Am I weird because.....

 
 
If youre weird than Im weird also. I don#%92t like to set myself up for a potential disaster so my dog is crated anytime I am away, even if its to go upstairs to moms house. I tried leaving her alone for 5 minutes and when I came back she had pooped and peed all over the house. Yes it was my fault, so I rather prevent it.
 
My mom is also weird too. She had 3 dogs at one point (Laika and Nana the pregnant bitch we rescued and her pup) and she used to give them free rein of the house when she was gone. Well the dogs ate her couch, ate a door and made a big ol#%92 mess. She now confines the Golden any time she is gone.
 
So no, I don#%92t think youre weird, just playing it safe

Xeph, you are not weird just careful! Sunny is abnormally good about not chewing or eating things other than her toys. The worst thing she does when I leave is go and get my hat or my umbrella and take them to her bed. They are usually the last items I touch before I leave in the morning--I put my hat away (I wear it when we walk) or I debate whether or not to bring the umbrella. They are never chewed or harmed, though. She has never had an accident excpet once when she had intestinal worms and she threw up and had diarrhea and she even tried to wake me up--we just did not make it out in time. She is the exception to the rule. If she started doing things I would very quickly go get a crate and acclimate her to it. I would be so sad if she ate my shoes!

I think a lot depends on the dog.  Mick proved himself trustworthy in the empty/sleeping house when he was about 8 months old.  On the other hand, I couldn't trust my late grandmother's 6 year old Toy Poodle in the house uncrated if I so much as walked out to the car to get something.

Maybe not weird but I couldn't do that to my dogs. I trained one of them and she has the run of the
house and she behaves beautifully. She is almost 3 years old, a lab/pit mix. Our other one is a new
puppy (well 9 months old, new to us) and he is being gated in the kitchen while we train him-he is almost
too big for a crate already (lab/ border collie mix).  I've observed our dogs sleeping and they stretch and
get up a move and sometimes go get water, and roll over and I just would feel terrible comfining them for
8 hours in a crate, especially if they are mid to large size dogs. I am a firm beliver in training rather than confining.
If the dog gets sick and throws up, hey it happens, usually I hear them and get  them to the door in time.
The older one never has an accident, the puppy is like 90% trained, only if he needs to go out and we don't
hear him (and with a border collie that's pretty much impossible) might he pee before we get him out.
Just my opinion.

Pam.

My dog has always had places in the house she's not allowed to go except if she's been invited. She's generally trustworthy in the house by herself, but I don't like leaving her in there during the day if I'm going out. She's mostly trustworthy, but not entirely so. Sometimes she gets bored and goes to find something to do. She does sleep inside at night, though. During the period she was sleeping inside but had the run of the house, we had a few issues with her eating things my housemates had forgotten to put out of her reach. After she ate half of someone's large chocolate bar and made herself sick, I decided enough was enough and she could come and sleep in my room. Well, after my initial dubiousness about it all, I discovered that she was a perfect angel when sleeping in my room. She never woke me up looking for water or just getting up and moving around, and she barked less at night and most nights I never hear a peep out of her. I can only conclude that she feels more secure in my room with me. She'll only get up and bark if something really bizarre happens and only wakes me up to be let out when she's not feeling well. When I'm not around, though, she usually gets shut in a room so she doesn't have free run of the house.

This is something else I don't understand.  People automatically seem to associate being in a crate = small space, and it's just not true.
 
Strauss' crate is PLENTY big!  He can sprawl in the darned thing.  He rolls over in it, spreads out in it, he even lies on his back spread eagle in it, and there are a couple of inches on each side for him still.  He can stand up it, and his back doesn't touch, just his ears (his ears are huge).  He can turn around in it with plenty of room to spare.
 
Why do people think that being crated while one is at work, and being crated while they/I sleep means they're cooped up in a tiny area when that is rarely the case (unless the person has no idea how to properly size a crate).

I have "dane-sized" crates for mine.  When we used them every day - they had toys, blankets, pillows, etc. in them.  Westley used to sleep like he does on his bed in the living room ... upside down stretched right out.
 
I don't crate them during the day anymore, however we have "reminder crate days" where they spend some time crated as I show them and it's not good if the dogs won't crate! )

I only crate Grady @ night.  I think it's mostly my trauma & not his.  I know that in his former life he was kept in his crate 20 hours in a day.  It took me a lot of time to show him that a crate is not a bad thing.  I got a huge crate & have water & blankets in there as well as a blanket covering it so it's more like a den.  He now goes in there willingly @ night & has started going in there if he's really tired or just needs a time out.  I'm very proud of him for this.  It's a HUGE step.

We crate our pomeranian when we leave, unless its only for 30 minutes. She can't handle long-term pressure of being alone [8D]  During the night she sleeps in either mine, my sisters or my mum's bed, and that doesnt do anything since she no longer has accidents and she's sleeping anyways.
 
I don't think thats weird, just depends on the dog and the person.

We crate Zoe when we are gone during the day but she sleeps in bed with us at night.
 
We did try leaving her out a few weeks but that seemed more stressful for her then her crate.  I also tried doing a larger crate to give her more space but she started to be afraid of it (wouldn't go to it willingly like she does her small one, would back off from it, even started submissive peeing).  When I put the small one back, she happily got into it.

Max isn't crated at night, but he sleeps on our bed and the bedroom door is closed.  He does have access to his doggy door in case he has to go outside to pee/poop.  During the day he has free run of the house, but he is totally 100% reliable inside - he's housetrained and he's outgrown all his little destructive habits. If we have to go out, we come home to find him either sacked out on his favorite sofa on up on our bed under the ceiling fan.

Joyce

I have never crated. My 3 are very reliable in the house. They have never destroyed anything and have never pottied in the house. They sleep where they want, in bed with us. If they weren't reliable I would crate. They also have a dog door, so they come and go as they please.

My dal was crate trained but after he was out of puppyhood he was not crated unless we were at dog shows. When I was single he slept with me, but after moving in w/ my SO it got too crowded so he opted for his bed next to me.[] My SO also has a lab who is still with us. She also had run of the house until just about a year ago. She is incontinent so we confine her to the dining room when we are not home or at night. Keeps our cleaning under control. [] Dasher is crated when we are not home and at night. I was something I knew I would have to do with him because of the cats. At night he goes into his crate on his own. I usually get up pretty early to let Lille (lab) out to potty so when I let them out Dasher comes upstairs to bed with us until its "really" time to get up. []

I crate Sally when we leave.  I feel that it is safer (for her, the cats, and the house) and she likes it better.  She can lay all the way out on her side in  her crate.