Crating - Page 1

I have a 12 months female GSD. She sleeps in her crate every night, unless we are away for the night. I'm curious if it would be a good idea to let her sleep on her large pillow rather than her crate. Would she not want to go in her crate if I change her sleeping routine.

crating is a way to control destructive behaviors of puppies and older dogs. its also a way to control over exuberance at 3:30 in the morning when a young dog has had enough rest and wants to jump on the bed and play.

crating is the choice of the owner, what ever works is what you should do.

If she likes the crate enough she may prefer it. I know Lukas likes his crate a lot and when I have more space I will set it up for him again, but he sleeps on a dog bed for now.

If you trust your dog enough to let them sleep outside, try it out for a while, if they get destructive put them back in it for the nights.

Crate training is imperative to teach, and some dogs prefer to sleep in their crate with the door open/closed, it is their comfort zone. As the previous said though, it is up to the individual, my dogs sleep beside my bed

err

As I have small dogs who sleep on the bed they would not appreciate having a big black nose poked in at some unearthly hour, so I use puppy panels to create a dog run in my bedroom alongside my bed.  This gives him room to move around but keeps him contained.

I keep all my young puppies in crates at night until they are house broken & know basic house manners.
Most are free to sleep where ever they like in the home after 5 months old, including their crates with the doors left open. But most nights we have all 8 dogs in our bedroom with us. We have 3 males & 5 female dogs all living happily together.  

The one young adult dog we purchased always sleeps in her crate when in doors, she just doesn't like being out about indoors with the other dogs. She is the only dog that is not always reliable to not raid the trash during the night, so this suits us just fine.

If you have a well behaved adult dog in the home puppies will learn faster how to behave from them outside the crate at night. Mine learn fast that it's not accepted behavior to get the wild crazies at night, misbehave, etc.. 

When my puppies go a little to crazy in the home, I take them outside to play or in their crates. I don't scold or yell, it's just matter of fact go outside to play or go lay down in your crate. They soon learn to stay calm inside the house & crating is not needed as much.

Good luck

I didn't use crates with my previous dogs, they always lived loose in the house, but I crate my newest puppy nights and when she is alone in the house for a few hours. I find the crate is a great "den" like opportunity for the dogs to feel save and relaxed. We always go for a long long walk before crating so she is really tired when she goes in there and she usually sleeps right away.
I think that the crate will always be her den, although I think I probably could leave the door open when she is older.

Mine love their crate and will always opt to sleep in them when they are up, it's a choice for you to make , but if she is happy then why fix something that aint broke  :)

My girl has been out of the crate since she was house broke at about 6mo.  She always lays in front of my side of the couch when I get up to go to bed.  That is her "spot" for some reason.  She is allowed in the bedroom but she prefers her "spot".  She has always been a good girl at night (good girl most of the time) never a problem with accidents or chewing something she shouldn't.  She is dead to the world until she hears my alarm go off or she decides it's time to potty.  Always comes and gets me for that.  She likes her crate but does not go in it on her own for any reason.