Hi.. I have an 18 week old black lab and she has been crate trained from the very start and loves her crate. It is left open during the day and she is locked in it at night. At the moment she goes to bed totally fine in it and sleeps through til about 5-6am and then she wakes me with her "toilet" yelp so I let her out. When she has finished I just leave her with the run of the kitchen ( which is where her crate is ) and she goes back to sleep until we get up. I dont lock her back in as before she just would not settle back down. I am now beginning to think that over the last week she is using going to the toilet as an excuse to get out of her crate as when she goes outside now she will just lay down outside and when she finally goes she then just bolts back inside to curl up on the kitchen floor. What I want to know is should I just leave the crate open for her during the night now and not bother locking her in ....I eventually want to replace her crate with a her bed/ box....my sister who is a vet and dog trainer is moaning at me saying that I should be making her go back into her crate and not letting her sleep for the rest of the night on the floor as she "now knows that a bark and wee will get her out"......any ideas ?? Is she old enough to come out of her crate and for me to replace it with her bed....

Hi,
You could try her and see what happens.
18 weeks is still very young to expect her to go through the night without waking at 5/6am to toilet.

I would be tempted to stick to the crate with the door still closed at night time.

Hi..I dont mind her going to the toilet at all and still expect it...but I am just getting the feeling that she is just using it as an excuse ( she may not be )...up until about a week ago as soon as she got through the back door she would wee....now she just lies down and curls up on the grass and I have to literally pick her up and put her in her wee spot to make her go and then she bolts back as fast as she can just so she can curl up on the floor...... when is a good age to switch from a crate to a box ?

The problem with changing your routine now, is she must be going through or about to start the teething stage.
It is completely your choice, try it and see by leaving the door open, if it doesn't work out in a couple of days, you can always go back to shutting her in

I got a dog crate for my guy years ago and it was one of the best investments I ever made. Dog Crates are a safe way of transporting your dog in the car, as well as a way of taking him places where he may not be able to run freely. If you properly train your dog to use a dog crate, he'll think his dog crate is a safe place and will be happy to spend time in his dog crate when needed.

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Luika is still chewing at 15 months Anything he can get his chops around!

He loves his crate and the door is almost always open. This is his little safe haven away from the cats that torment him and everyday noise.

I would not ditch the crate just yet

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