Is a dog only crate trained when it accepts the door being closed for a period of time?

[Notonaschoolnight]

Not sure what to do right now, the ewoks set up from 8 weeks to 6 months was a crate within a pen, as she was always enclosed in the pen the door was never closed on the crate.

Last month she started to prefer to sleep on the floor outside the crate but obv still within the pen area

But when she was spayed 10 days ago we had to get rid of the pen as she could have hurt her tum getting in plus I felt it was time anyway, but as well due to cone of shame it meant she couldn't sleep in crate, so she slept on vetbed on the kitchen floor.

Now we have no pen or cone just the crate which she isn't interested in at all now, so I don't know what to do accept it and get her a bed and just keep the crate in the car or crate train from scratch? How important is it?

It's not essential that dogs have crates ,lots of us manage quite nicely with free range dogs. If she is happy in the kitchen and not destroying the place I'd leave her there.

As Floralnomad said, there's no need for a crate as long as she's somewhere safe when you leave her - so nowhere she can get to anything like cables etc to chew.

If you feel retaining crate training would be useful, eg if you travel a lot and feel you may need to restrict access in other people's houses then you can just start the crate training process again by helping her make positive associations with it. She should pick it up pretty quickly if you've already done it all once.

Thank you both she's no bother at all but you're right we do want to take her places when she's out of mad puppy phase (Don't laugh but I have idyllic ideas of taking her to lovely b&b pubs in yorkshire going for long walks, sitting by the log fire then leaving the ewok in the room for a couple of hours while we have our tea)

The current crate is really meant for the car, it has an up an over door hence why its fixed open all the time, I could keep that permanently in the car as the one currently in the car, she's starting to bust out of! And in the kitchen,I could get her a proper rectangular crate with a proper door and start again with it or get a bed if I think I could trust her in any location, i will have a proper think

Am I right in thinking she's a Wheaten Terrier?

If so, I used to have a Soft Coated Wheaten and she had a canvas camping-type crate for travelling.

She had a crate at home for many years, purely because she loved it and was the type of dog that liked her own space - we never needed to shut the door.

When we travelled we had the canvas one and it was useful on occasions such as staying with friends who had several cats.

Canvas, never thought of that, ill have a look

The mobile mop moved out of his crate at night at 6 months of age. He now will go in a crate if necessary accompanied by lots of sighs, but no real fuss.

Lonecat do you shut the door?

I do think it is worth getting your dog comfortable in a crate with the dog shut.

I have a dog at the moment who has to be crated for 6 weeks due to surgery - it really has been no big deal for him at all due to his love of his crate. Mine fits in his crate with is cone on.

Also whilst at the vet for several days he was as chilled as he could be as he was used to the crate.

(For the same reason I always get puppies to learn to wear a cone or comfy collar so when they need to wear on it is no big deal)

Idirdog totally hear where you're coming from, that why its not a done deal to just get a bed, I'd be worried that a load of time passed and something would happen we're the ewok had to be crated and didn't like it