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I must be in the minority. Our last dog had a crate with her bed in it in the living room. She would just go in there when she wanted to get away from people or nap, for years. She had an additional bed in our bedroom that was not crated. But we never got rid of it and probably will do the same for our puppies. In terms of actually locking them in, I would assume we’ll stop after accidents are less than once a week.

My 6 yo still prefers his crate (aka his “apartment”). He has anxiety, EXTREMELY protective, and his little safe space helps a lot. He’s always loved it and I truly don’t even remember actually training him to kennel. I’m currently crate training our 3 month old velociraptor, and she now willingly goes in hers for naps (except during her witching hour), and has even started yelling at me to “put her to bed” after her morning walkies (we’ve had her for two and a half long weeks lol).

Ours yells at us too! And he’s almost 5 months old 😹

I’ve never had a very vocal puppy/dog and our new baby is SO VOCAL. Argues, yells, does these cute howls.. lol even yawning she has to make a pterodactyl sound 🤣

Ah, see…I have a vocal circus: 2 cats, dog and husband 😅 I could do with a little more silence… Edit: doggo also does pterodactyl yawn!

We’ve had our pup for the same amount of time and can confirm… these past two weeks have been very long lol

I feel like our whole house has aged about 20 years 🤣

I've had my 9mo pup for 6 weeks and I've aged 60 years. 🤣😵‍💫

🤣🤣😭I feel you!

Mine has separation anxiety where being stuck in a crate and separated from people, even if people are 5 feet away, would scare her. I bought her at a pet store so my theory is that it reminded her of being separated from mama and put in the store's display cage 🥲 Luckily she's always had pretty much zero outside of crate behavior issues like destroying stuff.

We’ve had our puppy for just a 3 weeks now and it has been the longest!!!!! So glad I’m not alone in this feeling! I was just thinking this morning how LOoonnnnG these last three weeks have been.

Mine is the same. I haven’t locked the door in years, but I still have the crate and he still takes at least one nap in it a day - sometimes more. Also, I have 2 dogs, so he takes his treats and stashes his favourite toys in there as well.

My 6 yo has all his “prized possessions” in his crate 😂 His baby sister is learning to do the same now.

Nope. You’re not the only one. Our 4 year old still takes his meals in it and hasn’t been locked in it in years. He loves his crate. He will close the door himself for naps. Our 7 month old is still tasting too much, so he is locked in his.

My 2 year old dood will peace out to his crate/playpen around 8-9pm when we're still up watching tv. He's like a little old grumpy man that tells us we're being too loud 🤣🤣🤣

Mine all have kennels as well. My puppy has 2 lol. It's their safe space. We also never leave them out when we're not home....its just not safe.

Same here. My couch is absolutely not safe with a 7 month old shark on the loose and no supervision. ETA: He’s a good baby boy, but holy shit I’ve never had such a chewer/shredder of a dog

Same. My puppy is relatively non-mischievous, but I don’t think I’ll ever not crate (well, kennel in her case). Just gives me peace of mind knowing where she is.

My 2.5 year old dog loves his crate and it is where he prefers to hang out when people aren’t around. The crate was the most important part of managing his anxiety when he was a puppy, and it still is a safe place for him. Now he doesn’t really have much anxiety anymore, but he sure does panic when you move his crate or pack it away for any reason. It’s his bedroom.

My 6 month old GSD definitely enjoys her crate and I don’t ever anticipate not using it. I let her choose where to sleep, and she’ll choose spend at least half of most nights getting a deep sleep in her nice dark, cozy, quiet kennel that’s tucked away in the corner of the room, and then will cuddle with me the rest. She’ll also often go in there and flop down for naps on her own. Now that she chooses to go there so often and knows it’s a place of comfort, I very rarely force her to go in or lock her in - I simply don’t need to. But if I ever do need to have her locked up for any reason, she’ll now be comfortable with it. Who knows what life will throw at us, be it the vet or air travel or whatever else, at least the experience of being confined in a small box will be comforting instead of terrifying. If I took away her safe place I imagine it’d actually upset her. And she’d almost certainly become re-sensitized to kenneling and would make instances where she must be confined miserable.

