Adopting a puppy and bringing it into your home is a big responsibility. So, puppy owners need to prepare themselves for sleepless nights while their new pet adapts.
If your puppy sleeps in a crate, keeping the box in your bedroom will help it settle down.
Your puppy will be less scared knowing you’re close, and you’re all likelier to sleep. That said, puppies are still noisy overnight and are prone to making a mess. So, the arrangement needs to be temporary.
Think of allowing a puppy crate into your bedroom overnight as stage one of sleep training. With time and patience, your puppy will mature into a dog that’s happy to sleep elsewhere.
Should I Crate My Puppy Overnight?
Experts have varying views on raising dogs, but crate training puppies overnight is universally popular. This gives the pup a space to call its own and a sense of security. According to Applied Animal Behavior Science, this leads to fewer bathroom accidents.
For the avoidance of doubt, a crate isn’t a dog carrier. Never ask a puppy to sleep in the carrier used to transport it to and from the vet. This will be small and cramped. A crate should be large enough to incorporate a bed and toys and allow the puppy to stretch.
Make your puppy as comfortable as possible in its crate by filling it with familiar scents and treats. Also, never place your puppy in its crate as a punishment.
If you follow these guidelines, your puppy will happily enter its crate to sleep at night.
Can I Keep My Puppy Crate in My Bedroom?
Having established that your puppy should sleep in a crate, you need to decide where to keep it.
Some people believe that a puppy should immediately sleep in a separate room from its owners, getting used to this sense of independence.
If you’re going to attempt this, be prepared for long, sleepless nights and a lot of apologizing to your neighbors. A puppy will likely howl and cry if separated from its new family during the night. Walking away from a puppy in its crate is akin to leaving a baby in its crib.
The puppy is understandably frightened when left alone in a strange house. You can get around this by placing a puppy’s crate in your bedroom.
Advantages of Keeping a Puppy Crate in a Bedroom
The most significant advantage of keeping a puppy crate in your bedroom overnight is the opportunity to bond. Starting life with a new family is strange for a puppy, as it has been separated from an established pack and placed into another.
The more time you spend together, the faster the puppy will accept this change to the status quo. In addition, allowing a puppy’s crate into your bedroom brings some additional benefits.
Puppy Comfort
Perhaps the most important thing about hosting a puppy crate in your room is the animal’s comfort. Your puppy will be much happier not being alone. Even if it’s in a crate, your puppy can still see, hear, and smell you when you’re in the same room.
Of course, this could be problematic in a different way. Your puppy may always expect your attention, so you’ll need to train it out of this behavior.
Overall, your puppy is more likely to relax with you in the room. Never lose sight of the fact that dogs are pack animals that don’t relish time alone. This goes double for puppies, especially during cold and dark nights in a new home.
Safety
The confinement of a crate should help keep your puppy out of trouble.
Puppies are curious and inquisitive. Leaving it to roam free in another room could lead to safety concerns, such as chewed electrical cables or broken glass.
If your puppy’s crate is in your room, you can also watch and hear out for any problems. In theory, your puppy will be relaxed and confined within a crate.
You’ll be able to leap into action if your puppy starts showing signs of distress or illness.
Hazards of Keeping a Puppy Crate in a Bedroom
Of course, there are drawbacks to allowing your puppy into your bedroom.
If you’re sleeping beside your puppy, prepare yourself for potential hazards:
Noise
Bedtime arrives. You’ve walked your puppy and played with it, you’ve brushed your teeth and put on your pajamas, and you lock your puppy in its crate and climb into bed. The scene is set for a serene eight hours of sleep. If you believe that, you’ve never had a puppy.
Puppies are loud. They bark, they squeak, they cry, they howl. Sharing your room means that you’ll invariably be kept awake at night.
Your puppy will likely be woken up by and react to any house outside your window. It may bark in the night, seeking reassurance. You’ll need to meet this need and expectation.
Of course, you could leave some favorite toys in your puppy’s crate. That can certainly keep your pup amused at night. Remember that puppy toys are often loud, and your dog won’t think twice about playing with toys that squeak or rustle.
Mess and Odor
Puppies have immature brains, bladders, and bowels.
Your puppy will alert you if it needs a comfort break in the night, and you’ll quickly grow attuned to the warning sights and sounds. You may not always get the puppy outside in time, though.
This means that accidents will happen, which is part of the toilet training process. You’ll have to tolerate urine and fecal smells in your bedroom until you complete a clean-up.
Puppy pads will help, but you’ll likely need special cleaning products.
Dependency
You need to be mindful of how long you keep a puppy crate in your bedroom.
As we’ll discuss shortly, you need to eventually move your puppy out of your bedroom. If you fail to do so, your puppy will start growing anxious about ever leaving your sight.
All dogs experience separation anxiety to a degree, which can be overcome through training. Bedtime is the first instance your puppy needs to find its independence once it is ready.
Is it OK to Sleep Next to a Puppy Crate?
If you can cope with all the issues discussed above, it’s OK to keep your puppy’s crate beside your bed. That’s probably the best place for it. You can share a sense of closeness with your puppy without having it take up space on the bed.
If you’re right beside a puppy crate, you can reach down and allow the pup to lick your hand or offer a gentle stroke. Equally, your puppy will be able to smell, see, and hear you.
If you’re several feet apart, the puppy may start to panic at night.
How Long Should I Keep My Puppy Crate in My Bedroom?
Eventually, your puppy will become a dog. Once your pet does start to mature, you’ll likely want it to sleep elsewhere. Larger dogs need bigger crates, and your bedroom may not have the capacity for this.
The journal Animals explains that most dogs will sleep through the night by twelve months of age. You probably won’t want to leave your puppy crate in your room for this long. As well as logistics of size, you risk setting dangerous precedents.
After around four months, it’s best to move your puppy out of your bedroom. By this point, your pup will have enough experience and familiarity with the house to feel confident in other rooms. This doesn’t mean that the process will be straightforward, though.
You may still need to sleep train your dog to tolerate spending the night alone and be alert for any overnight calls of nature that need to be addressed.
How to Move a Puppy Crate from the Bedroom
Moving your puppy’s crate to another room should be a gradual process. Don’t just move the crate, close your puppy inside, and expect it to fall asleep. Get your puppy used to the idea of sleeping unsupervised.
Puppies nap a lot, so encourage your dog into its crate during the day. Make it as appealing as possible with blankets that smell familiar and favored toys. Praise your puppy whenever it willingly enters its crate.
You’ll likely still experience broken sleep as your puppy adapts to its new sleeping location. It may also be advisable to lay down puppy pads, just in case. Eventually, you’ll both adapt.
There’s no perfect solution that guarantees everybody eight hours of sleep immediately. You’ll need to be patient while your new pet gain confidence in its new home. Allowing the pup to sleep in your room for an appropriate time will strengthen your bond and speed up the process.
