Crate vs. no crate while home alone?

It depends on the breed of dog. None of my bullies although adults and trusted are left free range of the house if I am not here simply because of their nature.
 
I do have a couple of others that are left to roam the house as they see fit because they are stable and mainly old, which all they do is sleep most of the day.
 
I would say it should depend on the breed of dog and their nature.

Well Prince is around 3yrs old and is going to be contained whenever we aren't home. We let him have free reign of the house when we were gone maybe an hour to see how he would do and he marked in about 5 areas in the house!! While I don't think he would be destructive, I do think he would continue to mark things [8|] 

I know a few people who let their Dobes have free reign...so I don't necessarily think its a breed thing but more or less depends on individual dogs. But then again, an active, thinking dog breed robably isn't a good candidate to be left out for long periods of time alone.

I stopped crating my rottie at 5 months.  Then he was gated to the kitchen only when we were gone.

two of ours are not crated because they hate crates. Failed crate training on my part.  Plus they are both small and do not get free run of the house, but free run of a room.  They wouldn't damage anything but the puke on the couch was the last straw.  The other two get crated because Tasha will eat garbage and wash cloths, so she isnt' really trustworthy.   Pepper just really likes her crate. 

Trusting them isn't an issue with me.  It's the "what if there's a fire" that keeps mine crated when we are gone.  No fire fighter in their right mind is gonna enter a home with SIX terrified german shepherds running loose.  Crated, they can be pulled to safety.  Otherwise, who knows.

I've never crated my dogs, except when they were babies and needed to for potty reasons. Once my dogs are potty trained, I think they should have free roam of the house. If they choose to have an isolated area, they can just go upstairs or in the basement and find some peace. I don't think it's the age as much as it is the level of trust/training reached.

Note: I have no objection to crating dogs, as long as they're given lots of exercise, attention and it's not misused (overused).

We have a 2 1/2 year old lab/pit mix and we got her at 5 months, stopped crating her at about
6 months, (she outgrew the crate we had borrowed and we have a very small house) we moved to
gating in the kitchen area for another couple of months and  now she has free rein. Whereas she would
chew (and this could have just been the "puppieness" the legs on the kitchen table, once she had free
rein she has never doen much of anything, an occasional sock out of the clothes basket or a pencil we
left out (our fault) but basically she just sits in her chair looking out  of the window.

I never crated a dog either - mainly because I just never thought of it.  Max has free reign and a doggy door to a fenced backyard.  He doesn't destroy anything any more except maybe the occasional erasable pen.  When we come home we usually find him sacked out on our bed or on his favorite sofa or sitting with his chin on the window sill, watching the world go by outside. I think that once you know the dog is trustworthy and not going to chew up the furniture, it's OK to give him whatever space he enjoys.

I started giving both of my boys free roam when they got to the point that I was 100% positive they wouldn't get themselves into any kind of trouble.  For both of them, that was about the age of 18 months.  They might have been trustworthy earlier than that...but that's when I felt comfortable with it. 

I would love one day to let my guy out of this crate when we're not home but I don't see that anytime soon.  At what age can I start doing tests for him by leaving him alone?  He's 8 months now and when I go upstairs for 20 seconds to get something I can hear him downstairs jumping onto the couch (we don't allow that).

We tried leaving Zoe uncrated for a few weeks because she was peeing in her crate occasionally so we decided to let her be free to see if she was scared in there or whatever.  She was potty trained otherwise.  It went well for 2 weeks.  She just laid on our bed the whole time... wouldn't even eat or play with a toy.  Then she peed on the bed 2x in 2 days and has been back in the crate since.  However, I switched back to a smaller crate (I had tried a bigger one with litter box to attempt to end the pee in crate) and she loves to go in the crate now.  I think whatever works for you is what should be done.  There are no rights and wrongs.

Waxen, the way we did it with my dogs growing up, and the way we will hopefully do it with Wes (if he ever gets there) is in steps...  Gradually increase the amount of freedom and the length of time.  So, for example, from crating each time you leave, to one dog-proofed room when you leave for short periods, then longer periods, then always in the room for as long as it takes to be comfortable with that level of freedom (ie no slip ups where the dog chewed on a chair leg, cabinet or couch cushion); then, a little more freedom (maybe the room and the hallway (gated), and then one floor of the home etc. each phase starting with short periods of time and then lengtherning and staying with only that much freedom until more is earned...
 
There are probably a lot of dogs who don't need that much regimentation, everyone knows their own dogs, but, IMHO, better safe than sorry for your stuff and your dogs' health if they get into something bad for them...

If you don't allow dogs on furniture, then a crate or a room with no furniture that they can be gated into is the way to go forever.  We don't allow dogs on furniture at our place unless invited, but I know they will if we're not home.  So they get a room with either dog safe furniture or no furniture.

No fire fighter in their right mind is gonna enter a home with SIX terrified german shepherds running loose.

 
That's a good point Glenda. However, I do hope that firefighters wouldn't be too afraid of my little 10-pounder. []
 
That brings up something else to think about...whether to leave collars on dogs when you are not there to supervise, "just-in-case"?
 

When we come home we usually find him sacked out on our bed or on his favorite sofa or sitting with his chin on the window sill, watching the world go by outside.

 
That's what I figure would happen, too. When I am home but doing other things, she rolls around on the floor with her toys as a way to keep herself amused, then when she gets tired she likes to look out the window and take naps. I left her out of her crate a couple times (for about 20 minutes) as a test  just to see what she would do. I came home to find her sleeping on the couch (that is allowed) with nothing disturbed and the other time she went in her crate and slept. But hours on end is a lot different than 20 minutes...must do some more tests...
 
My parents have never crated their Chihuahua and he has never destroyed anything. They are just lucky I guess!