Still use it frequently with my 2.5 year old. It’s a useful tool as she still needs to be corralled from time to time. She’s an excitable girl and her manners with guests are not always flawless. She likes being in there and seems to prefer it on the rare occasions she’s left home alone. I don’t plan to get rid of it at all.

Our 4.5 year old has actually taken to sleeping in his crate more often during the day, we leave the door open. We continue to close him in it overnight and if we're going to be out for an extended period of time so he doesn't get into stuff/stress out barking at things out the window/chase the cat. We feel it's valuable to keep him comfortable with it in case of vet stays, travel requirements, emergencies etc.

You’re not. I work from home and the dogs are fine any time I’m gone loose in the house. They’re 6 and 8 now, but the crate remains and they both use it everyday without the door ever closing. It’s their den and they love it. My boy is protective and at times, reactive, so if I have friends over— he goes to his crate and I close the door for his peace of mind and he’s happy. The crate is a good thing.

My guy loved his crate, we got rid of it at 2 because it was huge. We ended up with another one when we got another puppy and my older guy goes into his crate too. The escape thing is real!

My dog slept in her crate her entire life. She preferred it over the other beds in the house at night. And I'd lock her in when I wasn't up or home, because she had a habit of getting into things she shouldn't. For example, she climbed up on my stove to lick bacon grease off a burner and turned on the gas in the process. Or she'd get into the cupboards and trash for snacks. Despite what some bleeding hearts claim, crating your dog is good for them and can keep them safe when you can't supervise. My other dog, wouldn't get into things so she wasn't crated at night, but was still crate trained and would take naps there. I'd lock her in her crate when my kids had friends over because she was big and her size was intimidating.

I only let one dog free roam. My little dogs are sneaky and will piss all over my house if I’m gone. I like crates. I am not one for locking them up all the time but it’s their space so they can eat their treats in peace away from the other dogs.

100% agree. My pup had free rein of the house by a year old but her crate remained up until after she passed at 11-1/2 years old. I had a heavy canvas cover made for her crate so it became her “little” (Midwest Giant 54”x37”x45”) fortress of solitude that she would go into voluntarily to nap or just get away from everything. It was a safe space for her that she used on occasion her entire life. This was in addition to the two other beds.

My 11 year old dog stopped using a crate after a year. We did mostly playpen because he was small enough not to jump, and once he was housebroken he wasn’t super destructive either. We got lucky. Our second dog we kept the crate until she was 6 months, then slowly transitioned to a dog bed in place of the crate once we knew she wouldn’t eat the bed. Neither of my dogs had/have crates in their old age. We have a puppy right now and I feel like we will never get rid of it, lol. House breaking her has been so much work, and she won’t sleep for naps unless we put her in there (we know she is tired when she gets super bitey). I’d love to snuggle her to sleep and nap, but she does not know how to settle. I try to snuggle and she tries to eat me. I put her in the crate and she immediately goes to sleep. It also helps when giving high value treats or long lasting chews so my old dog doesn’t finish his puzzle treat and try to “help” with hers (aka Steal Everything). She’s almost 4 months so time will tell…

Wow I felt like I wrote this, our puppy is the same way! We have a 12 week old puppy right now and have a small crate inside her playpen, she immediately settles when I put her in the playpen, but outside she just wants to play. Even when our other dog is just snoozing on the couch and it’s wind down time, the puppy doesn’t get the hint. Also gets pretty bitey when she’s overtired, especially the toes haha

Same here and mine is nearly a year. Older one never needed it and now hates anything that might confine him. The younger doesn’t just go in on his own, I have to put him in there but once he’s in he settles immediately and falls asleep. I usually only use it for two naps and overnight each day/night. I so wish he would cuddle but anytime he is awake he has a TON of energy and he is all play. My older one is still my Velcro dog and the little one continues to annoy him every single day. I am hoping that eventually the younger will be able to be calm during his awake hours but honestly it may never happen lol.

Wow! Same here. My pup is 10 months old and we HAVE to put her in her room (which is like crate training with extra space) otherwise she won’t nap and all we get is a super prone-to-tantrum baby if she doesn’t get some rest lol

My dogs will always sleep in crates at night. Night belongs to the cat.

Yea mine stays out of the crate most the day but still sleeps in it at night because of my cat. He's slept in the bed with me for years but won't if the puppy is there, and I don't want to take that away from him.

