curious to know what you all do...

fizzlbriches

They all seem to love the crates and it isn't abnormal to find them just chillin' in the crate even when we are home and they have free reign of the house and the back yard.

 

This is true of two of the three in my house. My cavalier likes his crate pretty well, he doesn't tend to go in so much on his on, but when we go to training, if there are crates there, he tends to check out every single one. When we did agility, when it was getting to be too stressful and he would bolt of course, he'd gladly break out of zoomies and slam himself into a crate if directed. One of the others will hang out in her crate happily. When I'm done working her in class, I can direct her back to her crate from 50+ ft. She'll usually go right back to the correct one (not necessarily the same crate each week, just whichever happens to be open. She has plenty of choices other than to go to her crate. She could go say hi to  everyone, she could go grab loose treats off the floor, but she doesn't (and I've never trained her not to grab the treats). With the dogs we've gotten as young puppies, I pretty much started working on crates being super great on our way home. The other dog we got when she was about 6 months old. She is perfectly fine in the crate once she's in, but in order to get her in, you have to catch her and put her in. The other two can be directed in (I apparently created a situation with his home crate that I must sit on the couch to the side, otherwise I have to throw a treat in).

Because I have five dogs, most are crated just to avoid anything horrible happening while I'm away.  Finn (3), Chief (3), and Dori (6 months) are crated when no one is home and Chief is crated when we eat because he is a food stealer.  Benny (6) and Max (13) have limited access to the house.  We have french doors all over the house, which makes it easy to close portions off.  Mostly, those two have access to the front hall, the upstairs hall, and our bedroom.  Benny I could trust anywhere in the house, but Max will eat papers - like mail - so we limit his access to certain rooms.  I don't think I will ever leave, Chief, Finn, or Dori loose in the house based on their chewing behaviors.  I just don't want to risk anything happening there.  Plus, they are just safer in there.  I would rather someone who was coming to rob me take what they want and not hurt my dogs.  At night everyone is free.  Dori just earned this priviledge less than a week ago as she is showing me that she won't potty in the house over night.

Jetta has never been crated. She made it very clear from day 1 that she wouldn't tolerate being locked in a cage, thank you very much :-)

 I got Piper from someone who crated her all day and she was very fearful of it. So I never made her go back in a crate if she didn't want to. She never gets in to trouble so I don't worry about her being left out (as long as there isn't any food within reach).

Darwin is 8 months and the last few weeks I've been letting him out of his crate while I'm gone. He did so well for a while, but then I came home the other day to find many things destroyed, so it's back to crating during the day!

My situation is a bit unique since I have roommates so someone is home at all times. But my guys had to earn they're freedom. Maze (6) spent the first year in a crate because she was difficult to house break (roomie at the time had a dog who wasn't housebroken.. ) But once they moved out, Maze got it finally and hasn't been in a crate since except for in the car and at trials. Sandy (3) spent the first 6 months in a crate and now has her freedom. There are rooms I don't let them in because I own cats. But otherwise they just hang out where the people are or in the backyard. However I do know that if they are left 100% alone, they just sleep. Lol!!

My puppy will be crate trained as well. In fact the breeder starts the process for me Freedom around here is a privilege, not a right. Same goes for the furniture and the bed. But everyone loves their crate. Maze would spend all day in there if it was still up.

 Tootsie isn't crated.Actually shes  very rarely if ever alone at home. Goes to my parents when I'm at work, comes to work with me every Friday and literally goes everywhere with me. Today I went to the grocery store without her (sunny & warm). I was gone an hour and a half. She was a very easy pup and a very laid back adult.

Rascal is always crated because I rent, so there's always a chance that my landlord might come to the house while I'm away. The circumstances would have to be extremely unusual (flooding emergency, etc.) for him to come without notice, but if he did come, Rascal might either try to "defend" the house (bad news) or slip out the door (also bad news) so I keep him crated to be safe. His crate is about 3 times as large as it needs to be, though, so he has plenty of room to stretch, have his water bowl, different places to lie down, etc.

