When could you let your dog out of his crate for the day/night.

I'm probably going to post this in a million different places today because I just did this for the first time, but: WEBCAM!!!  I watched one of my dogs this morning play with his toy for a while and then lay down on his favorite couch cushion for a nap, all from the comfort of my office.  We just started letting Marlowe out of his crate for the daytime (we got a complaint about barking, and he does bark in his crate) and I wanted to make sure he wasn't just standing around barking anyway. So, I set up a webcam that covers most of the room he's in so I can watch from work to see what he gets up to all day.
 
The actual camera was $10 at Walgreens. No joke! I can't even believe it took me this long to get this idea.

That's a really good idea.  However, I would only be able to watch him if he was in the living room (that's where our computer is), however, that is also where all the stuff we don't want him to chew is also. 

I think I might just invest in a webcam. []
 
EDIT:  How old is Marlowe?

My first dog I adopted was already a few years old, she was fully house trained, or so thats what the foster mom told me. First day I brought her home I left her to roam the home and she chewed the wiers to my computer, she chewed my shoes and chewed other random stuff I can't even remeber everything she chewed within the sort time she was alone. At night she got a hold of my wallet and cewed my wallet and bank card. Next day I bought her a crate and plenty of chew toys. It took a few months to teach her the difference between what was the correct thing to chew and what was off limits. I had to watch her all the time when she was loose in the house. I fianly gave her more freedom as she learned but she always had to have chew toys or else my stuff would be next. She has always had high seperation anxity which I belive was the cause for all her distruction. After about a year and a half of owning her she fianly was allowed to have free rome of the house.

Now with Gizmo, she has never been a chewer and was housebroken by about 3 months. She had full range of the home when I was gone at around 5 months. The only thing Giz ever distroyed, of all things, was my boyfriends "Animal Behavor" textbook and anouther one of his phycology books. Don't know why she choose thoes but I never have had a problem with leaving her alone. I always make shure she has plenty of toys so she doesn't get bord and I try to have many interactive toys in that mix.

I guess it really just depends on your dog. If you can trust your dog while your home then you can start giving it a little freedom when your not home. My biggest suggestion is to leave your dog with plenty of toys/chews whatever he needs to keep his mind from straying. You could also leave the TV on to give him a sence that he's not alone, that helps calm some anxity that may cause him to distroy thing.

Ah, see, we have a laptop, so I was able to stick it off in a corner of the room where Marlowe spends his days. Oh well. []
 
Marlowe's 2, but we adopted him in April and he'd been an outside dog previously so we had to do all the training from scratch. Conrad is 5 and he's still crated. He has SA and the only way we keep a lid on it is the crate, so he'll never be able to graduate.
 

Uncrated overnight - 5mo (housetrained)
Uncrated left alone - 10 or 11mo (can't remember the exact mo)

My dog is about 16-18 months and we still crate him, but for SA and destruction due to that rather than anything else.
 
I just wanted to second the idea of webcam - we have one and I record him every day, usually, to see how he has been.  i have an extra hard drive and store it on there.  We used to use the camcorder but the tapes only hold 90 minutes max.  It has been GREAT to watch Sammy and see for myself how he was than to have to ask the neighbors, etc. 

keep in mind that most dogs only become really destructive after age 6 months.

Dodger wasn't crated because of SA problems.  He had supervised run of the house from the day I found him and could hold himself all night (6 weeks).  Before I knew I was keeping him and didn't want him to think sleeping in a bed was okay, I stationed him on his dog bed with his harness/leash on so he couldn't wander around.
The first time he was left alone (which didn't happen until 6 months because my Grandparents are retired and were able to look after him) I confined him to my bedroom after a long hike and he was perfect so from then on he had the run of the house when he was left alone. He's never been a chewer or destructive so that was never an issue - keeping him active was the key!
 

When we're at home, my 8 month old puppy sleeps in her crate and probably always will.    I tried having her sleep on our bed, but she just wants to go to her crate.     She likes it and we don't have to worry about anything.  When we're away and without her crate, she sleeps on the bed with us and she's fine.

When I'm out of the house, she is crated because she has just entered a crazy chewing phase AND has found her voice in times of distress, so I would be worried about coming home to a chewed up apartment and angry neighbours.