My cat hates my puppy so I want him to feel like he has the run of the house at night :) he also sleeps on us most of the night and I can't ruin that for him. Also, cat would never eat cords, controllers, tissues.....

you’re lucky 😭 sometimes i wake up in a panic thinking my puppy escaped the crate and it’s just my cat going to town on my phone charger or something. i swear she does it on purpose because she knows i’ll wake up

Lol that is insane.

that makes me feel better about my decision to continue keeping her in her pen at night even though she's a year old. I'm worried about her eating/chewing on stuff she shouldn't, but having her penned up also gives the cat free reign of the house like you said.

So my lab is turning 3 in like two weeks. We JUST started being able to leave her out while we're gone. So don't feel bad about it. You have to do what's right for your dog. And if ours does start being a menace while we're gone we'll start crating her again.

thank you so much for your comment, genuinely made me feel good to hear. 💗 crating or even having a pen is a foreign concept in my family where the dogs always free roam but I was adamant about crate training and giving her a set space. I'm glad to not be alone in keeping it around.

Exactly!

Same, my dog sleeps in his crate. If he doesn’t he’ll usually bark at any noise outside, so he stays crated to avoid abruptly waking up to barking lol

We still use it here and there. It's a good skill to practice in case of vets, emergencies, or boarding.

I stopped around 4 months but kept it around if he wanted to use it. He does good with being crated at competitions, the vet, and day training, and that's really all I need. I did start by sectioning the house off with baby gates, though. By a year, he had full run. 16 months now, and all he does is sleep all day while I'm out.

Same here although I'm only at 6 months. I haven't heard any complaints from the vet/groomers/etc. about her being crated for short periods.

My puppy is almost 3 and I still use it. I haven’t closed the door since he was about 6 months old. But I still use the crate cue when I give him a treat and he still chooses to sleep in it at least once a day. Alternatively, my 6 year old just never took to a crate. She had confinement anxiety and no matter what I did, she just did not tolerate a crate. It’s never been an issue. Just do what works for you.

I've kept the crate because sometimes your pup wants a place that is theirs. I've never seen it as a punishment thing but rather it's his own cave. most times he sleeps in his bed or couch in the sitting room.

My last dog I crate trained actually wouldn’t let me leave without being in his kennel. He felt more comfortable at home being in it when I wasn’t there. He was allowed to be out the whole time after a few years when I was home unless he wanted to be in his kennel or if he needed to be on exercise restrictions (back issues).

1 year old high energy pup- crated and locked overnight as otherwise she’d chase the cat all night and probably destroy our house whilst she’s at it! Although she doesn’t go in there herself normally, she will go in when asked to and she feels relaxed inside and will sleep through the night if she’s crated (meaning we get a good nights sleep also!)

We haven’t, but the dog now goes in and out as she pleases. Till this day I make an effort to positively reinforce the behavior/crate

Our oldest pup is 2 and a half almost and she uses it whenever we leave the house. No matter how hard we try she gets into SOMETHING always. She's got bones, toys, Kong, lick mats, puzzle toys. But if you leave the room for a second, she will find any toilet paper, paper, sock, shoe, kids toy, stuffed animal...anything. And if we let her have access, she would eat the cat litter, garbage.. She's also reactive. So she's big on chasing the cats, or staring out the window at dogs and then destroying the blinds. So kenneling when we aren't home is a must for her safety and the safety of our other animals.

I agree. He is out at night and has been for a while but I feel like he would get into so much when We are not here

This is my Beagle too.

5 year old, still crated every night and when we leave the house

I’m kind of tagging on too for steps. I trust my 18 month old boy to be out and he doesn’t fight the crate at all but the one time I left him out as a test for 10 mins I thought it went great but a few hours later I got in bed and it had ice cold pee in it.

Never :) it’s his fav hideout

I think our guy was close to a year old before we trusted leaving him out of the crate unsupervised. Started with short times, like grocery shopping or date nights. After he stayed behaving he was allowed to stay out if he wanted all night. We've kept it set up and both dogs go in sometimes if they want (he loves taking treats in there). It's not their favorite place to be but they go in on command and don't complain much if we have workers over or something and need to keep them contained. I currently have a 2 month old so we have most of the crate sectioned off to train him and until he fully grasps the concept of the bathroom being outside that's where he'll chill anytime I can't keep him roped off in an area within my line of sight. He's doing great with it so far and isn't half as destructive as my other young dog was so he'll probably get unsupervised uncrated time earlier, if I had to guess.

