We describe the method we followed, which helped us raise a confident, balanced puppy who enjoys sleeping in their bed in a different room from the bedroom. Of course, other methods exist, so feel free to seek additional advice.

1. Can a puppy sleep in your bedroom?

Yes, it is even recommended to let your puppy sleep in your room for the first few weeks!

The breeder we got our puppy from advised us to let them sleep in our room, and we followed that advice. Why? A puppy is (usually) surrounded by littermates and their mom 24/7 from birth. Now you've brought them home and introduced them to a brand new world with no familiar cues. And most importantly, they are not yet sure they can trust you.

That said, it becomes clear that having your puppy sleep in your room can be very reassuring. Note: we are not saying the puppy should sleep in your bed! Prepare a cozy spot with the blanket or cloth you used to bring them home. That will be their only familiar item for now.

Don't worry, sleeping in your room does not mean they will wake you all night. At that age, puppies get tired quickly and sleep deeply.

At bedtime, place them in their prepared space, go to bed, and turn off the lights. You may notice they choose to sleep a bit closer or farther from their spot - let them find their place.

For our part, we did not leave pee pads available overnight. We think that helped, because there were no accidents. We'll explain below!

Puppy sleeping on a blanket
A puppy's first night at home.

2. Should you take your puppy out at night to potty?

Yes, we recommend taking your puppy out at night for potty breaks during the first weeks.

The breeder advised us not to get up at night, because the puppy might get used to it since "it's super fun to have a midnight walk with lots of things to smell."

This time, we did not follow that advice. When we picked up our puppy, they were only two months old, which is very young. In terms of potty control, at that age puppies can't hold it because their sphincters are not fully developed. During the first days, we chose to take them out at midnight, 3 a.m., and 6 a.m. Having two people made it easier, as we alternated the outings.

We quickly (after about a week) spaced out the times, eventually reaching a midnight -> 5:30 a.m. schedule.

Between outings, our puppy slept without any problem. When they started to stir, we moved the outing a bit earlier to anticipate their needs.

Result: in three weeks, our puppy was sleeping (still with us) from 11:30 p.m. to 7 a.m. During that period and after, we had zero potty accidents. Also, our puppy never got used to these outings and never asked for random night trips without a reason.

We also believe this helped with potty training. Without pee pads available and with growing confidence outdoors, our puppy was fully house-trained at 3 months and one week. We'll talk about that in another post!

>Discover the top 5 apps to welcome a puppy

Dachshund at night
Night outing for potty breaks.

3. How to get your dog to sleep outside the bedroom?

Around 4 months of age, move your puppy's sleeping spot to another room.

If you don't mind your puppy/dog sleeping with you long-term, that's completely fine. We've discussed this with several trainers and it has no impact on behavior. You decide the rules you're comfortable with. Your dog will sleep well both on their own and with you.

Several friends with adult dogs told me their dog now goes to sleep in the living room on their own even though they have access to the bedroom. Funny!

For our part, at 4 months we decided to move them to the kitchen to sleep at night.

We did not really do a gradual transition by moving the bed little by little out of the room. It didn't work because our puppy would come back to sleep at the foot of our bed.

One evening, we placed them directly in the kitchen with their bed and closed the door (with a heavy heart). To our surprise, they only whined for a few seconds before lying down. We were convinced we had waited for the right moment - neither too early nor too late.



We hope this experience helps you! Feel free to write to us and share your puppy's story and how those first nights went.

If you are looking for an app to centralize health tracking, feeding, and memories together, feel free to download the Mafy app!