Those who work full-time....

The worst thing she has damaged was my brand new ipod but she was only 4 months old and was totally my fault.

 
Once Ginny destroyed my brand new portable Mp3 player..... I had only left her for about five minutes, but I should have known she has a propensity to, if she chews anything, chew small, hard things (crayons, pens, chapstick, MP3 PLAYERS ARGHH!!). She got a good scolding out of that, anywho, since I am trying to stop that habit.....

Slick is crated during the day.  I leave for work around 8AM and we have a dog walker who comes from 1PM - 2:30PM, so that's 5 hours.  I get home at 5:30 (at the latest) so that's 3 more hours - so 8 hours total.  I was unsure about the whole thing at first, feeling bad about the length of time - which I why I hired the dog walker for an hour and half, as opposed to just 1 hour.  What I have since discovered from various sick days home with him, is that he SLEEPS all day!  I think he'd prefer to be sleeping on the sofa or in the bed instead of his crate, but I don't feel bad about the 8 hours anymore.

I have been so fortunate with Romeo, that from the 1st day he came to live with me he has had full run of the house, and no problems.  He is housetrained, but gets taken out constantly by grandpa to run their errands (buy the paper, check the mail) also he is not a chewer, I can leave anything on the floor and he is just not interested.  He stays on his bed, or couch if he feels like it he'll go in his crate, or he will just lay down by the sliding glass door and watches the world go by.  I love my Romeo.[]

Xerxes has free roam of the house, but the doors to the bedrooms are shut.  He has decided that all sleeping pillows need to be unstuffed in as violent a manner as possible.  This way he has a cat to torment him, windows to look out of, and 2 couches to lie upon.

My dogs are crated from about 7:45-12:15, and then 12:45-5:15 mon-thurs, so, a total of 9 hours (Friday's only from 7:45 to 1:15). I come home at lunch to potty and play. Two of them can be left to run the house from time to time, but one of them gets too stressed uncrated and begins to self-mutilate, and one will eat the whole house. One is a rescue whom is going to her new home on friday - she hasn't been allowed free roam. With 3 females who will squabble from time to time, I do prefer to keep them seperated this way when I'm not there to step in if need be.

They're happy, well-exercised, nice dogs.

We have a huge chain link dog pen in our basement for our two dogs (8x16).  Its cool down there and they have plenty of their own toys, blankets, etc. during the day.  No worries about lots of barking, fears of them destroying the house, or chance of them escaping.  We've been using it for over a year and they've never had an accident in there.

I don't think crating a dog for more than four hours at a time on a daily basis is humane. In our house we never use crates. Untrained dogs get confined in the mud room, where there is nothing that can be destroyed. Trained dogs get free run of the house. It's actually quite easy to train a dog to not destroy your house. The easiest way we've found is to set up designated "chewing mats". Toys and bones and other chewies can frequently be found on these chew mats. Dogs quite quickly learn that anything on the mats is theirs to destroy as they please, and anything not on the mat, such as the couch or shoes, they may not touch. You just have to be extremely diligent in watching the dog at all times until it gets the message--- tethering the dog to you or to the wall near the chewing mat helps. I think many people make the mistake of scattering toys all over the house, which of course just teaches the dog that anything might be a toy, or they don't provide really attractive chews. Given the choice between a couch leg and a nylabone, dogs may choose the couch leg; given the choice between a juicy meaty raw bone and the couch leg, dogs don't choose the couch leg.

Chewing mats are a good idea, but, I would say to be careful on what kind of foods you leave for the dogs when you're not around.  Typically, I wouldn't advise leaving a chew bone with the dogs unattended.  If the dogs get it stuck in their mouths, choking is inevitable and nobody is around.  Dog biscuits and easier to chew "quick treats" as you're leaving are probably better from a safety standpoint.
 
As for the notion that its easy to train a dog not to trash your house...that isn't necessarily true.  When dogs trash your house its typically because of anxiety, not necessarily because of a taste preference.  I've had dogs chew up window blinds and drywall out of probably panic, or being upset with not getting enough attention.  I do agree that crating a dog for multiple hours isn't whats best for a dog.  Dogs that are trained s/b able to get up, move around, and stretch their legs as needed.  A mud room, the basement, or a rec room thats been "dog proofed" probably works best.  I wouldn't advise the garage or tethering a dog outside unsupervised because of possible weather problems, barking problems, or other safety concerns.

DH and I are on opposite shifts now, but when we were both on days, Sally was crated about 8 hours.  It's not ideal, but I think as long as they are getting enough exercise they are fine.  Actually, she sleeps the day away whether she's in the crate or not.

Sally herself does not feel comfortable being in the house alone uncrated.  She tore up a set of blinds on our front window trying to see me in the time it took to take the garbage out.  The longest times we have worked up to with her alone, loose, and not upset is the amount of time it takes for me to get something out of my car.

The crate just works for us.

ORIGINAL: sheprano

I've never believed in crating my dogs but thats just a personal preffernce. I feel that the dogs who "cant be trusted alone in your home" just havnt been disciplined enough.

 
Zoe is crated when we are out.  She goes to her crate willingly and sleeps most of the time.  We did let her out a few weeks but we could tell she was stressed by it, and even then, all she did was lay on our bed and sleep.  She wouldn't play with toys, eat, or do anything.  She seems to enjoy the calm of her crate when we go out.  She never uses it while we are home though. 
 
I don't know if it is always matter of discipline.  Someone who just gets a new dog, whether it be a puppy or adult dog, may not know their dog's mannerisms and/or may need training time.  Therefore, they rely on the crate and find it works... why switch what works?  We tried and went back to crating because it kept Zoe calmer instead of barking up a storm and pacing back and forth as we left!

LMBO! I can see the system of chew mats at my house. That would kill at least one dog.

The *only* humane way to keep my dogs is confined. Teenie is crated, and Emma (who doesn't have full bladder control) is left in the mud room, which has become her room. Some days, they're left longer than I'd like. They're always perfectly fine with it.

My BF and I work different schedules so Odie is only in his cage from 1 until 5:30 M-F. I think he likes it in there - very warm and snuggly. Honestly, if he doesn't get his "afternoon nap" as I like to call it, he's grouchy when we get home from work! []

When my wife and I are both at work, Shadow is in the back yard. During the summer, if I have to run for an hour or two on errands, I'll leave him in the house with the a/c.
 

Mine are crated for 7 hrs  a day.  If it weren't for the irresponsible teenager coming and going, bringing in strangers, they would have free reign.  (They do when she's out of town).  .[8|]

My dogs have free reign.  Of course tempting smelly garbage is removed to garage, you can't blame them. 
My first child/dog, I also didn't "believe" in crates, or maybe they weren't invented...
Roxanne chewed furniture when given free reign; then confined to kitchen, tore up tiles on floor, chewed woodwork around windows and doors, (I tried the bitter apple, cayenne pepper); then put outside when not home, dug up yard; then confined to cement patio, barked all day.  I cried and cried.  Then the crate.
Peace of mind, for her and us.  She didn't get bad feelings from us when we got home, and we didn't have to worry about a mess to come home to.  The crate became her sanctuary, she would lay in it while we were home and it was left open.  She eventually graduated from the crate to free reign. 
We never had to use it for potty training.
Some of my dogs have never been crated, they are all different.

"We did the best we knew, and when we knew, we did better."  Maya Angelou