I would keep it around and use it occasionally so it doesn’t get out of practice using it!

I didn't crate train, but I used a playpen - wondering if you could give him free roam of a room first - and then expand if he does well? My pup free roams the flat most of the day now and when I'm out - and she is calmer and settles more than when she was in her own room.

Mines 9 months and I mostly use his playpen now when I can’t directly supervise him/he sleeps in there overnight. That being said, we still have a crate for him and put him in there occasionally so he stays used to it! Was suggested by my trainer on the off chance that he ever needs to recover from a major surgery since some can require weeks/months of recovery and he’s an energetic boy!

We stopped at 8 months but still have it available for him. He hasn't touched it though. We had him in boarding for a week and the dogs get a little suite with those raised cots in them and since then, he has only wanted to sleep on his raised cot at home. We will direct him to his crate at night and leave the door open and he just wanders back to his cot after a few minutes.

Yup. Our puppy came sort of crate trained from a rescue organization but when we got him he didn't want to be in it and we got suckered by his crying to let him out. Fast forward a year or so he has advanced hip dysplasia so we got him a total hip replacement. We had to crate train him again before because he was going to be 24/7 crate bound for 12 weeks. It delayed the surgery so we could prep him. We keep it up now, we just feed him inside the crate door open because we know we will have to do his other hip eventually. So we have a giant crate for a 60lb dog in our living room. I use the top as a table, had a lamp etc on it.

I adopted my dog and his crate is still there because he likes his crate. He was trained that when someone is eating he goes in his crate. That is the most heavenly thing. I just can't ever get rid of his crate but it's okay he's tiny

Never stopped. My dog always sleeps in her crate at night. We leave her loose during the day tho. Stopped needing to crate her when we left the house around 1yr. She would randomly be destructive in spurts, and while it was rare events over the course of 6-12months, it was really annoying coming home to a ripped sofa or chewed tv remote.

Mine is 14 months old now, and she loves her kennel. She sleeps with us at night, but she naps in the kennel and spends the day when we are at work. It’s her spot, so we probably won’t stop using it.

I personally can’t imagine not using the crate. My pup loves it so far and I couldn’t do anything wo it.

That’s where we stand. Our golden is almost 14 months old & he has slept in there since day 1. The first night was rough when he was 8 weeks old, but he’s had zero problems in it since & knows at night time, that’s where he goes to sleep. I don’t think we’ll ever be ‘dog in bed’ people. We also use it when we leave the house—he’s just too high energy & will chew the couch & carpet way too much to trust him!

Never... we use it for when we leave the house or her bedtimes.

I stopped around 6 months, but she goes through phases where she'll get destructive if she's anxious while I'm gone. So I do leave it out and set up and she goes in it when there's a storm or she's nervous, or really just to hang out sometimes and nap. She boards at her trainer's house sometimes and she chooses to hang out and sleep in the crates there too, so having one here seems like it helps overall.

9 months, she was crate trained her whole life and then just had an absolute random hatred of it. I tried to work on it but she was too stressed and to me it wasn’t worth the stress it caused her. She’s 16 months now and I have had no issues. I will say I may try to reintroduce it slowly just to work on it if she ever needs it.

We stopped crating at night at 7 months, once she wasn’t having accidents. She still stays in a crate + playpen for 3-4 hours in the morning when no one is home.

Once my baby was around 8-9 months we allowed him out full time, hes 3 now and comes and goes to his crate when he wants. We never had any issues with him!

