Help please to get rid of crate! General Chat

Hello all!
Very excited to be a new member of this forum as I need help!
My lovely little JRT girl has just turned 1 has been speyed and is in my eyes "a big girl now". As a result I would love to be able to let her sleep outside the crate at night now..... During the day she loves the sofa and sleeps there most of the time and I am happy for her to do this at night also.
Recently she has shown signs of not really enjoying going in the crate at night anymore... Routine has stayed the same - nothing has changed so I just think she's just had enough.
But.... I thought I would give it a go one night so did our gospel routine - gave pate filled Kong didn't put her away and said good night closing downstairs door leaving her on sofa happy licking away
.... It then started.... Scratching and whining etc. I ignored it... For about an hour then I put her back in crate ((but made it happy and not as a punishment as such))
I then tried again about a week later..... Same again.....
Basically I need advice on being able to leave her out of crate at night downstairs ((I don't want her up in our bed or room!)) without the needy whining..... Is it her being needy? Is it her being overwhelmed with the freedom?
Any tips or telling offs or advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Thank you very much in advance

I am afraid I cannot give you any advice, as my small girl adores her night crate and asks to go in it when she is ready, even when she has spent most of the evening dozing on the couch. She will be six in May and apart from one night when she was very young and I thought I would let her sleep on my bed as my previous two dogs had done, which was not a success, she has slept in her crate since the day I brought her home.

My girl sleeps in a crate which is enclosed so that only the side with the door is left uncovered. (I close her crate door at night because she can have occasional leaks due to spay incontinence). My boy has an open dog bed behind which is a low wattage heater. He should be even more comfortable, but he can hardly wait to swap beds and get into her crate in the morning! I think it is due to the crate being enclosed and den-like which gives them a feeling of security. I like the fact that my dogs love crates, I know that they will be safe and happy in them if they are away from home.
In your case I would try leaving the crate door open at night and let her choose where she wants to sleep.

Usually when people ask about crates it is about how to crate train a dog - I think this is the first time someone has asked how to un-crate train.

@Katherine Weeks - Katie, is there any reason why your little girl cannot stay in her crate at night if she prefers it? I do not cover my girl's crate to make it like a den but then she has always been used to it as it is, and she has only even gone in it at night.

It could be her being needy and very attached to you that she doesn’t want to go in , and then whines when you go to bed and leave her out yes

It could explain the lose lose situation .

If that’s the case , it could be a matter of mummy tough love .

or mummy hears the dog whine and doesn’t respond and see how it goes .

mummy does sound caring

I've never fully understood why dog owners would want to 'crate' their dogs unless it has health/temperament issues that may result in the animal soiling or damaging the home..
On the first night we had Tootsy we decided we were going to keep her in a crate, up to that point we had been playing and giving her cuddles around the house.
When we put her in the cage and shut the door she immediately went crazy, I mean really crazy.. She made the most awful screeching noise that went on and on and tried to escape by biting the cage bars. It got to point that at one stage she got her teeth and jaws stuck in the bars and was left hanging and screeching. We immediately saw her predicament and managed to prize her teeth away from the bars without damaging them. She promptly assumed her position next to us on the bed and fell asleep..

The long and the short of it is Tootsy never went back into the cage. Toots is a very independent dog and quite often likes her own company but comes on the bed for a cuddle every morning but usually sleeps on her own bed downstairs of a night.
Up to now we have been lucky in that she has never gone to the toilet indoors.

If I were to give any advice, and I'm certainly no expert, it would be to try and give your dog confidence and security, It wants to come up to your bedroom maybe you could make it up a little bed next to your bed then gradually get it to stay downstairs, maybe overtime it would want to stay downstairs on the sofa or on its own cosy bed..
Other than that, if its a strong willed dog you might have to put up with a fair bit of scratching and whining..
Its a tough one.... good luck

Hi,

You might try using a baby gate at the door to the room the crate is in. Put the baby gate up before removing the crate so he learns that it is a new barrier. Then open the crate door for a few nights so he has the area behind the baby gate.

Once he gets the hang of staying behind the baby gate, use the removable floor of the crate and put his bedding there just like if it were in the crate and in the same place as the crate. That gives him a sense of ordinariness to where he's sleeping. Keep the baby gate up.

Once he is used to that, you can move the baby gate to the point that you want his access to end (bedroom door, bottom of the stairs, etc). By now he should be comfortable with that barrier so he won't be big on crossing it.

Although, with a JRT, you may want to keep his access limited to where he can't hear you in the bedroom, otherwise he may go crazy trying to get to your voices. You can practice the baby gate barrier during the day to get him used to hearing your voices in that off limit area, but at night keep the distance - otherwise you'll be getting up all night to keep him on the other side.

Also, don't make bedtime a big deal.