Thank you in advance- this is the first puppy I'm raising. I've watched about 5 Leerburg videos (including the puppy 8 weeks to 8 months) and read these forums, but still was unsure about how to proceed regarding my question about his sleeping habits.

I am the happy owner of a lovely 14 week old black GSD named Rook. Rook sleeps very well, but will only really sleep inside of his crate. Ideally, I would like him to be able to sleep outside the crate for situations where we might be traveling without the crate or visiting at another person's home, but I'm not sure if I'm asking too much of a puppy or being too perfectionistic about puppy training.

Currently, Rook absolutely adores his crate, happily goes in and sleeps well- no whining, nothing. Even if he wakes up, he'll just hang out in there while chewing on a something. Outside the crate, I am tethering Rook in the house. He will happily chew on things while tethered and rarely tries to pull away. I also sometimes have him in an area that is closed off with a babygate.

He's a content puppy when he's outside the crate, but once he's getting tired it is obvious he wants to go to his crate, even if the crate is only 10 feet away in the same room. He'll look over toward the crate, whine a little and behave restlessly (laying down, huffing a little, getting up, laying down again). I've given him water, walked him, everything: it is very clear he wants to go sleep in his crate.

I've used marker training to mark and reward him for laying down/resting while outside of the crate and I've removed some of his more exciting toys. The most I've gotten is for him to sleep for about 5 minute intervals outside the crate, even after about 2 or 3 hours of marker work or even simply ignoring him/waiting him out. After an hour or so, he's just laying down a lot more, is less restless and has his little 5 minute naps more frequently, but nothing like when he's sleeping in the crate.

He seems to sleep much more lightly outside the crate. I could be reading a book on the couch in the silent house and shifting on the couch wakes him and then he's up for a while again whereas I can walk past the crate jingling something and he would sometimes just open his eyes briefly and go right back to sleep.

If I go ahead and just put him in the crate when he is sleepy, he falls immediately asleep and has a normal 1-2+ hour nap. Also, the crate has the exact same light and sound level as the rest of the room- the crate is one of those metal wire crates.

So, should I just take the little guy to his favorite sleeping spot when he's sleepy and maybe just work on this once he is older? Or should I keep working on this now? If so, might yall have any other ideas on how to work on this? I've been working on this for about a week now.

I don't see a problem here.

Sounds like you've done everything perfect.

How do you know he won't sleep if you have to travel?:wink:

And welcome to the forum!

Because we've taken him to other homes for long day visits and he does the same restless, no sleep routine there as well- even if it means missing several hours of what would be normal naptime. Thanks for the positive feedback though!

He doesn't know nap time. It was probably just a cool place with too much going on to go to sleep.:smile:

Sounds like a puppy to me.:smile: A good one.:smile:

He feels safe in the crate, which is exactly what you want! He sounds to be doing really well.

How about getting a travel crate? Or crate him in the vehicle if it's safe to do so.

 Quote: Michael_Wise

He doesn't know nap time. It was probably just a cool place with too much going on to go to sleep.:smile:

Sounds like a puppy to me.:smile: A good one.:smile:

Me too! Sounds great!

I think a lot of people would love to have your "problem"! Sounds like a good puppy!

Thanks for all the extremely helpful feedback everyone- I appreciate it.

Aaron, thank you for the thoughtful reply. It really isn't about exploration- we explore a ton and I encourage his curiosity. I agree, it really helps build his confidence and allows him to learn from new experiences. Sorry, if I didn't quite make my original post clear- the issue isn't when he's in exploration mode. I was moreover asking wanwhen he was obviously done exploring, interacting, etc and clearly in his "I SOOOOO want to sleep right this very second" puppy wants to pass out mode.

After reading everyone's replies, I can rest easy and "let sleeping dogs lie." Thank you so much.