when to graduate puppy from crate to dog bed

[mbfrench]

just wondering at what age you have decided to give your puppy a dog bed?

mine is long since housebroken, but my main concern is that he will eat the bed if i give it to him while still too young.

thanks.

Mia was the queen of destruction when she first came home.Destoying a new bed within days.Good thing we did not spend alot of money in her beginning months here.
Now...she has a nice plush bed in her ex-pen,and has not shown an interest in destruction.
Both Trapp & Jasper at an early age,had crate liners.They wash well,and I could put them in differant areas of the house. They have loved thier beds from early on.
Now Jasper & Trapp are welcomed on the bed at night,but if they choose to get down,there are beds in our bedroom for them.

I think it depends on the dog really.If you have one that does'nt really show signs that it will be destroyed,or responds quickly to redirection,.you should have no problem.

 

[Pal's Mom]

This is interesting, because I had thought about it also. My boys are about a year and a half and they have been left alone for a full day with a doggy door to get outside. They have pretty much stopped the destruction. I asked my husband one evening if he thought it was time to get rid of the crate since they were big boys now. He said that they seem to enjoy sleeping in the crate and go in willingly when told. So I still use the crate.

Question- Is it harmful to them to continue to use the crate? Will they have behavioral issues later on?

Donna

 

[sarasomething]

Haha! You make me laugh.

How old is the dog that you are asking about? I'm just curious because I think I just might be the WORST housetrainer of all time. Claussen (now 8 months) wasn't broke till he was 6 months old...and he had a HUGE pee accident a couple weeks ago when he had a fever. Little Bear is 5.5 months old and still has accidents...he'll leave just a little drizzle on the carpet-won't relieve his entire bladder. But it's my fault because I'm not supervising 100% like I should be. So I was just wondering how old your pup was when it was housebroken (as in being able to leave it to its own devices when you're busy).

As for a pet bed, I have a feeling my dogs would never use one, as I've made "trial beds" with pillows and stuff to see what my dogs would prefer, but they always end up on the hardwood floors. I don't think a crate should ever be phased out of a dog's life. But I would guess if you don't want to crate at night anymore, I would say that if your dog can go more than 6 months without an accident, you're safe in that department. My dogs can't be trusted with anything...they loooove digging into the dirt of our houseplants, dragging our dirty laundry around and chewing it up, etc.

dog is 6 months old currently. he had a couple of accidents the first two months i had him, but he barks at the door and waits for me (or comes and finds me and barks at me) if he has to go out. he's pretty solid about this barking to go out behavior, so i trust him as far as housebreaking goes. i can't remember the last time he had an accident. the first time he barked at the door to go out, i made a huge fuss over him, and i think he was housebroken after that! haha. only time i've ever rewarded a sheltie for barking

 

[sarasomething]

I think my forever pup was about 6 or 7 months months when I decided he didn't need to be crated anymore. Big mistake! As I recall I contained him in the family room for another month or so then decided he was safe!

Then I came home from work to find my pristine white living room couches chewed up.

With Indy and Bacca, I waited a little longer. At 9 months they were both crated. By 11 months, I decided it was ok to contain them in the family room/kitchen.

At that age they were still capable of getting into trouble, so a careful sweep of the room before I left them was critical.

Even then, I sometimes missed things....even when I was home. I'll never forget the emergency trip to the vet when I saw Indy swallow a needle and thread. He had to have stomach surgery to have it removed. It was horrible.

All to say...don't rush it. They won't suffer for it if you wait a little longer, and you may save your furniture and their lives!

this is what concerns me more than housebreaking: my dog is like a vacuum always trying to eat all kinds of weird things... he hasn't tried to eat the couch or blankets or anything like that, but he is always trying to eat leaves, sticks, pennies, bits of wire, twist ties, etc...

also - the dog has a gated playpen in the kitchen he stays in, which contains a crate for him to sleep in. i was thinking of giving him a bed inside of his pen instead of the crate (or maybe in addition to the crate) - esp. since he sleeps on tile now (or the plastic crate floor).

 

[sarasomething]

update: he slept on the doggie bed last night and didn't chew it. yay!

he's 6 mo. and it looks like he's done teething, but that also sounds young to be done w/ the teething to me... but all i can see are big-dog teeth. hopes.

 

[Sumac3890]

I think I got Zak's "big boy bed" when he was 5 months but he did not use it to sleep on till he was 8 months when he was out of his crate at night. He used it for naps and to play with some days. It is a big bed I got from Fosters and Smith.

 

[MissSuzie]

I can't really say as mine went from the crate to my bed. All of them! Cooper and Lottie do not jump off the bed themselves, so once we're in bed they stay put. Meggie will jump down and sleep under the chair in my room, or under the bed. She was nearly a year old before she was brave enough to jump down though.

I have dog beds but they are rarely used. They seem to prefer the tile floor or the furniture! So I guess you could say my livingroom has dog beds all over, they're just chairs and the couch!

Janet, that video of Zoey got Lottie all stirred up. I think the puppy sounds reminded her of her own puppies. She seriously wanted to get into the computer screen. It kind of made me sad for her.

 

[snkoyle15]

we have a bed for gizmo but it is one that fits in the bottom of his crate. we have to put a towel in there too because he likes to play with the bed and move it around inside the crate. so we put the towel in there for a little extra bedding. we have had him for a little over 2 months and he still isnt potty trained completely so i think it will be quite a while before he gets to have a bed out of the crate. he is about 8.5 months old now. he still spends a good bit of time in the crate during the day where he isnt reliable about ringing the bell yet, getting better, but not there yet.

 

[Mikos_Mom]

Miko was about 6 months old before he was allowed to spend the day in the kitchen without being crated... but at night still slept in his crate in our room. Once we moved to our new house we had to take our chances on him behaving because it's a very open floor plan and there was no logical place to put up a gate(s). He never spends all that long on his own (max 5 - 6 hours), but he never did anything he wasn't supposed to. From that point on he also started sleeping on the floor in our room.

We bought him a bed, but he NEVER slept on it and was only interested in it as a chew toy. He prefers a folded up blanket on the floor... and even then he sleeps on the bare floor 1/2 the time.