Crates are bad

Agreed and agreed again.... it's so much easier to teach a dog to accept restrictions, confinement and occasional solitude early in life, relax it later and bring it back if needed.  Mine gradually earn priveleges (like more freedom in the house) as they get older, more mature, better bladder control and know which things are OK to chew on.  If ever I have to go back a step and confine them again due to a change in circumstance, they accept it fairly easily. 
 
Some friends of mine are looking after somones dog at the moment and he's a total nightmare to live with because he has not had this kind of training at home - he's been allowed to do pretty much what he likes and sleep where he likes (usually on his owners bed) and now he can't do that and he's obviously extremely unhappy and is finding it terribly hard to adjust.  He's unresponsive, unhappy, soiling indoors and looks visibly stressed quite a lot of the time and his carers are getting quite exasperated with him but appreciate there's not a lot they can do because its due to the lifestyle he's had at home. 

I'm not crazy about crates, but all dogs need to be able to accept them. The biggest reason is that if they ever have a medical problem that requires them to rest they need to be able to accept confinement. We use seatbelts when travelling, but your dog should accept some form of confinement there too.
 
If you are looking for an adult rescue dog, look for one that's been in foster care long enough to be thoroughly evaluated for seperation anxiety and other forms of destruction. That way you can have a dog that will spend very little time in a crate which should appease your mother.