Is this cruel ? Sleeping question

[Mikkimoo]

Hello!!

I have a little miniature schnauzer called Winnie and she is almost 5 months old.

I live with my parents, our previous dog (not a schnauzer) slept in the laundry overnight and I’ve never questioned it since i was a kid when we got her. We’d tuck her in to her bed in the laundry when we were going to sleep and close the door and let her out first thing in the morning. I’ve never really seen an issue with this as our dog didn’t seem to mind, and would sometimes take herself to bed late at night. If she ever cried or scratched on the door it would be due to reacting to a noise outside or something and it’s easy to hear from anywhere in the house so we would just go and settle her and she would fall back asleep no worries

The laundry has a few beds and obviously water, it also has a doggy door to the backyard, 2 windows and the main laundry door is a sliding door, so the dog can see out of the laundry into the kitchen through the crack if they want to, it’s not a fully enclosed door if that makes sense.

Anyway, Winnie has also slept here since we got her, she seems to sleep through the night and only would scratch on the door when reacting to something and would go back to sleep shortly after

I’m only questioning it now as I have seen people online saying it is cruel to lock them in a room overnight in the dark, I would never want to be cruel so I want to make sure.

Dog sleeping in bed not really an option for me as I’m an extremely light sleeper, I think this would be the same with a dog sleeping in my room. Other option would be loose in the house with bedroom door closed but I think she would probably scratch on my door in that situation, also we have a cat and our 5 month old mini schnauzer loves to chase her at the moment so definitelt easier to keep them seperate at night (and in general until she’s more trained with that).

So my question is , is this really cruel to do ? Winnie is the happiest puppy and she is my best friend and I really don’t notice that it bothers her, but if it is actually cruel then I’ll have to come up with an alternative


If ok to stay in the laundry; is it necessary to add a night light ?

Thanks so much!

[Dawnspell]

Unless I'm not understanding the set up it sounds no different to say leaving her in the kitchen with all the doors closed. If there's windows then there will be natural daylight once morning breaks. Provided its warm, she has a bed and is happy I don't see why it would be cruel.

Schnauzers do like to be with their owners and easily get separation related behaviours. If she's happy on her own at night then you are actually helping her to be relaxed in her own company.

[Mikkimoo]

Thank you!! I thought the same. I really didn’t see an issue with it, but was reading online and people were saying it is cruel to not them at least be around you at night, etc.

I agree I think it has helped her to be a bit more independent, she never gets upset when left alone and just entertains herself