# What do you do with your dogs at night?



## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

I crate mine and am beginning to think it might be too long? They seem fine when I go to relieve them (6-10 hours later). But what do you think? Is this too long?

Also, do you give your dogs a potty break in the middle of the night?


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

We crated Tess until about 7 months.. she has the run of the house at night, but usually I really have to watch if I get up..not to step on her...


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

All 3 of mine have free roam at night. Wiva sleeps on the bed with me. Whiskey sleeps on his doggie cot. Puddi sleeps at the foot of my bed. My dogs can go 12-14hrs without going out overnight and they are all under a 2 years old. How old are yours?


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

I have a six month old puppy that gets crated around 8:30 p.m. and stays quiet all night. I get him out of the kennel at 4:30 a.m. to potty and start the day. 

My (nearly) 3 year old GSD is either in the house with me during that time, in my room, or he is outside. His choice. But if he stays in the house, my bedroom door is shut because he'll torment the kenneled puppy. 

My Mini Doxie (aprox. 5 or so) is in bed with me all night - 8:30 p.m. thru 4:30 a.m. 

My older Golden is outside. 

My husband is in bed with me only because I can't shove his big butt in a kennel.


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

qbchottu said:


> All 3 of mine have free roam at night. Wiva sleeps on the bed with me. Whiskey sleeps on his doggie cot. Puddi sleeps at the foot of my bed. My dogs can go 12-14hrs without going out overnight and they are all under a 2 years old. How old are yours?


Zeeva just turned 2 and Smokey is almost 4 (rescue so am not perfect on his age).


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

Lilie said:


> My husband is in bed with me only because I can't shove his big butt in a kennel.


hehehehe...giggles again


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

I think my main problem is Zeeva. She will go potty at night if I don't crate her. I used the get up every 2 hours to let her out then every 3 hours then 4 and so on to pee pee train her as a puppy but she doesn't understand that she also needs to go potty outside.


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## Girth (Jan 27, 2011)

My three sleep around the bed. One lays down on my side, another on the wife's side and third one at the foot of bed. When I'm home on the weekends the youngest without fail will wake me up at 0230 and we all take a potty break. During the week when I'm not around they leave the wife alone until her alarm goes off at around 0700.


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## Shade (Feb 20, 2012)

Jazzy (almost two) sleeps with me on my bed, Delgado (21.5 weeks) sleeps in his crate beside my bed

As to the potty breaks, only if they wake up and need them otherwise they sleep all night


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but was she an outside dog at one point? If so, how long has she been inside?


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

qbchottu said:


> Correct me if I'm mistaken, but was she an outside dog at one point? If so, how long has she been inside?


She was an outside dog. But as a puppy she was inside because I was afraid my husky would kill her. She remained with me inside until she was about 6-7 months. That's when I pee pee trained her but she always went potty on a tarp upstairs and I could never figure out how to potty train her. Now she is inside and it's been about 2 weeks? She hasn't had any accidents unless I leave her out at night (am not watching her). She doesn't go pee pee but she will go potty.


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## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

I think it's just a time issue. I bet she'll be fine overnight in a month or two once she gets used to holding it for longer periods.


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## Josie/Zeus (Nov 6, 2000)

Koda sleeps with us in the bedroom. Sometimes he will sleep in the hallway.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Hans sleeps in his crate from 10:30PM to 8:30 AM


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Both of our dogs are crated at night in the bedroom with us. Keefer will be 7 years old in August, and Halo is 3-1/2 years old. They would probably just sleep anyway, but this way I can get up when I want to get up on my days off work and they stay quietly in their crates instead of jumping on my head at 5:30 AM, when the alarm goes off on work days! I also don't have to worry about them deciding to bark out the window at squirrels or possums or raccoons or cats in the backyard in the middle of the night. 

I don't think it's cruel to leave an adult dog in a crate overnight, and I've never given mine water during the night or potty breaks once they were old enough to hold it all night long. They like their crates and go in on their own at bedtime, as well as sometimes napping in them at other times. 

