Three crates in my bedroom for two of the little dogs and the cocker. One dog has foot of bed privledges. The lab sleeps outdoors in her run. She has an indoor crate for terrible/hot weather but we like to keep her outdoors to keep her used to cooler temps when we duckhunt.

My vote is an indoor crate for starters, initial training, and then adjust as you see fit as you all become settled with each other.

All of the pack structure stuff I see says you should not allow the dogs in your bedroom under any circumstances. I assume this also means not to put the crate in your room.

I crate mine in the living room, and have since he was a pup. He was loud the first 3-4 nights, but we totally ignored him and only approached the crate when he was quiet for more than a few minutes. Now he doesn't make a peep in the crate, except for a couple of weeks back when he had diarrhea and needed to go out.

Cujo On his dog bed in the bedroom. Lyka on the foot of the bed. Tiko & Yasko in Crates in the "kennel" (climate controlled tiled garage). I'd put them in the indoor runs (6x4.5ft) but they pee in the runs and not in their crates. So they go in their crates.

I actually have to separate Tiko from Yasko and put his crate in the in-between room between the kennel and the laundry room "aka dog food room." As soon as I started doing this, suddenly sleeping past 930am was actually possible. When they were together they'd both start barking and scratching at their crates at 7am. Once they start doing that, it's only a matter of time before they pee in their crates... Movement gets the bladder going.

During the day Tiko and Yasko are in outside runs 12x9ft and the other 2 take turns in the house. If I feel like dealing with 2 dogs that don't know when to stop, I'll let em both in the house together, but Lyka is a sneaky lil bitch that goes off to mess with Cujo when I'm not looking :p

Ok,thanks guys. My bedroom in crate seems to be the best bet. So rank/pack structure is not conflicted by letting them sleep in the bedroom? It would be nice if the pup is crate trained already but we will see.

There are many ways to interact with a dog and many ways to establish pack rank. This has to do with a number of factors. You as a handler (your personality), your dogs temperament, your living situation (kids, family, alone etc), your goal for the dog, time spent interacting with them, activities you do with them, among other things. The pack rules are great for people that are unsure, inexperienced, having issues, live in family situations where the kids need a way to command respect from the dogs etc. What works for one person may not work for another where the variables are different.

It takes time, experience and understanding to figure out the best way to handle a dog. Sometimes its best to start with the sure-thing and over a period of time adjust your "system" based on your relationship with the dog. Although I never saw an issue with crating dogs in the bedroom. 2 of mine were, 2 of them weren't. It was purely a space and convenience decision, and the fact that when you just get a puppy you are obviously excited and want to spend all your time looking at him/her

Age of the pup will determine how long they can hold it in the crate. Crate training itself isn't hard, its maintaining it and letting the pup out before his bladder explodes that is the hard work.

As puppies they start out in a crate in my bedroom until they are housetrained. Then as long as there are no issues they can either sleep with me or on a dog bed in the floor. Jerri usually starts out on the bed and at some point during the night gets up and sleeps on the dog bed.

Lisa

 Quote: mike j schoonbrood

Cujo On his dog bed in the bedroom. Lyka on the foot of the bed. Tiko & Yasko in Crates in the "kennel" (climate controlled tiled garage). I'd put them in the indoor runs (6x4.5ft) but they pee in the runs and not in their crates. So they go in their crates.

I actually have to separate Tiko from Yasko and put his crate in the in-between room between the kennel and the laundry room "aka dog food room." As soon as I started doing this, suddenly sleeping past 930am was actually possible. When they were together they'd both start barking and scratching at their crates at 7am. Once they start doing that, it's only a matter of time before they pee in their crates... Movement gets the bladder going.

During the day Tiko and Yasko are in outside runs 12x9ft and the other 2 take turns in the house. If I feel like dealing with 2 dogs that don't know when to stop, I'll let em both in the house together, but Lyka is a sneaky lil bitch that goes off to mess with Cujo when I'm not looking :p

How do you get them to sleep unless bruiser is in bed wioth me he is up at 5:30 And he has no one to wake him up I am the only one in the house and phoenix is in her kennel