Crate vs. no crate while home alone?

Stanley's not crated and has a free run of the apartment. I wouldn't hesitate in a second though if I were raising a dog from puppyhood!

My dogs wear all their ID on the break away collars at home and flat buckle collars for walks.
 
I honestly don't know how my dogs might react to men (and women) in wierd garb forcing their way into my home......I think they would not react well and that's a risk I'd rather not take.  But, I also have installed the fire alarm thing that rings right into the company and they'll dispatch firetrucks.

Dakota has always had free run of the house alone, or was on a chain in the kitchen when he was a puppy(14 years ago!) Foster was trusted to be home alone at around 6-7 months, because that's when he stopped chewing the odd shoe!

Millie has never had a crate and has always had free roam of the house. Max probably will never get free roam, except for the one night when he busted it out and gave it to himself. First, I don't trust him not to chew things. Second, I don't want two dogs out in the house together, especially if one is part pit and the other has a bad attitude with a lot of dogs. They're both fine with each other for the moment, but if something happened while I wasn't home I would be devastated. Some of you may want to tell me to gate them in seperate areas, but Max can and will jump a gate if he is motivated enough to do it. I have the tallest gates I could find, which are three feet high. One is up on a step so that it is actually higher, and coming down he has to go at an angle over it. If I leave him by himself, he will jump down into the basement to be with someone, or if the doorbell rings and Millie gets frantic, he will leap over it to join her, then leap over the one before the front door. I wouldn't want him to do that if firemen came into my house or something. He is crated, but in the basement, so it would be hard to get him out, but even harder if he is hanging from the leg of the fire fighter. 

Bailey has free roam of the house when we're not home. She's 2.5 yrs old.

We crated her when we were gone for the first few months we had her...she was 18 mo. old and was our first dog. She slept in her crate for about a month, then we let her sleep with us. Although she is fine being in her crate and goes in willingly, we started noticing when we returned home from work each day that her beard was soaking wet (because she was drooling and licking the wall of her crate). We asked around and were told that it was probably either from stress or boredom. Either way we didn't like that.

So we started leaving her uncrated for small periods of time just a few months after getting her (so she wasn't yet 2). She was fine. The only time she was ever destructive was when we tried to confine her to our bedroom one day. I can't even remember why we did that. She scratched the door and tore up some carpet under the door. She never has done one destructive thing or gotten into any mischief if we let her roam the house when she's alone. She sleeps most of the day (she's allowed on the furniture). Her toys remain untouched. She doesn't stress out when we leave. On the contrary, if I delay too long in getting myself out the door in the morning, she doesn't even wait for me to be gone before she heads off to lay down and go back to sleep. [sm=wink.gif]

We never crate her now except in the car on long car trips, or if we're out of town and are staying at someone's house that she's unfamiliar with (she's crated if left alone). And she'll probably not even be crated for the whole car trip next time we go on a long one b/c she now has a Lookout carseat that she can lay down and sleep in.

I think it all depends on each individual dog. Some can be trusted with free reign and some simply cannot, at any age.

Edited to add that I DO think it's really important for a dog to be crate trained. It's really very beneficial to you if your dog can willing go into his crate and stay there, for whatever reason. I think that even if you someday intend (or hope) to let your dog have free reign, you should crate them as a puppy and get them used to it so that it isn't a big deal when you DO need to have them in there.

I have 4 dogs ranging in age from 4 years to 11 months, and while all are trustworthy as far as potty training and such, I will never leve them uncrated if I leave the house, not even in an emergency. 
My reasons are as follows:  1. They are not guard dogs and are not responsible for protecting my home.  I would hate for one of them to be injured should they decide to protect my home from an intruder weilding a weapon.
 
2.  I have friends and family stop by frequently and open the door to see if I'm there, and the people who visit frequently, including my children's friends few of whom knock, they all just walk on in, and I like it that way, but I would hate for one of my dogs to sneak past them and get out because I wasn't there to give them the command to sit and stay.  I don't know two of my dogs would come if called to someone other than me, DH or one of my kids, and I'd rather not risk it.   
 
If there were a fire or emergency while I were gone(Fire, etc) There is a sticker on my mailbox stating that there are animals in the home and where their crates are located, so they can be found and removed with out having to search for the poor scared little things.
 
It's not that I don't trust them, but they love their crates and are used to the routine, and I feel more comfortable knowing they are safely inside them and completely out of harms way while I am gone.

Gypsy has been crated literally since the day she was born.  When I leave, she goes in.  she has NO problems with this! She sleeps in it with the door open  in the evening.

No firefighter in his/her right mind would come in a house with an Am Staff in protection mode on the other side of the door.  A crate is for both their safety and Gypsy's.

Sam is crated when we are gone for long periods of time (3+ hours) he will go to his crate anyway, however, so I don't worry too much.

ORIGINAL: mini_mom

Bailey has free roam of the house when we're not home. She's 2.5 yrs old.

We crated her when we were gone for the first few months we had her...she was 18 mo. old and was our first dog. She slept in her crate for about a month, then we let her sleep with us. Although she is fine being in her crate and goes in willingly, we started noticing when we returned home from work each day that her beard was soaking wet (because she was drooling and licking the wall of her crate). We asked around and were told that it was probably either from stress or boredom. Either way we didn't like that.