If she's having accidents at night when you leave her out and she's not having accidents when she's crated, I'd crate her.


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## Magda (Feb 26, 2012)

Skylar and Bear both 4 months old, sleep in the bedroom with me, bedroom door closed (each has their own doggy bed). They have been in the room 3 weeks now. We retire at 10pm after they have their bathroom walk outside. They wake me if they need to go, sometimes at 3 in the morning, sometimes at 5, mostly around 6am. I let them have their walk and then back into bed we go, until we tart our day at 6h30. Touch wood - Have not had an accident yet.


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Both of our dogs are crated at night in the bedroom with us. Keefer will be 7 years old in August, and Halo is 3-1/2 years old. They would probably just sleep anyway, but this way I can get up when I want to get up on my days off work and they stay quietly in their crates instead of jumping on my head at 5:30 AM, when the alarm goes off on work days! I also don't have to worry about them deciding to bark out the window at squirrels or possums or raccoons or cats in the backyard in the middle of the night.
> 
> I don't think it's cruel to leave an adult dog in a crate overnight, and I've never given mine water during the night or potty breaks once they were old enough to hold it all night long. They like their crates and go in on their own at bedtime, as well as sometimes napping in them at other times.
> 
> If she's having accidents at night when you leave her out and she's not having accidents when she's crated, I'd crate her.


thanks!  I guess my main concern is, how is this any different from crating them during the day for that long? most people consider 6-10 hours during the day too long. why isn't it any different from night time?


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## sjones5254 (Dec 16, 2011)

All 6 of mine are in bed at some point through out the night  But I have a doggie door so they can go out when they need to


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Because they sleep!


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## Bear L (Feb 9, 2012)

Sunflowers said:


> Hans sleeps in his crate from 10:30PM to 8:30 AM


Is this a trained behavior? Mine wakes me up at 5:30am. I love mornings, just don't like 5:30am all the time. If trained, please teach me! Amount of exercise I do during the day makes zero difference, she just wants up at 5:30am. She'll whine here and there, shuffle in the room. She's not allowed on the bed or touch me when I'm in bed, but the noise is annoying. 

To the OP - my dogs sleeps in my room (and no crate in room) since 5 months old. This is after she's proven for couple weeks that she's good sleeping in her crate - no whinning, goes in voluntarily or happily when told, no accidents.


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## Wolfgeist (Dec 4, 2010)

Hunter sleeps loose in the bedroom with my husband and I. He has his last potty break at 11:30pm or midnight and goes out around 9 or 9:30am in the morning.


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## EJQ (May 13, 2003)

For the most part our dogs sleep in the next room in their crates. They are all old enough so that a mid-night potty break is no longer necessary. During the times that they sleep outside of their crates they are usually next to the bed.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

my 3 are loose at nite , Masi is usually in bed with me Jynx is either in bed to or on her doggie bed next to my bed, Jag sleeps with the hubby


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

All my dogs have thier own beds in my bedroom. I use a baby gate to keep Kiya by my side of the bed incase she has a seizure during the night.
We do have a problem with the kitten, he decided he likes to sleep in one of the dog beds now. Apache usually sleeps in different spots on the floor anyway. A few nights ago kitty was somewhere else and Apache decided he wasn't letting kitty get the bed.
I only get up during the night if one of the dogs wakes me up to go out, I know I better get up or clean up.


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## FG167 (Sep 22, 2010)

Kastle sleeps on the bed or in his crate, Eden sleeps in the bed, everyone else in crates. Times vary wildly but if someone needs to go out, they get put out.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Bear L said:


> Is this a trained behavior? Mine wakes me up at 5:30am. I love mornings, just don't like 5:30am all the time. If trained, please teach me! Amount of exercise I do during the day makes zero difference, she just wants up at 5:30am. She'll whine here and there, shuffle in the room. She's not allowed on the bed or touch me when I'm in bed, but the noise is annoying.


Hans sleeps in a different room by himself. I moved him after a couple of months when his crate Ka-thunk-ing at night would wake me up a lot.

He has been quiet in his crate from the time we got him because the breeder got him used to the crate before we brought him home.