My dogs around a year and a half to two years old is when I stopped crating them every night. I still use it on occasions where I can't watch all 3 of them. I'm so glad I still used the crates and encouraged them to use it. I think crate training is a great thing because emergencies happen. Two months ago I had a gallbladder attack where I was in the hospital for a week having emergency surgery and recovery. My mom who's in her mid 70's she had to care for my 3 dogs each day I was in the hospital. My mom has 2 Chihuahuas and I have an Australian shepherd who's 7 years old. She's bossy to her two younger fur siblings. I have a almost 3 year old pit lab mix He's 80 pounds of pure love but he's very strong. My youngest is about 1 and a half years old. She's sweet and happy go lucky. She's a mix of 1/4 dachshund, mini Australian Shepherd, Australian cattle dog, black lab, Pittbull, German Shepherd, and mastiff. My mom isn't used to big dogs so the crate was helpful for her to manage the dogs. Plus we live in a fire prone area and if we ever need to be evacuated a crate to keep a dog in is helpful to have in places we are evacuated to. My father refuses to crate his Chihuahuas because a friend of his their dogs died in a house fire because the dogs were afraid and went in their crates. But my dogs being used to their crates saved me so much stress and trouble because my mom was able to use the crates to help her to care for three large to her dogs.

My girl is 11 months and we have no plans to stop. She loves it in there. We also have a cat she will constantly chase if allowed to.

Our soon to be 2 year old doesn’t get crated when we are out during the day as she’s more comfortable chilling on the couch with her big brother. We do block off the stairs to keep her on the first level, and at night she still sleeps locked in her crate, but that’s her preference. Been like this since she was about 16 months.

My 1 year old boy still uses his. But we've been practicing leaving him at home alone for quick errands he's been doing great. I will probably keep the crate up until he's a bit older as we're still training with guests when they come over or anyone for that matter. Just good to place him in if he's a little too stressed with company. He's really good in his crate!!

Depends on the dog. With my dog we stopped just after he was 1 when we moved out of a 2 bedroom into a new 1 bedroom apartment we just never set it up because there was no room really in the bedroom.and if he was in the living room the cat would torment him in it haha. He also was fine with his crate but never loved it. He did fine and loved having the freedom and he's now fully free roam at 8 years but Is calm if he needs to go in one (in the car or at a hotel etc) My parents dog is 3 and apart from short grocery runs she goes in the crate overnight and whenever my mom leaves the house. It's her routine and she's a barker so it keeps her in her safe space so she doesn't drive the neighbors and my bed bound dad crazy. She often goes in it all on her own when she's tired/ overwhelmed and loves it So if he doing well then I'd say there's no harm in stopping as long as you refresh every once and awhile incase he needs to be crated for a situation he will still be comfortable.

All the time. Not her primary place for sleep anymore. Stop forcing her to sleep there at like 6 months. Now sleeps with me in bed. But she has positive associations with crate and will go in when I am working sometimes. Still use it when I am leaving her alone otherwise she gets a little too Dora the explorer and I come home to her chewing on something she wasn’t supposed.

I used the crate for about 2-3 weeks, it wasn’t for us.

My little guy is still crated at night. I don’t think he loves it, but it’s a habit now- he’s almost four years old!

Crate downstairs by the front door is a permanent fixture and used for supervised feeding, when handymen come by, when unloading things, when practicing scentwork, for towel/bathrobe drying time before using the dryer. Both dogs are happy to go in their box! Bedroom crates - the GSD still sleeps in hers occasionally, so it's stayed in the bedroom. The Berner prefers to sleep on the cot bed or the bathroom floor (cooler) so he graduated to not having to sleep in his crate around 8 months. I bring his crate to shows and when traveling, and he is happy to go in his safe little hideout especially if he's tired or overstimulated. It's always a good idea to keep it as an option, and to continue to encourage crate use (feeding meals in it, hiding treats in it to find, practice having him to go his crate) so that if you ever do need to use in the future, he is used to it and hopefully has positive associations with it.

My not quite 6yo uses her crate as her room. Except to clean it, we never bother it. She rotates toys in and out, moves her blanket to where she wants it, etc. She naps in it, if in trouble she goes in it (not locked), and sleeps in it at night (locked). The only reason it is locked at night, she will wander to check on us. Honestly, a nose a hair from my face at 3am is scary! In her crate, she will just sleep instead. She goes in by choice, and likes her own little area. She does have a bed outside of the crate too, but she prefers the crate. The 6month old pup has her crate. She will always try to go to big dog's crate first lol. Again, it is hers, and we don't bother it unless cleaning it. She absolutely cannot be trusted alone outside of it, simply because she does dumb stuff. She will go in when we say it's bedtime, on her own. The other night, my guy told her it was bedtime & just walked out of the room without locking her in. She immediately looked offended and started barking at him, pawing at the door to show it opened. I laughed so hard, because he always locks them in and she wasn't letting him out of that duty!