Blue is our only dog - we rescued him at 3 months and he's now about 7.5 years old (we think). We crated him days (while at work, with my husband coming home at lunch) and at night for the first several months. Then we let him out at night about two weeks before my husband changed shifts and couldn't come home at lunch... Blue would go to the crate without any problem once he knew the drill (food and water and treats in the crate with him). One morning, after many weeks in the crate during the day, he looked at me when I called him, and just sat down and essentially said, "nope." It was hilarious as all 120# of me tried to shove all 120# of him into his crate with *very* enticing treats. He put three paws in, grabbed the treats while on the tip toe of the fourth paw (which he kept outside of the crate), and bowled me over to get out. That was the last day he spent in a crate at home - he was probably about 1.5 years old. The crate was essential for all of us - he was always safe when we were gone. We think he is a Dob-Rott mix, so once we all learned the rules and how to communicate that we are alphas (obedience class was *crucial*), he is completely trustworthy and has free reign of the house. ~Keka

Lex was crated at night until he was house broken. I crated him when he was home alone until he was 5 years old. I probably could have stopped crating him during the day earlier, but it was just a habit. Anyways he is confined to our bedroom, hallway and bathroom along with our cats. We have doors in our hallway that don't allow them into the front part of the house.

 My dogs have free range of the house when I'm gone or even when I'm home

 Mine are all crated when I am gone. 3 out of the 5 dogs are crated at night also. One sleeps in bed with my daughter and the other sleeps in his bed in the living room. I know their safe in their crates and can be easily gotten to if something came up where they needed to be taken out of the house. Im not gone more than a full day every other Friday for groceries and dog food and then a couple hours during the week when I want something to eat in town. The most their crated is when I go to dog shows.

 Ari used to be crated all day, while we were at work.  She has since graduated to having run of the bedroom (door closed).  We tested this out with short outings at first.  She just sleeps all day.  I would never give her free reign of the whole house; there's too much for her to get into, tip over etc.  Our bedroom is a pretty safe dog spot.  Besides, we have Moki now (cat) who is allowed free reign of the house during the day (when Ari is contained in the bedroom) and at night (again Ari is contained in the bedroom).  I cannot trust Ari unsupervised with Moki. 

If we are ony gone 2-3 hours or so, Honey is left free, but doors to bathrooms and bedrooms are shut.  If we are going to be gone all day, she is boarded with our vet for the day.

My dog(s)(RIP) are left free range... I can be gone a whole day and they are fine... I guess it just depends on how old and what the personality is of the certain dog. Mine are middle aged, about 8, but they never really got into anything... unless something was left out.. (naturally). They never even chewed on anything.. even toys! Weird x)

 I'm coming late to this discussion.  It has taken me a very long time to learn that as much as I love my dog, he is a dog.  (Now who's the smart one here?)  Anyway, over the past 5 years...I live in an apartment. 

1. When he was real young, I ran next door to tell them their washer was leaking into my apartment - gone 3-4 minutes total - and he ripped up the carpet at the front door down to the slab. 

2. Got the digital camera I had bought to take his pictures off my desk and chewed it up.

3. Loaves of bread off kitchen counter?  Many.

4. The tomato episode...jumped up in the bed with a tomato in the middle of the night.  In the darkness,I thought it was his red ball - until about 2 AM when I rolled over on something that squished under me.  When I removed myself from the ceiling...

5. Butter.  Many sticks of butter disappeared from kitchen counter.

6. Left big roast sitting out to cool on stove.  Do you have any idea what consumption of an entire roast does to a dogs bowels?  Oh!  and hams, too!

7. There is a particular spot in the living room he will urinate on regardless of what I do.  Paid $80 for a scat mat and he either jumped over it or peed right on it. 

8. And I could go on to about 450 items...

So...when I'm at work or gone for more than 1.5 minutes, he is confined to back of apartment - giving him "his" room with crate, hall and my bedroom.  Thus far, all has been OK.  I leave window blinds up so he can look out.  At night, he sleeps in my room - with door shut.   Now we get along fine but sadly, it took me a long time to figure this out.  As much as I love him and as much as I think he's the smartest dog in the world, he can't be trusted.    We would have avoided many episodes of frustration and anger if I had just crated/confined him from the get-go.  Lessons learned.  - Susan

A tomato?? Really?!?! *dies laughing* Sorry but if you can't laugh now then you're screwed. LOL