# Won't sleep in crate at night



## coopersmom7 (Apr 29, 2013)

My puppy Cooper is 6 months, and does not mind his crate at all! He sleeps in it when we are gone for work and school, he has toys in there to play with, he behaves during the day. When it comes to bed time, and everyone is home he does not want to sleep in his crate. We tried keeping the crate in my room, didnt help. We tried covering it with a blanket it, he just barks constantly. I even try sleeping next to the crate until he falls asleep and than I sneak off to bed, but hell wake up and just bark all night. So now I am sleeping on the couch with him on the leash( Cant trust him off the leash, he will eat everything lol) and he sleeps right down on the floor. Please help, any advice would be appreciated.


----------



## CITIgolden (Mar 9, 2013)

coopersmom7 said:


> My puppy Cooper is 6 months, and does not mind his crate at all! He sleeps in it when we are gone for work and school, he has toys in there to play with, he behaves during the day. When it comes to bed time, and everyone is home he does not want to sleep in his crate. We tried keeping the crate in my room, didnt help. We tried covering it with a blanket it, he just barks constantly. I even try sleeping next to the crate until he falls asleep and than I sneak off to bed, but hell wake up and just bark all night. So now I am sleeping on the couch with him on the leash( Cant trust him off the leash, he will eat everything lol) and he sleeps right down on the floor. Please help, any advice would be appreciated.


KC was exactly like that. I gave up on crating him for that reason. If you can "puppy proof" your bedroom, perhaps you can let him sleep next to your bed. I've puppy proofed my apartment to the best of my ability and since KC was 8wks he's been allowed to roam the place. I haven't had accidents or anything and he hasn't tried eating anything. You can try a few nights where you put on a leash on your bed headboard and keep him on the leash. Or just ignore his whinning in the crate, he will likely stop eventually. 

I've fostered countless dogs and never crated any of them, and to be honest I almost feel like they are much easier at housebreaking...


----------



## coopersmom7 (Apr 29, 2013)

I am working on puppy proofing my room, but it is small, and also hell chew on anything, the walls or my rug or headboard. But I will try that, thanks !


----------



## ShadowGolden (Sep 4, 2012)

Wish I could help, but by six months Shadow was sleeping in the bed with us. 

Good luck with Coop!


----------



## Katduf (Mar 10, 2013)

Oh look at that face! Just make room for him in your bed and snuggle. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## sabrinamae12 (Mar 22, 2013)

I just ignore them... They get over it eventually. I feel that if you give in to the incessant whining and barking, it's like they've won, and it's almost a reward to them to be coddled and let out of the crate. Was he crated at night as a baby? I lucked out on several fronts: I'm an extremely heavy sleeper, so I can sleep through whining and barking for the most part, and Kuyani was never too destructive, so he's slept in my bed/loose in my room since the time he was housebroken. I hope you get some great ideas from other forum members. Your boy is a cutie!


----------



## CITIgolden (Mar 9, 2013)

coopersmom7 said:


> I am working on puppy proofing my room, but it is small, and also hell chew on anything, the walls or my rug or headboard. But I will try that, thanks !


It can be tough, but I've also noticed that - and this is against all advice from trainers et.al. if you swamp the dog with chew toys they'll fixate on that so you can sleep without worrying. 

It's also recommended, or used to be recommended, to keep small puppies follow you everywhere even if it meant having them on a leash. That way you build trust and also can quickly correct them and more importantly praise for doing things you want them doing. So even while you're doing household chores and everything. The point of crate training in the end is to show the dog that the living space is not for doing mischief, and that, depending on the dog, sometimes works better without crating. I don't have enough crating experience to say how that works, others do. 

The other method of ignoring also works for sure, you just need some earplugs I guess, my trainer begged me to do that, but I refused and KC never did any damage to my place - not saying it;s the rule that dogs will behave responsibly. You need to observe and make decisions based on your puppy. 

Best of luck! Soon enough though you'll be having the best friend and will laugh at these episodes


----------



## HolDaisy (Jan 10, 2012)

Cooper is so cute!
We've had crate problems with our 5 month old Sammy. He loved it from day one and was sleeping fine throughout the night in there except until a few weeks ago. It was as if he suddenly 'outgrew' the crate and barked to go out on the hour. He went in there fine just like Cooper but when he woke up alone and it was the middle of the night he wasn't happy. We've ended up trying him in the bedroom as a last resort on his puppy bed without the crate and he's settling alot better already. I bet Cooper will be the same as Sammy and will settle better without the crate  let us know how it goes.


----------



## coopersmom7 (Apr 29, 2013)

Thank you so much, thats exactly what had happened with Cooper, the first few weeks we had him he was fine in the crate, than just one night barked constantly we tried getting a bigger crate, seeing if maybe that was the reason but nope! Lol, so tonight we are going to try for the last time to let him bark for a while in the crate and if that doesn't work I am going to try it out in my bedroom. Thanks for all your help!


----------



## Liberty Run Goldens (Jul 3, 2012)

What do you do when he barks in his crate?


----------



## USAFWife74 (Jan 13, 2013)

Oh my goodness, he's darling!!! 


Sent from Petguide.com App


----------