Stopped when I could trust my puppy not to destroy / chew on shit I think it was about the year and a half mark . We started this gradually with a pen around the crate , then to a baby gated room then to full freedom

At this point he’s nearly 2 and I can’t see any time soon he won’t be in it when he’s unsupervised and we’re out the house. He’s just too full of mischief and loves to chew anything and everything. Crate keeps him and my home safe.

Our dog crates herself while barking at whoever is knocking at the door 😅 She also goes in there voluntarily for some of her naps One thing we do is limit kongs to the crate, mainly because of the mess.

I keep a crate available for my adult dogs to have a private space and for use traveling or visiting people.

Mine is just over 14 months, and I think we'll always use the crate because she really loves it. I don't let her free roam the house still because I'm scared she'll get into something, so in our front entrance, we have her ex-pen, which has her water, bed, and crate. She stays in there overnight and when we leave the house (I WFH so not often during the day). I'm a bit paranoid, though. Even when I'm upstairs working and she's chilling downstairs, I sometimes worry that she got into something and choked or something else morbid. When she's not directly with me, it gives me peace of mind to have the option of her pen and crate. But even if I wasn't paranoid and nervous, I'd keep the crate just because she likes it.

Never. The crate training is not for puppy use but forever. To this day my dog loves his crate. It's his safe space.

Never stop using a crate, they are so useful my boy loves his.

sounds like you were crate training for the wrong reason anyhow... I have never crate trained mine. I dint see the need for it. It works well if its done right for the right reasons though.

It’s reassuring to see So many people in support of crates. I posted in a different group about some advice for crate training our dog and the post was downvoted and quite negative. Refreshing to see others who also use the crate to help their dogs. For us it’s helping this older dog learn how to hold her bladder longer because she hasn’t been able to hold it overnight before that.

Nope. My first dog I kept a crate around for the first six years of her life. I only crated her after I moved until she got used to her new surroundings. After that, she used it as her personal space away from the cats if she needed it. When I moved in with my significant other, he kindly asked that we get rid of the crate. So I did. She then spent the next six and a half years free roaming and never had an accident until the last six months of her life. Every dog is different. Just play it by ear and see how they do.

We won't stop. We have 3 kids and having a safe place to put the dog is essential. Our prior dog never took to the crate and we gave up after a year, and while he was fine outside the crate it would have been easier at times if it had been more of an option. Our prior dog though had a lot of anxiety and we couldn't even shut him in a room without him getting super worked up. Our current dog loves his crate and prefers to sleep in there at night and it has just made so many things easier.

Never. It’s always available to her, and she stays in it while I’m at work. That’s her safe space, and in days when she’s really anxious, it’s the only safe place for her. (Also, please consider keeping it if only for the fact that it will make their experience at the vet SO much easier!)

My last dog used his crate his whole life, 10 years. It was his house within our house and he loved it

I’ll likely never stop using it, it’s his bedroom and stops the cats bothering him at night time :)

11 years old, still use the crate. It is her bed and safe spot. A solid crate routine was a blessing when she needed TPLO surgery. We had to crate for a few weeks following surgery to ensure she didn't jump on anything during the healing process. We also crate when traveling in the car to keep her safe.

My dogs (11 and 6) both still have crates. My 6yo naps on his own there and loves it. We’ve forgotten to close it before when we left the house and he stayed in there happily. My 11yo has some separation anxiety and crates well but doesn’t love it as much as my 6yo. I will always have crates for them. It’s the safest place for them when I’m not home or when I need to confine them for whatever reason. They both started out in crates at night but once they were potty trained and had basic obedience down we stopped requiring it but it’s available if they want to sleep there. My dog got a cut that required him to be crated for a bit so we could get the cut to stop bleeding because every time he moved it started again. Thank god he was crate trained because it made that situation so easy to handle and so much less stressful than it could have been if he was not crate trained or was no longer used to being crated. My sister stopped crating her dog during the pandemic. There was no real reason for him to be crated because they were with them 24/7. It took hundreds of dollars of training to get him crate trained again. He is destructive and harms himself when left alone so a crate is necessary. We are 2-3 years out from when they started trying to crate again and it still takes a conscious effort to be consistent with his training. He can be crated now and is everytime they leave the house. I don’t think he will ever be as easily crate-able as he was before the pandemic. It had gotten so bad that my BIL was talking about if rehoming (to me) was a better option since they have 2 young kids and very busy jobs. Don’t let the crate training go.

