Crating a Dog

5 dogs here and all crate trained

Yes, my dog is crate trained.

He actually sleeps with me but has the odd night in his crate downstairs.

He had a tooth out this week at the vet due to an accident, so had to be put to sleep and spend the afternoon in a crate there. He was a model patient, the trauma of having an op was not added to by the trauma of being unused to an enclosed space to recover.

He's not arsed, he often just goes to his crate when we're watching something he doesn't like on TV 😂

Just to add it was only ever shut when i had to leave the room for a prolonged period otherwise the door was open and he went in and out as he pleased

We used a crate when our dog was a puppy, it was more to give him a safe place from the children so they were taught if he was in the crate he was to be left alone, it meant everyone was safe whilst i showered or cooked dinner. He loved his crate and would take himself off to sleep in it. He has always had another bed but favoured the crate.

He is 3 now and we got rid of the crate when he was 1, we pulled it out of the shed yesterday and he got so excited and spent the afternoon sleeping and playing in it 🤣

He still has a crate in the car.

If it's such a great place for them you wouldn't have to shut them in it. Personally I always found a dog bed provided plenty of security and comfort plus the dog was free to move around.

Mine are crate trained rather than regularly crated.
If anything ever goes wrong, ie overnight stays at the vet, your dog goes missing and is found by a dog warden or handed to the police… they will be in a crate. Not adding any stress to that situation would be invaluable.

I had a dog growing up in the late 80s/early 90's and was unheard of. My husband had dogs throughout childhood and his dad carried on after my husband left home but never crated. I can understand the benefits, but I see them as prisons. If I were to get a new dog (impossible now) I don't think I'd do it.

We haven't always used crates, but now find them very useful for times when the dogs need to be contained for their own safety or for our sanity.

We've trained our last three dogs with crates from when they were puppies, and they view the crates positively as adult dogs, as long as they aren't left in the crate for an excessive length of time. They go to their crates daily for mealtime and to sleep at night. They also go in when they're absolutely filthy and need to dry off a bit, when tradesmen will be in the house, etc. The offer of a treat is all it takes to get them in their crates.

It all depends on your dog breed and temperament. My whippet hated the crate and cried all the time so we got rid of it. He’s well behaved and doesn’t destroy anything just likes to sleep on sofa if we go out. My niece uses the crate for her collie who is hyper and it’s his quiet spot. My dog is lazy and not hyper so doesn’t really need a quiet area to calm down or sleep because he spends most of his life asleep ! No right or wrong just depends on your dog.

I used the crate when mine were puppies, until they understood and could use the doggie door into the back garden. Once that happened, they roam the house 24/7 and the doggie door is always open.

Now they are only crated if I have workmen in the house who are going in and out and might carelessly leave a door open. They run in when they hear the command "Crate up" which means cookie treats and a toy in the crate until workmen leave.

FYI mine are a Pomeranian and a Shih Tzu.

We use a crate overnight. We use it because she's destructive overnight on her own if left downstairs. She won't stay on her own bed in our room, she'll jump on our bed and she's impossible to sleep with even in a king-size bed (she's jack Russell size but takes up half the bed). She has a routine (out for pee, I get her dentastix, when she's done she runs upstairs to her crate, she gets her stick then sleeps all night)
Crates can be good if they're used as a quiet,calm space that they enjoy. If it's used for punishment etc it has negative associations.

Crate training is a really useful skill, even if your dog doesn't use one regularly. There may be times when they need to be crated - stay at the vets, kennels, emergency transport etc which will be a lot less stressful if they have experience of a crate.
We crate trained our rescue as she was hugely destructive- too much space made her separation anxiety go through the roof. She hates to sleep anywhere else now. We are slowly trying to wean her out of her crate, by leaving the door open and giving her access to the rest of the room, but it's slow going. For a while she cried constantly until we locked the door at night. Now she doesn't cry but still gets a bit worked up before setting down - but will often get up and pace in the night. To her, safety is a locked crate
But we will persevere and help her grow in confidence

I base this only on my personal experience but I think it entirely depends on the dog.

I used to have a very chilled dog, didn't chew, wasn't inquisitive or nosey, could leave him for hours and he was happy, pretty much from puppy. Never crated.

After he passed away we got another dog that had already been crated from birth so was used to one. He was also very chewy, very hyper and inquisitive and so for his own safety more than anything we continued to crate him at night.

He's now two and still sleeps in his crate at night but in the day sleeps wherever he wants and we only crate him if we are going out for longer than an hour. Any shorter than that we leave him out. We are experimenting more than anything else at this moment to see how he gets on when we aren't there (so far so good).

Never crated mine but he's gone in them quite happily at the groomers etc
I've always thought of dogs and cats as animals that should nt be caged.

Had a crate with a blanket over it to make it enclosed apart from the door side, it's was my dogs safe place when she was younger but she wasn't really shut in it, was just like a little cosy room for her until she outgrew it (lab so she grew to love our king-size bed more lol).

Some take to it and some don’t.
Mine didn’t.

We got a crate with our first pup but she never took to it and we gave up trying pretty quickly. Neither of our labs seem to have got the memo that they should like enclosed 'dens'. They prefer raised vantage points, i.e. the sofa or an armchair!

We’ve crate trained our puppy and our dog before her. Done properly they are excellent.

This was exactly my experience with our lab (who's now 2). We both wfh, so she's rarely alone anyway, but has the run of the house and no problems if we leave her for a couple of hours. She happily went in puppy carrier for car when she was little and was also fine in a cage at vets / in kennel on ferry recently (we were worried that not crating her would cause issues when she needed to be contained but thankfully not)

Yanbu if it works for you. It was a nightmare to start but got easier reasonably quickly. We had to upgrade to a playpen in no time as we have a German shepherd who outgrew her XL crate. Then I felt bad for her in the summer as I wanted to give her the choice of sleeping on a cool floor and her bed filled the play pen......it was downhill from there and she ended up sleeping in our room lol

My DD's front door opens straight out onto the street and her Frenchie is stupid. So a large cage works well. A lot depends on the style of your house. But they are useful over Halloween/Christmas.

Yep, mine goes to his crate at night (we had a year or so without the crate but he gets panicky in the night if our feet move in bed and will bite them - he was a street dog so probably kicked a fair few times ☹️) so we went back to night time crating and he sleeps so well in there that he has to actually be poked awake in the morning!

I grew up with dogs and had never heard of crates until we got our pup. Very glad we have crated. He goes in there for quiet time and it's his safe space.

We use one
I think our dog struggles when he has too much space. Leave him in a room and he barks. Put him in crate and he doesn't.
We take it with us when we take him on holiday. It's his little den. He has his meals in there and he keeps his toys in there

Always had rescue dogs. Never used a crate, was never a thing back in the day. I understand they can be useful as a safe space but I don’t like the idea of dogs being shut in them. I guess if the door is always open that’s different.