and so you can hear if there are any problems during the night.

As he gets older, you can leave the crate door open or remove it, and he will still probably sleep in there. Dogs like sleeping in cave-like spots, so being in the crate will feel safe to him. Just be sure that the crate is large enough - there should be enough room for your dog to stand up and turn around comfortably.

Good luck with your new puppy!

Answer 2

I once had an elderly lady for a friend. She had a wonderful little dog. A mix of some sort. She had the dog trained well and it behaved very well. Learn here https://tr.im/J27jk

She kept an uncovered candy dish on her coffee table with candy in it. The dog was forbidden to eat the candy. When she was in the room observing the dog he did not even appear to notice the candy. One day while she was in her dinning room she happened to look in a mirror and could see her dog in the living room. He did not know he was being watched. For several minutes he was sitting in front of the candy bowl staring at the candy. Finally he reached in and took one. He placed it on the table and stared at it, he woofed at it. He stared some more, licked his chops and PUT IT BACK in the bowl and walked away. Did he want the candy, oh yeah. Did he eat it? Nope. They can be trained that well but most, I'll admit, are not trained that well. When I was a young boy, maybe 5 years old. We had a german shepherd. He was very well trained also. My mom could leave food unattended on the table, no problem. She would open the oven door and set a pan roast beef or roast chicken on the door to cool. No problem. He would not touch it, watched or not. But butter? Whole other story. You leave a stick of butter anywhere he could reach and it was gone. He was a large shepherd so there were not many places he could not reach. Really, I think the number of dogs trained to the point they will leave food alone when not being supervised is very small indeed.
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Now if we are talking obedience training, not food grubbing, that is a different story. Way back when I was first learning obedience training one of the final exercises was to put our dogs in a down/stay and not only leave the room but leave the building for 15 minutes. The only person that stayed was our trainer, not the owners. Most of the dogs in my class did not break their stay, which would be an automatic fail. I'm happy to report my dog was one of the ones that passed.

Answer 3

A crate on the floor at the end of your bed...

I used to think crates were cruel - but dogs get very used to having their own space and will often retreat to that spot when they get overwhelmed and want a feel safe break. It is true if the crate is right sized dogs will not mess in their space (if the crate is much larger than your dog block part of it off until your pup grows into the crate).

Answer 4

This totally depends on you and your feeling towards pets in the bed. I have several customers who allow it and others whose pet sleeps in a crate at the end of the bed and some where the pets sleep downstairs in a seperate room in a crate. Creating a safe place for your pup to sleep is ideal. Remember once the little one starts sleeping in your bed it will want to sleep there all the time and you have to factor in if the pup will be getting bigger and how much of your bed space you want to give up.

Answer 5

Many people will say to not let the dog sleep in bed with you, but I don't see anything wrong with it. I got a newborn pug puppy and she slept on my bed every night and never had a problem. If you get the puppy on a regular schedule of going outside in the morning and every few hours to go to the bathroom, you won't have a problem at all :)

I'm 100% against people who put puppies in crates at night. Sure, they won't pee or poop, but who honestly feels okay about leaving a puppy trapped in a crate all night? Even though it's not inhumane, I hate the thought of it. I'd rather a puppy be able to sleep on their own bed on the floor or on my bed and be free than have them need to be confined.

Good luck and have fun! New puppies are so exciting :)

Answer 6

A Crate, absolutely.. Get him used to it now, he will probably like it, dogs are "denning" animals, most like spaces that simultae a den, it will make life much easier for you in the future. I have a dog I let sleep on my bed as a puppy.. he pied all over the bed ! Put a nice inviting cosy blanket in the crate.. make sure crate is not too big.. most dogs do not pee in their own space / or where they are sleeping.

Answer 7

IHMO, every dog should have a crate. Our Aussie has his own crate, it's his den (dogs are den animals), his nap place, where he heads when there is thunder (he's terrified of storms) and a place to confine him when we are going to be gone for a few hours. He also spends nights in the crate to prevent chewing. His one bad habit is chewing on electrical cords (!!!) so we have to keep a watch on him for that.
If you have a crate, housebreaking is SO much easier. Dogs need to go outside (carry a small dog to prevent accidents) as soon as they wake up in the morning, after they eat or drink a lot of water. They won't 'go' in their crate, they instinctively know not to mess their own den.
Our dog knows the term 'Go Potty' and heads for the door to go out.
He also knows a lot of other commands, in fact, depending on what it is, we spell a lot of words around here. He learned the meaning of the word Jerky the first time he tasted it!

Answer 8

He should have a kennel or crate, whatever you call it. But don't use this as a punishment as it is his bed. He should like to go in there and lay down. This will make it easier to get him in there when you tell him to. If you scold him, don't yell at him and tell him to go to his bed, he won't want to go in there at night then. Just scold him, and if he does something good, give him praise and treat. This will encourage him. Oh, and to potty train, try the puppy pads and gradually get them closer to the door and then outside. We didn't exactly do this, because we had another dog when we got our puppy. All we did was put the puppy pads in one place and took the new puppy out with our other dog to go to the bathroom and eventually he got the idea to pee outside. Good luck!

Answer 9

Until it is housebroken, he should sleep in the crate. It will be a huge help in housebreaking and greatly reduce your cleanup time every morning. After it is house broken you can start letting it sleep in other places.

Answer 10

Where Should Puppy Sleep