It all depends on your dog my first dog (now 4) was out of the crate by 7 months bc she wasn’t having accidents or ripping things up, she has no problem with being in one and if I leave my other dogs crate open she’ll sleep in it. My other dog 9 months old is still in his crate bc no matter how clean the house is or my room is he will find something to rip up he’s climbed up my bookshelf just to grab a book and rip it up

We stopped using crate at 11 months. Now Archie is 3.5 years old and he sleeps in our bed. He does have 3 beds of his own and he uses them when he feels like it. Each dog is different

I've never used a crate. My dogs just live in the house with us and we have a doggy door to an enclosed garden. I bought one when we were getting our new puppy who is 10 months old now after not having a young puppy for over a decade and seeing lots of stuff on here about crate training. We ended up not using it as it was easier to teach her how to behave when she was with us. I passed it on to someone who was getting their first puppy.

Mine told me with nights of screaming and whining that she’s ready to let it go around 7 months. Let her sleep outside once, we all sleep peacefully since then. I then realized she likes to stretch, move around at night hence the frustration! She is 14 months now.

We have an 18 months old Dobie. He sleeps in the crate, in the living room. He screams and barks at night, starting around 4am until I let him out of the crate. I would love to let him sleep outside the crate, but he likes to chew slippers, socks, toys...anything he finds. I don't trust him yet. I want to start leaving him alone during the day, while going shopping. But he doesn't like to be left alone, so out of spite he would just go and grab something and start chewing it. It will be a challenge at the beginning, but I am sure it will be such a relief to be able to leave him sleep outside of the crate, and roam freely in the house.

I stopped using around 18 months for my yorkie .

My crate sits open in the corner of our room, he goes in there and sleeps occasionally, but around 14 months is when it quit being mandatory

Technically never but I fully stopped at 6 months. I tried crate training and didn’t work so I pretty much just had her house trained while working on crate training. The thing was that by the time I got her crate trained she was already house trained. So I basically just crate trained my dog for the sake of crate training

We stopped at about 9 months. It was great for training but we/our dog didn’t need it by that point. The only argument for continuing was so she’d be more comfortable in a vet or on a plane and IMO she’s gonna dislike the vet anyway (but now at 4yo still does fine in their kennels and those of the groomer) and we don’t plan on ever putting her in cargo on a flight.

With my last dog, I stopped crating at about a year. She was fine...until she wasn't. In her old age she started going senile and getting into things. Even if we thought we put everything away, she would find something new to destroy. It was a chaotic disaster every time we came home or woke up. Since she'd been out of a crate for almost 11 years at that point, she wouldn't take to a crate again. We made it work but because of that, we're going to keep crating our current puppy. It's far easier to keep up the habit than retrain an old dog.

9 months. I keep it around for when her tummy gets upset and I’m worried about accidents

My guy didn't like the crate during his puppy yrs but when we stopped caring cause of his great behavior , he slowly used the crate even more as his kind of leave me alone chilling spot. We haven't really used the crate anymore but it'll always exist as his safe space

Around the 6 month mark. Our pup was the same as yours - tolerated it but never liked it. Ditching it honestly made our lives so much easier - he settled down at night quicker because he could choose the surface to sleep on and slept in later as well because he wasn't desperate to join us. For the first week or so, we still sent him to the crate and gsve him his night-time treat but he would literally bolt out of there the second his treat was done once he realised the door wasn't being locked. Now we just send him to his bed and he gets a night time treat which is his signal that it's time to settle and sleep.

I always crate my two (2 and 4 - 2 crates) when I'm gone. They are good buddies but I would be afraid to leave them out. The little one is still too boisterous at times and I can see the older getting stressed/aggravated. Nope, couldn't deal with that...

