See, I can sleep just fine on my pillow.
The day we brought Honey home, she whined for less than a minute before falling asleep in her crate by the bed. At 3 months old she was already sleeping through the night! She was a perfect puppy.
What happened? Here are the steps:
1. Puppy swallows squeaker.
2. Puppy goes to hospital for squeaker removal. Her recovery schedule includes being woken at 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. to eat.
3. Puppy comes home with a disrupted sleep schedule and a bad habit.
Or at least that’s all I can think of.
Ever since Honey has come home from the hospital, she’s been more likely to whine in her crate. Loudly! And no, we don’t ever let her out of the crate while she’s whining. She’ll stop for a day or two and then start up again.
And I’m beginning to wonder if she should be crated at night at all.
I never crated my previous dogs. In the first case, I should have. It would have saved me a $1000 couch, $300 worth of cookbooks, several stained floors, and a couple of dog fights.
When we brought Shadow home as an older dog, she was so calm there was no need.
So now that Honey is a teenager, should the crate go in the attic? She goes to her crate easily without much fuss. She sleeps in her crate at my office. But Honey doesn’t seek out a crate as a refuge. Like most dogs, she’s perfectly happy on the floor, or on the couch, or on somebody’s lap.
And we’ve had to reorganize the bedroom furniture in a funky way that House Beautiful would never approve just to fit the crate at all.
Is it time to banish the crate? What do you think? Do you have a crate permanently for your dog? Or did you stop using it after housebreaking? Does your dog prefer the crate? Or do you prefer it? Any and all advice will be considered.
Or else we’ll just banish the crate to stop the whining.
