Kodee will be one year old in a week, and this week, I started using our kitchen as his "crate", by placing a baby gate up in the doorway. I've done this since I've had him, but he also was crated part of the time. I began crate-training him when I got him at 7 weeks old. He has always done great with the crate, and now that he's housebroken and starting to settle down a little bit as he gets older, I've gone from using his crate a lot, to almost not at all. He has been sleeping in my room on a tether at night - no crate at night, and only was crated during the day if I couldn't watch him with my 3 young kids (in the living room), or at our mealtimes. Now he's not even tethered at night, as he sleeps in my room without bothering anything. During the day, if I can't watch him with the kids, instead of the crate, I put him in the kitchen with the gate up, while the kids have the run of the rest of the house. He can lay by the gate and see/hear stuff without interacting with my kids. I am very vigilant about him and the kids - NO interaction at all unsupervised with my youngest 2 (2 and 5 years old), and very little with my oldest (7 years).

He does fine in the kitchen as long as I keep the food put away, and the trashcan out of reach. Today I was gone for almost 4 hours, and he didn't bother anything during that time. I'm gradually increasing the length of time I leave him alone at home, uncrated. The first time was only 20 minutes.

When I was a kid, we had a housedog that never had a crate, and it worked fine. But we kids were quite a bit older (about 10 and 12 years old), and the dog was a Cocker Spaniel. I have already put Kodee's crate away, as he has been very good when we're not home, just laying around in the kitchen, playing with his toy or sleeping.

My question is - is there any reason that I should keep using the crate? I probably will get it out every once in a while just to keep him used to it, in case we have to travel and he has to be crated somewhere, but other than that, are there any other reasons to use a crate, if he does fine without it at home?

Also, forgot to mention - when we have company in the kitchen and living room both, I have put him in my bedroom w/the door closed. Still no problems, although I've only done this once so far. Also, we do not have any other dogs, and our cat is outdoor only.

Lastly, just FYI - He's strictly a house dog - never outdoors without a leash or drag line (we live just outside of town on 15 acres - no fence/busy road). He gets his exercise out back with me, playing frisbee, ball, etc on a drag line. I also take him to the park (5 min drive) for long walks. Point being - he's a housedog who does get exercised sufficiently. I don't tie him out or have a dog run or anything. Don't know if this is relevant, but just wanted to give you more info to base your answers on.

Thanks!

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Kori, that's great that he's really earned his crate-free time. I would eventually like to reduce crate time for my 1 year old, but she's not ready for so much freedom yet. We've started keeping her crate door open at night, and for short stints during the day when we aren't there. So far, so good...

If Kodee regresses at all, the solution is pretty easy, right?!

Before I had a big enough crate for Jake, he stayed in the bedroom with the door closed at night. This was enough to keep him from soiling inside the room we were all sleeping in. When I finally got the crate, it stayed in the bedroom as well. Both dogs' crates were in the corner of the bedroom until just recently and the dogs would go in there for some peace and quiet (from each other or to take a nap). We went on vacation and the crates came with... I still haven't put them up now that we've been back. I think it's interesting though- Dixon had had enough of playing with Jake, and he ran to the corner where his crate used to be (and his dogbed is now) and plopped down. Amazingly, Jake just turned around and left him alone! The place still apparently signals the end of the game.

lol- not sure if that helps any but thought it was sort-of related.

My $.02.

A crate to a dog is a safe place that is HIS, and no one else goes into it. It has one entrance/exit so he can see who's coming while still feeling safe. It's like a den for wolves. It's a safe place, and a tight enclosure. I don't really understand the wire crates, to me it defeats the purpose of safe and intimate, as the dog is more like 'in jail' Secluded where he can still see everyone and everything.

I have a 9 yr old who LOVES his crate. He likes to say hello when people come over, but after an hour (of begging and showing his tricks) he retreats to the bedroom and goes to sleep in the crate. I keep mine without the door. My bf's dog (puppy) goes crazy at night, tears up socks, undies, etc anything she can get her teeth on, so we crate her for that purpose.

It sounds like you're doing a great job with yours!! Try leaving the door off and see if he goes in and out of it. If not, I wouldn't leave it out, but follow your plan of bringing it out every now and then.

Thanks, everyone. As long as we've had the crate (since he was 7 weeks old), when he's not actually in it, I keep the door open. I can count on one hand the number of times he actually went into it on his own accord, and that was to quickly get a toy and bring it out of the crate to play with it. Even with 3 kids around, he just never goes in it to take a "break." But, I am very vigilant about making sure the kids don't pester him. If either the kids or Kodee start getting out of hand w/the way they interact, I put Kodee into the kitchen, for some down time.

Thanks for all the responses. It's been several days now without a crate, and things are still going great. He seems more mellow than before, too, so I think he is enjoying his new freedom, and not running around acting like a nut (at least not as much as he was before!) . He pretty much follows me and lays down at my feet most of the time, and he has gotten into the habit of laying on his beds (he has one in each room) when he's not being played with, or when he chewing on a toy. Tonight he was laying in the hallway, where you have to go to get to all of the bedrooms in the house. He looked like he was keeping watch over the kids' rooms since they were in bed asleep! It's so fun (and so much less stressful!), having a dog in the house who knows how to act versus the obnoxious puppy that I was trying to train a few months ago. LOL!

Kori,

Hans is 2 1/2 years old now. We don't have the young kids to consider that you do. Hans either sleeps in his crate or in my son's room. A couple of times someone "forgot" to crate him over night or when we went out, and he didn't get into any trouble. Other times he's gone table and counter surfing when no one was in the room with him.

We also have the gate in the kitchen, and that works very well. When someone comes to the door he raises a huge fuss (which we don't discourage) and we put him in the kitchen behind his gate. If it is a visitor we can let him out. If it is a plumber or other repairman we crate him because he whines if we leave him in the kitchen and gets in the way if we don't. (He thinks he can help even though he doesn't have opposable thumbs.)

So for us, we still need the crate. But for you, I think you're doing fine, but I would keep the crate because you never know when something might cause a behavior change. Maybe just leave the door open so he can go in it once in awhile.

Someone said crates offer security. Like your dog, Hans very seldom goes into his crate without being told. But we took him on a trip with us once and were staying in a condo we rented. Hans was in the lower living room looking out the window. I came into the room and set his crate down and he jumped over a couch (completely cleared it) and ran into the crate and laid down. Who knows what goes through their minds, but I think he was in a strange place and liked the idea of the familiar.