My 11 week old Siberian puppy Tala sleeps ok in her crate. Just ok. She's fine for anywhere from 2 to 4 hours and then I get up, around 2:30 or 3 in the morning to bring her outside to eliminate. She does well with that. The problem comes when I try to go back to bed and she either thinks it's playtime or just time to lounge around on the couch or floor. If I attempt to put her back in her crate she will cry, scream, howl, etc. I know you should never give in, however it is important my 6 year old daughter gets her rest for school. I toyed around with the idea of just letting Tala sleep with my wife and I. I am aware that this could be a life long habit and that's ok. She is otherwise a really good puppy. She's playful, attentive, easily housebroken, and is on a never ending quest to get the cat to play with her. She has been a member of our "pack" for about two weeks now and has adjusted well, except for this one issue. This past night, I wanted to pull my hair out...thus joining this forum. It's comforting to have someone to empathize with and can offer some advice.

Rio had that problem. She would scream and howl, and then she chewed OUT of her crate. Since then she has been sleeping on the bed with us and there is no problems now.

If you truly don't care that she will want to share your bed from here on out, then I say let her. They do sleep so much better, however, you do want her to be comfortable in her crate. More than likely, you will need that crate again. I would still work with her and get her to enjoy the crate. Have you tried filling a kong with pumpkin and/or yogurt and freezing it, then give her the kong when you put her back in the crate? If she gets this high value treat by going into her crate, she will soon go in willingly.

Since it wasn't brought up yet - another problem aside from not having her used to the crate that could be invaluable later in her life - 11 week old puppies cannot control when they eliminate. If you value your mattress and bedding and don't mind waking up laying in pee sometimes (it can/will happen) I'd rethink letting her sleep in the bed at such a young age. While it can be done (I know first hand) you have to be willing to get up every couple of hours throughout the night sometimes or you'll have accidents in the bed.

Also be concerned with squishing her or her falling off of the bed or even chewing things like wires and controllers.

Thankfully Elara was a doll and slept through the whole nights in her crate when we first got her, but I think that is mainly due to the fact that she had Siku sleeping in a crate right beside her. Siku our first one, however, screamed bloody murder the first 3 or 4 nights when she had to sleep in her crate. All I would do is let her out once or twice during the night to pee and then just put in earplugs and try to sleep through it. After 3 or 4 days she never screamed again. But those nights were hard! Even with earplugs it was still kind of hard to sleep. But now she's great in her crate if need be. Both of mine are 1.5yrs and 2yrs, so they just sleep in the bedroom with us now. I would not trust them in the bedroom at night when they were younger though. They probably would have chewed up something or pottied on the carpet.

I also agree that you might want to keep up with the crating, because it helps a ton with potty training.

She's actually been doing quite well for the past couple of nights. She's definitely used to her crate and has been for a while. The problem was getting her to go BACK to sleep after bringing her out at 3:00 in the morning. I've been crating her while I am home for a couple of 10 minute clips, so long as she's quiet. She has a stuffed Kong in there and actually likes her crate and goes in there on her own sometimes just to relax. She seems to be getting the jist of playtime/sleeptime. I wouldn't mind her sleeping in our bed however eliminating on it would not be good so maybe I'll wait until she's older. I do trust her however to not "go" in the house. She's gotten really good with her housebreaking training. She's so smart and amazes me everyday. Thank you for the great advise!

Have you tried not waking up at 2 or 3 to let her out and see if she'll just sleep through the night? Elara was only 8 weeks old and slept all night long and I just let her out in the morning to potty. Is she already up at 2 or 3 or do you wake her up to go potty?

SaraB wrote:

Thankfully Elara was a doll and slept through the whole nights in her crate when we first got her, but I think that is mainly due to the fact that she had Siku sleeping in a crate right beside her. Siku our first one, however, screamed bloody murder the first 3 or 4 nights when she had to sleep in her crate. All I would do is let her out once or twice during the night to pee and then just put in earplugs and try to sleep through it. After 3 or 4 days she never screamed again. But those nights were hard! Even with earplugs it was still kind of hard to sleep. But now she's great in her crate if need be. Both of mine are 1.5yrs and 2yrs, so they just sleep in the bedroom with us now. I would not trust them in the bedroom at night when they were younger though. They probably would have chewed up something or pottied on the carpet.

I also agree that you might want to keep up with the crating, because it helps a ton with potty training.

Went through the same thing Sara except our little guy did this for a few weeks instead of a few nights. He's just over three months old now and there's no predictability to his sleeping. Some nights he can go 8 hours fine, other nights I'm up every 3-4 hours to let him out. Regardless of how much sleep he gets, it's game on at 5am every day, which is fine during the week, but 5am on a weekend is brutal!! I would hope that he can sleep until 8 on a weekend at least!! The good news is that he really does like his crate and goes in it no problem!