So we started leaving her uncrated for small periods of time just a few months after getting her (so she wasn't yet 2). She was fine. The only time she was ever destructive was when we tried to confine her to our bedroom one day. I can't even remember why we did that. She scratched the door and tore up some carpet under the door. She never has done one destructive thing or gotten into any mischief if we let her roam the house when she's alone. She sleeps most of the day (she's allowed on the furniture). Her toys remain untouched. She doesn't stress out when we leave. On the contrary, if I delay too long in getting myself out the door in the morning, she doesn't even wait for me to be gone before she heads off to lay down and go back to sleep. [sm=wink.gif]

We never crate her now except in the car on long car trips, or if we're out of town and are staying at someone's house that she's unfamiliar with (she's crated if left alone). And she'll probably not even be crated for the whole car trip next time we go on a long one b/c she now has a Lookout carseat that she can lay down and sleep in.

I think it all depends on each individual dog. Some can be trusted with free reign and some simply cannot, at any age.

Edited to add that I DO think it's really important for a dog to be crate trained. It's really very beneficial to you if your dog can willing go into his crate and stay there, for whatever reason. I think that even if you someday intend (or hope) to let your dog have free reign, you should crate them as a puppy and get them used to it so that it isn't a big deal when you DO need to have them in there.

Max whines in his crate sometimes for a little bit, or he'll do it if I put him in when I am at home cause he thinks I might let him back out. When he's by himself he's fine.

Chase is gated in the kitchen.  We experimented with crating for a few weeks, but he barked a lot in the crate.  I think it's because we spend a lot of time in the kitchen/office area and very little time in the living room (where the crate is).  I don't think he was as comfortable in that part of the house when there was no one else around.  He chills out in his crate when he's chewing on a bone and we're watching a movie, so I know that if he ever needs to be crated due to emergency or illness, he'll adapt.
 
He'll never have free run of the house.  For one thing, he's not allowed on the couch.  For another, I always leave him with frozen kongs.  I don't want those things melting on the carpet!
 
When I leave him in the kitchen, I put the garbage away in the bathroom, clear the counters, turn the radio on and put his blanket in the corner.  I leave him with 2 kongs and that's that!  He's always overjoyed when we come back, of course, but he doesn't seem to mind being left alone so long are there's food involved.
 
He's usually alone from 7:30-12:00 and again from 1:00-5:00.  On days when the dog walker can't come, he's alone from 8:00-4:30.  He gets a 40 minute run before work and another hour-long walk after work.

I just read the other thread too.  I haev to agree with Glenda's thoughts, although, Harley is not crate trained.  He would never be aggressive with a stranger...more thant anything, he would probably cower. 
 
The other day the landlord was sending someone in to work on the A/C.  Well, he has never been here when we weren't and the first question out of his mouth when I said we wouldn't be there was.."what about your dogs?"..I told him the puppy was in a crate and the older dog was named Harley and probably wouldn't even wake up...but if he did he would just greet you and go back to sleep.  Harley is not crated.  I am not sure when Izzy will be tustworthy with strangers if ever, but I guess I will just cross that bridge when I get there.

JJ was only in the crate for the first week since I brought her home.  Then there after she was never really lock in the crate, I allowed her to roam around my room. 

I'm coming to this late, but I thot I'd add my piece.
 
NOW all of my dogs are crated.  I didn't used to.  But dogs OF ANY AGE can and will lose their brains occasionally.  One day I came home and found my dogs who had all been extremely good in the house had gotten into a brand new bag of 5# of potatos, eaten some and gotten MAJORLY sick.  They'd never done anything like that before. 
 
For some reason they were just plain devilish -- a few weeks later they got into the cockatiel seed and ate about three pounds of that.  OUCH (just think folks -- that does NOT digest and it does NOT soften!! owwwww!)
 
It was after that we decided to crate them.  No more getting themselves hurt or into something just because they ARE dogs!! 

Blue gets free roam of the house now since he was year old we have had no problems yet and he does wonderful with it. Now if we are going to be going anywhere later in the year he will so he can come with us do to cabins wanted them crated when gone.

It depends on how well your house is dog-proofed.  My boys aren't crated.  All cleaning chemicals are either stored in the garage or in the cabinets above the washing machine.  Foodstuffs are not left on the counter.  The kitchen pantry is not stocked below the 'dog safe' line.  The trash can is in the garage.  The bedroom doors are always shut (where the easily reached cords/plugs/electronic goodies are kept).  The bunny is kept in one of the aforementioned bedrooms.  They are allowed on the couch, but not the beds, so it maintains order in that respect. 

The possibility of dog aggression, as pointed out by several posters, is certainly a very important issue to take into consideration when deciding whether or not to leave them uncrated when no one is at home.  My boys are fine together, but I'd like to eventually buy an AmStaff pup in the next few years.  He'd be restricted to a specific room when left alone, or I'd clear out the garage for him.  

I could probably get away with crating Johnny, but he is less likely to ever get in trouble.  And Bruno became hysterical when I tried to crate train him, and nearly tore out a nail in one of his frenzies.  I can get him in it to go to the vet/groomer, but that's only because he finds the car very relaxing/enjoyable.  His last owner got carted off to an institution, and he (along with 12 other dogs) were left alone for almost two weeks before AC had the balls to step in (the toilet bowls were all empty, because the dogs ran out of water).  He has serious confinement issues that make crating or single-room restriction more trouble than they are worth.   

As for fires, I'm actually trying to teach the boys to head to the door when an alarm goes off.  In the event of a truly bad/quickly spreading fire, firefighters won't go into a house just for dogs, and frankly, as much as it would break my heart to lose my babies, I wouldn't want them to.  My granpa was NYFD for 14 years, and I wouldn't have wanted them to tell my grandma that she'd never see her husband again because he tried to save Lassie.  Plus, I live in a condo complex, so if my lace ever catches, it probably won't be the only one.  I assume that they would concentrate all their efforts on condos where humans might still be trapped.  At least if I could beg them to open the doors or smash the sliding glass, the dogs (and the cats)  would have a chance to get out.