I don't know if he wakes up before 8:30. 
Until recently I was going in there at 6 AM. One morning I overslept and went in there, and I could tell he had been sleeping. So 8:30 it remained.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

My dogs are loose in the house(since about 7 months of age). I'm a light sleeper and if one is pacing to go out, I'll let s/he out. Otherwise they go out around 6:30 am, though now with the daylight at 5:30 they are anxious to go patrol the yard then.


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## Lakl (Jul 23, 2011)

Both of mine are loose in the front rooms and have been since they were around 5 months. They mostly sleep through the night, but since Achilles has gotten better since surgery, he gets restless and will want to play in the middle of the night, so I leave plenty of toys out. If not, he'll get to nosying around in the kitchen opening drawers and the trash can to check things out.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Riley has to be crated at night. He cant be trusted unsupervised and i cant close my door because i wouldnt be able to hear my kids if they need me and my cats would rip up the carpet trying to get in or out. Shasta sleeps in my room with me. No, neither of them get middle of the night potty breaks.


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## wyominggrandma (Jan 2, 2011)

Holly sleeps in the bedroom, either on the bed or in her open crate or on the floor. Her choice. She wakes up when she hears the alarm go off and is ready to go outside. 
Berner sleeps outside, too much coat to sleep inside. He prefers it cooler.


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## LaneyB (Feb 5, 2012)

My new puppy was crated in my daughter's room last night. He slept from midnight until 7 am. I hope he continues that tonight.


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## LuvShepherds (May 27, 2012)

In the bedroom. The mischief maker is crated.


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## Loneforce (Feb 12, 2012)

Ginger has the run of the house and sleeps on the cool kitchen floor, or the living room. Jonas sleeps right beside me since day one. Both are very good gsd's!!


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## e.rigby (May 28, 2011)

I can sleep up to 12hrs without my dogs needing to go out. They all (which would be all 5 of em) sleep in my bedroom with me! The smallest is 22lbs the largest is 88lbs!


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## Jacobs-mommy (Jun 8, 2012)

Jacob started out sleeping in the bed with us but after about a week he decided on the floor. So in front of our bed we put his blanket and favorite stuffed toys and he does fine. He is still young so i do have to wake up with him about twice a night but its worth it!


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## marshies (May 18, 2011)

Until about 8 months of age, Puppy was crated at 10 PM every night. I'm usually up late, so I potty her at around 2 again, and then crate her till whenever I wake up in the morning. She'll pace to let me know she needs to go. Her pacing will wake me up.


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

My dogs are loose in the house at night. I don't think it's fair to them to have to hold it all day while I'm at work and then all night too. I have to get up at least once a night myself, so I let them out for a potty break too.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

My dogs are not in a crate day or night. At night the GSD usually sleeps right next to me, the Golden sits over her and cries until she moves a little so he can fit and my older dog starts out on the pillow above my head, but she moves onto one of the 3 dog beds after a little bit. Cats are in and out all night and the dogs don't bother with them...that took about a week to fix.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

our dog sleeps in our room. he starts the night out
on our bed. normally by morning he's on his bed that's
in our room. i'm up early so our dog is out between
5:15 am and 5:45 am. if my dog has to go in the
middle of the night i'll let him out. my dog hasn't had 
to go out in the middle of the since he was 2 yrs old 
or younger.


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## The Packman (Jan 31, 2011)

Zeeva said:


> *What do you do with your dogs at night?*


She takes me for 3 walks ! (we sleep durning the day)


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## gmcwife1 (Apr 5, 2012)

Kenai and Koda (8 & 6) have free roam of the house at night. Nita (4 months) sleeps in her crate from 9:30 pm to 5:00 am.


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## billsharp (May 3, 2011)

Liesl is now 18 months old. She has always slept inside, starting in her crate. We took her to potty outside just before bedtime, and then she stayed in her crate all night till 6 or 7 a.m. without further break, and she was fine.

