Adult dog spending evening and night in crate - is this ok?

[hippospot]

My cousin puts his four year old cocker spaniel in a crate from about 7pm till the next morning, with a pee break at about 10pm. Does that seem ok? I feel like the dog would get bored/lonely.

Our dog spends the night in the living room with our cat, and we ditched the crate entirely when he was past the puppy stage. I can't imagine putting him in a crate in another room during the evening while we are up and about. He mooches around and occasionally sits on a lap and gets cuddled.

Thoughts?

Goodness no! That’s not okay. It’s far too long to be confined like that. Some dogs do appreciate a crate and the security they offer. But every evening from 7pm just sounds horrific 😢

We only use crates for the puppy stage, but when we got it out again for our new pup our, then 5 year old, doodle, went straight in and continued to insist on sleeping in it whilst we kept it out. I don't think our dogs see crates as a cage, just a safe cozy bed.
Does your cousin shut the door on the crate though? That seems unreasonable. A mature house spaniel should be able to choose where they sleep in the evenings imo.

I think 7pm is too early to be putting the dog in the crate and shutting the door. Mine are crated overnight and for two short periods in the day between me leaving work and the dog walker coming in / me coming home. Apart from that they are supervised free ranging. I crate mine during those times for safety reasons as they are young and chew. It’s also useful if I have young relatives round. I believe crate training is a positive thing when done sensibly and for the right reasons other than just keeping the dog out of your face.

Crunched, I agree,we have 2 dogs one liked to be under the dining table,in the day,if not outside or playing. The other one gets underneath my DHs recliner. I've had 2 dogs that used to go off in their crates to sleep in the day. At night, they sleep on our bed.

No

Choosing where to sleep is a freedom every dog should be given in its own home. Why the obsession with controlling a dogs every movement. It’s a living creature not a toy to be put away.

Not once in owning and fostering 50+ dogs has one chosen a crate once they were safe enough to be left out of it (I don’t even crate puppies really but have the odd destructive adult until trained)

If your dog can’t be left out then you need to train more, if it can be left out of it but you crate it anyway then why? Just give it the choice!

Our dog puts himself to bed in his crate at around 8pm every night, but it's always open so he can come in and out for a drink or whatever. He hardly ever does though. He is a rescue and we think it feels safe in there, like a cave.

My dog happily goes in the utility room from 10pm till 8am. There is a glass door I can see through from the kitchen. At different times I see her in different positions in her bed, or lying in different parts of the room, or even quietly looking out of the window. I’d hate to think of how restricted she’d be locked in a crate.

This.

How it became so normalised and mainstream to regularly lock your dog in a tiny cage inside your house, for hours on end, just absolutely blows my mind.

This is next level though. Bloody awful. Poor dog.

One of mine is crated overnight… overnight is when the last person goes to bed until the first person gets up, so usually about 5 or 6 hours, occasionally 8.

i can’t think of any justifiable reason in a one dog house why a dog is being crated for hours in the evening when you’re still up.