Houston is our knuckleheaded almost 2 year old cocker. He and our 10 year old cocker Kenny have full sized crates in our bedroom which they sleep in at night. We have a smaller fold down metal crate in our living room which we take when we travel. Kenny is great in his pop up crate. I don't think Huey would do well in a pop up so the smaller metal crate goes with us. Lately, Houston has been choosing to go in the crate in the living room to chill out. I put him in there when it's time to vacuum because he hates that "monster." He doesn't even bark at the vacuum when in the crate. I also put him in one of the crates if I have to take a shower because I don't trust him. He never whines or anything and will just play with his Kong.
Sometimes, he is going in there when he knows he is in trouble. He is a sneaky dog and loves to chew on all sorts of things. If I am able to pry something out of his mouth before swallowing it, he will run into the crate. I don't want to put him in there if he is in trouble because I don't want him to view a crate as a place where he goes if he does something wrong.
Is there any reason to be concerned?