She has been sleeping inside (downstairs only) since about age 12 months, with no crate, on a large dog pillow. We still potty her just before bedtime, and she sleeps on her pillow with no problems and no accidents in the house. 

If we accidentally leave the upstairs door open, however, she will sneak upstairs to our room and we get enthusiastic face-licking at 2 a.m. telling us she is ready to go chase squirrels.


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## Cheerful1 (Sep 27, 2011)

Joey has free reign of the house. He sleeps in our bedroom on the floor. Since we go to bed so early, he usually wakes me up around 2:30 AM to go outside.


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## TrickyShepherd (Aug 15, 2011)

Zira has been crated at night for her entire life. She is an absolutely terrible house dog. So for her health, and my sanity (and my bank account).... she is crated at night.

Duke either goes in his crate or has free roam of our room. He's a saint compared to Zira. He never does anything wrong around the house. So he does get that freedom (most of the time).

Both of my dogs go to bed around 10pm-midnight and up in the morning at 8-10am. They have been in there longer with no issues. When Z was a puppy, obviously we had some night walks, but otherwise, they sleep through the night just fine... crated and free roam.

(they are 1.5 & 2.5 years old.)


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## ozzymama (Jan 17, 2005)

Oz sleeps in the dining room, Dolly starts out in the basement and makes her way to the sleeping quarters, she usually spend some time on the main floor couch then by 2:30am she's at the gate leading to the sleeping quarters where at 2:31am she begins barking, at which time dh is getting up for work, he lets both dogs out, then our bedroom becomes a communal bed room as dd comes into my bed and Dolly comes into the room. Sometimes Oz will come up, but not often. If dh is away then Dolly and dd sleep in my room, Dolly on the floor. She doesn't wake me at 2:30am and Sundays she doesn't wake us, but Mon - Sat., she makes sure dh is up.


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## NWHeather (Oct 29, 2010)

Both of mine sleep in my room with me. Generally, Rory, my female GSD/Lab sleeps at the foot of my bed, on the bed. Koda, my male GSD sleeps on the dog bed that is between the foot of the bed, near the door. Sometimes they both sleep on the bed, but they both sleep between me & the door.
Koda is going on 9, Rory turned 7 a couple months ago.


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

My dog sleeps next to my bed until about 1am. At that time every night he starts scratching so I put him in his crate which is in the living room.


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## whiteknight593 (Jun 26, 2012)

All 3 of my dogs get locked in our bedroom at night. I have 2 little ones and My GS The little ones will pee on the floor if they have access to water. I have found if you let them out right before bed and if they have no water at night they can hold it. Now this might be different with a 7 month puppy. We got ours at a year as a rescue and some how she was potty trained even though the person before had abused her badly and she was never inside the house after 3 months old.


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## vicky2200 (Oct 29, 2010)

At night: Dakota stays in the living room because he can't go up and down the stairs easily. Ditto and Weegee sleep in my bed. Daisy sleeps in my brother's bed. I try not to crate unless it is 100% necessary. If the system is working for you, why change it?


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

Most of the time they sleep inside in crates, usually there are two that need the indoor/outdoor areas -- a doggy door to a kennel and an x-pen on the inside. Babsy usually gets the run of my house. 

If I have puppies, everyone else sleeps in their kennels. They have cots and houses and shelters, and such. It is actually easier on them then crating them inside. 

When they are inside, I have to follow a specific order in getting them all out for the day, or I will be cleaning crates. Some have iron bladders like Ninja. Some have weak bladders like Ninja's sister Milla. Milla has to be going outside the moment her kibble is eaten or she won't wait. Dolly isn't too keen on waiting either. The rest of them are pretty tolerable about waiting until the pee-ers are situated for the day, and then they can be let out.

In their defense, I am not terribly punctual about what time I wake up. I will hear talking from the peanut gallery and roll over and go back to sleep. Then I hear more commotion, I tell them to go back to bed and cover my head up. After a while I hear a pitch with urgency, and then I get up and stumble to the bathroom, and then I get the food, and put it down for each of them, then I start taking them out, one by one, hosing kennels if necessary, filling water buckets as I go along, and letting each poop first. By the time I get to the last one, they have been waiting for a good while.


