Thanks
No I haven't tried covering it, would that help in a dark room?
I normally make sure she goes potty right before bed, but she's in heat and sometimes seems like she needs to go more often so won't always need to go right befor bed.
I can try playing with her more
I really don't want to, but as a last resort can put her in the living room crate instead

__________________
Bear 6/2000-5/27/2012

Just out of curiosity, why do you want her to sleep in the crate when your other dog is already on the bed? I do think it is important that she goes in the crate when you need her to go, like during daytime or at the vet, but if she is happy outside the crate, not destructive and sleeping, why all the fuss?

__________________

The other dog is on the bed because he is 12+ yrs old and has never been in a crate.
I prefer Kenzie and any future dogs to sleep in a crate because there was a period if time when my boy dog would get up in the night and need to go to the bathroom, but he never really learned to notify me, he would just stare at you. I didn't feel/hear him get off if the bed and he would eventually just end up going in the house. I didn't realize what was happening until I found a wet spot. I got him over that by sleeping with him leashed to me for a very long time.
Aside from that, I really don't trust Kenzie to not to get into some sort of trouble, since as long as she's fairly quiet I'll apparently sleep through it.

__________________
Bear 6/2000-5/27/2012

Yes. In my experience, it males the crate much more den-like and calming. Also, without the cover, Bear will whine even in a dark room. But the minute the cover goes down, its a signal that its nap time. Think along the lines of covering bird cages at night.


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

__________________




Follow Bear on Facebook!! He's Growing Up, Bear!

all this bedtime talk sounds like mommies talking about toddlers... i my youngest son, is 4yrs old and this is the same scenario w/him... ;-)

Ahh I can't wait to give bedroom privileges to Laika, but she is still too young! It's so sad to leave her out there all alone every night when the rest of us are cozied up in the bedroom. Also, we're crating her not because we want her to sleep in a crate forever, but as OP mentioned, to control night-time accidents.

__________________






"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole."

More Pictures

I don't know how old your dog is, but at five months old I decided that Loki no longer needed to be locked in his crate, as the idea is that eventually he will sleep in a room without the crate. So we moved his crate into his ex-pen in our dining area off the kitchen. We kept the door closed & crate covered for the first three nights, then we pinned the crate door open, so that he could choose to sleep in the crate or on the floor of the ex-pen. I was expecting him to get us up earlier, or to bark through the night, but he slept all through as usual. A couple of days later, I took off cover, but have a towel on the top, as weather way too hot for it to be covered. He now can choose where he sleeps & has water in with him & still goes eight hours straight at six months old. It might be worth you getting an ex-pen, if you do not have one, setting it up in another room & doing what we did & see if that sorts out the problem. Nothing worse than losing out on sleep every night, & you know your dog is safe if he is in an ex-pen. He has never toileted in the ex-pen & goes into happily every night with a treat & a toy.

A girl that I work with suggested getting a small clock that tics and putting it inside a few socks and putting it in the crate. She said that puppies are used to hearing their moms heartbeat and so the ticking is comforting to puppies...just a thought.

I should have mentioned Kenzie is 9 months old.
I've had her since 8wks old and this is new in the last couple of weeks.
It got really bad and then she went into heat. Then all of a sudden she got better again, so I was hoping that it had to do with her going into heat.
Lat night (almost end of the first week of heat) she got really really bad again.
I have a blanket I keep folded on top of the crate for the cats to sleep on. Tonight I will drape it down to parrot her in. I'm also going to make sure she goes to the bathroom right before bedtime and then try my darnedest to ignore her all night long if she acts up. I guess 1 or 2 nights of no sleep will get me good sleep in the long run!

__________________
Bear 6/2000-5/27/2012

I would try covering all except the front. Vinnie didn't like it completely covered.


Sent from Petguide.com Free App

__________________
Jodi