Tough love

[kimp5]

Jessie has never slept in our beds. They just walk in too much "stuff" all day and as much as she would like it I would hate it. She has a medium dog crate in my daughters room with a big bed and a full size pee pad. She always wakes up and has a little pee and poop and is ready to start her day. We throw the pad into a diaper pail and toss at the end of the week.

[maggiefromnj]

We trained Maggie to sleep in her crate too and she wasn't a crier for too long. I know what you mean about having to resist their cries though. I had to sleep on the sofa that first week because my hubby is a light sleeper and gets up early. I slept downstairs so he could sleep. I felt like I had a newborn. They are so tiny and helpless and hard to resist aren't they? I did let her sleep on my chest after the 6am "feeding". She did very well and to this day her crate is in the family room and once every few months she can have a sleepover in our bed. (thunderstorms or if we are too tired to bring her down....)

She is great. She peed tonight about 9:30 and now at 11:30 is probably snoozing on a living room chair. I'll put her in her crate in a little while and she will stay there until she hears me come downstairs. Could be as late as 10am if I am doing stuff upstairs. She's a great sleeper, hubby can tell she's MY baby (I love sleep too!)

I would die if I had a dog who had to go out to pee every morning at 7 am. I would be sleepwalking. My neighbor dog gets up early and he is so thoughtful that he lets his very LOUD dog out to pee on the weekends, often before 7:30-8am and then lets it BARK LOUDLY for a bit before he lets it in. How hard is it to stand there while your dog pees and then let it right back in.......

Different topic, sorry a rant was starting....