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## stoli2003 (Aug 24, 2011)

When we brought Zore home we put his house (crate) in our bedroom at night. From past experience this way he was potty trained in less than two weeks. So from there he slept in his crate next to our bed until he was 3 months old and knew what he can and cannot chew on. At that point he was pretty much done with it. But we would always leave the door open for him, sometimes he would go in there tonap, chew a bone but he weened away from it at 4.5 months. Now he still sleeps next to my night stand and does not move all night unless he needs to go out or hears something or I get up and then he follows me.


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## Zisso (Mar 20, 2009)

I feel blessed that both of mine are free at night w/no potty breaks, but then again they are both almost 5. Nadia was an outside dog until I adopted her at 16 months old so she had a few accidents in the middle of the night at first. Getting her regulated was the ticket to stopping that.


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## apenn0006 (Jun 22, 2012)

I sure hope some of you people on here have king-sized beds  My little booger is crated in our room. We tried crating him in the living room but he flipped out before I could even get the crate door closed. For the past two nights he has been going into his crate on his own to sleep and last night he slept through the night. My alarm went off at 6:30 this morning and my first reaction was "omg, he's dead!" lol I had to call his name twice before he woke up. 

Also, if we don't put up the baby gate, he's been sneaking upstairs to go rest in our room. So far, he is not potty trained enough to be unattended without being crated. No accidents in crate though. Using the crate as a positive training tool has been wonderful!!


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## Gharrissc (May 19, 2012)

Resident dogs have full run of house,and fosters are usually crated. Sometimes I will put a gate in the living room so that a foster can have full run of the kitchen/living room/and hallway, if they are non destructive and housebroken.


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## NWHeather (Oct 29, 2010)

apenn0006 said:


> I sure hope some of you people on here have king-sized beds  My little booger is crated in our room. We tried crating him in the living room but he flipped out before I could even get the crate door closed. For the past two nights he has been going into his crate on his own to sleep and last night he slept through the night. My alarm went off at 6:30 this morning and my first reaction was "omg, he's dead!" lol I had to call his name twice before he woke up.
> 
> Also, if we don't put up the baby gate, he's been sneaking upstairs to go rest in our room. So far, he is not potty trained enough to be unattended without being crated. No accidents in crate though. Using the crate as a positive training tool has been wonderful!!


LOL I have a queen size bed, but it's just me & the two dogs. 
My dogs were crate trained (even Koda, that I got at 3yrs old, he adapted pretty easily), but in the past few years, after my divorce, I have been in houses without enough room for their crates, & they're really good in the house unattented, so I haven't worried about it.

When I did crate them, before, it was only when we were gone, but they've always slept in the bedroom at night.

I will set up crates again when I buy a house, as I will be looking for one with that in mind. Unless something comes up, & there's a reason to do so, I won't go back to crating them while I'm gone, & they will continue to sleep with me at night.
I do plan on getting a third dog after I buy a house & get settled, & I will play it by ear for that one.


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## chloesmama2 (Feb 18, 2012)

We have a California King in our bedroom but it does not seem to be still big enough - My husband, me and the two dogs. 
They have slept with us always, but I might start crating Chloe after she chewed up my second phone cord and the Harley Davidson leash that we just bought. I did not wake up with her this morning and she was mad and wanted to tell me about it I guess. She knows I was upset, but I guess it was my fault for not putting them up. :wild:


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## hoplite6 (Jun 18, 2012)

Logan and Riley have free reign at night of the sun room, kitchen, and living room. In the sun room, they have a queen and a twin mattress to choose from for sleeping. We have a patio doggie door (biggest one you can get), but often keep it closed at night unless we want to hear all about the squirrels on the fence.


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## Kontrollverlust (Jul 10, 2012)

Athena sleeps at the foot of my bed every night. She loves to put her head underneath the bed! When she needs out in the morning, she climbs up on the bed and will lay on top of me to wake me up to let her out.


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## Nikitta (Nov 10, 2011)

LOL Lillie


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