Transition from crate to bed at night

Question
Hello,

I have a 6.5 month old Standard Poodle puppy named Moira. She is the light of my life! She is very good about being crated when I am not home,  but lately she has been adverse to her crate at night. It is right by my bed, so she can see me. Usually she zooms in to my bedroom and in to my bathroom (farthest away from the crate) and kind of peeks at me from the door- she does not want to go in that crate! Last night I found her in the hallway; she didn't even want to come in to my room. Once she is in the crate, she lays down and goes right to sleep. It's just getting her in to it that is becoming hard.

I would like to transition her from her night time crate to a doggie bed or even the foot of my bed. She is pretty well house broken; she doesn't go in the main area of the house anymore at all. However, a week and a half ago, we had a few days where she peed on my bed. She had *never* done that before, and then she did it two days in a row. I'm not sure if it was a teenager slip-up, or if she was scent marking, or what. She hasn't had any accidents since then. I make sure she is with me in my room (the accidents happened when I was in my bathroom and she was on my bed waiting for me, so now I make sure she comes all the way in to the bathroom or closet with me). Because of those accidents though, my trust in her potty training was broken. I'm not sure if she is ready to be out of her crate at night; I don't want to wake up to puppy pee in my bed or on my carpet that has soaked in.

I'm just not sure how to tell if she is ready to be out at night or not. She is indicating to me that she wants to make that switch,  but I'm still unsure if her potty training is strong enough since she did have those accidents. Any help on determining when to make that transition? Any tips on how to transition her? I hate to think that she is sad all night about being crated, but again, I don't want to wake up to pee on my bed!


Thanks!

Cate

Answer
Hello Cate:

We normally see housebreaking/Potty Training complete at about 5 months with most dogs.  That's not to say there may be an occasional accident.  This is usually due to a missed signal or gaped time on potty break.

If she is settling once in the crate, then do not worry about her being unhappy.  She is probably entering the teenage stage and seeing what she can get away with.

The only suggestion I can give is leave her out one night and see how she does, there are no 100% guarantees on when a dog can make it through the night, as there are so many variables that can come into play.