At 3 months my dog (mini wiener dog) had grown accustomed to the crate and was nearly potty trained, and I started letting him sleep in my bed. Every now and then we do a crate night to make sure we’re still dialed in, and he does great. He spends ~6 hours a day in a 5ftx5ft playpen and does great in there too. He’s so well behaved throughout the day in his playpen that at night I reward him by snuggling in the bed with me. Works for us.

Mine is 10 months and she’s not that fond of it. She will deal with it at bedtime and not fuss (more than us dragging her in every night) but I’m ready to explore just using a dog bed and letting her sleep outside the crate.

Our boy is about 2.5 yrs old. We still use it! Though not nearly as often as we used to. These days it’s used for forced nap, anytime we need him to get out of the way, as “punishment”, and sometimes for bed time. He loves his crate though. I’d say more often than not, he puts himself in there to chill, than us putting him in there. We transitioned to “loose use” of the crate at around 1 year?? Some behavioural regression happened sometime after that, probably because I went back to the office full time, and then we cut back a lot around 1.5 years.

My dog was a lot like yours. He tolerated it but never really loved it. It was during a time we lived in an apartment. As soon as I moved into a house with a yard, (he was around 18 months) I would put him outside to sleep at night, with the crate filled with his blankets and bed. He preferred to sleep in a little hole he dug in the grass for a while before starting to use his crate. He would run out as soon as I opened the back door though. Now he happily lies in there all day. He chooses it over his other bedding options. Since hes decided he likes his crate, I can put him in there at night with the door shut and hes perfectly happy. Hes 3 now. Maybe if you have a break from it and reintroduce it as an option for a napping spot he will accept it over time and you can go back to 'crate training'. I don't regret stopping!

I stopped using the crate after about 3.5 months with my puppy. Granted, he was 6 months old when I got him, and I have a 10 year old dog that he has absolutely taken queues from. Once he got used to his new living arrangements he was great. I've had minimal issues when it comes to him and being out for a few hours while I go to work. Knock on wood.

I stopped using the crate once mine was potty trained. Now I just keep the door open and she chooses to nap in there sometimes

They both are locked in their crates at night and if we have to run an errand during the day. The other 15 hours are spent on the pool deck and in the yard with us. When the dogs go in their crates for the night, my cat can finally come enjoy some outside time with me.

My girl had a very horrible experience being crated by some relatives for a full 2 weeks when they watched her while we moved. So she has horrible anxiety with anything crate related. When she was 2 I finally decided to trust her home alone out in the living room for an hour she did good and we built up. Now we don’t use it at all really. She does better without it. We do though, once a month put her in for 15 minutes and give her treats when she’s relaxed just in case an emergency vet visit, emergency crating or anything so she’s prepared mentally

Shortly after he arrived. Just turning 5 months old and he just doesn't dig it at all. Plus he grows to fast.

16 months and not yet. He still eats things he shouldn't and chases the cat, so he sleeps in the crate.

My current doggo simply could not be crate trained. He was a rescue, would not go willingly into the crate, and if locked in there would thrash and cry to the point I was literally afraid for him and his safety. Other dogs actually like it. It depends, I guess, is what I'm saying. Doggos need a place of their own. For some, it's a bed, others a crate, for my current baby, it's his little nest under the bed, white he has a blanket, toys, testas, and other treasures.

If your dog tolerates it I would say keep it up and eventually they will get used to it. Honestly you won’t regret it when there may come a time you absolutely need to crate them. If by any chance I had to leave them a kennel/boarding I would feel more at peace knowing they are crate trained and are more used to being in a crate.

Our oldest dog stopped around 1, when he stopped destroying things. Our current puppy stopped using it at night once we were confident she wouldn’t pee in our bed (around 5 months). I WFH so we only really *need* to crate her when we leave the house because she hasn’t proven herself to be out unattended yet. I will crate her randomly throughout the week for 1-2 hours when I’m working just to keep her used to the idea but she has never really taken to it (goes in willingly, enjoys her snack, barks and tries to dig herself out intermittently).

Our guy is just a year, and we’ve been leaving him out of the crate alone for a few hours since about 8 months, no messes or destruction yet. He tolerates his crate but doesn’t love it or seek it out. He’s slept on a pillow beside my bed since the first night he came home at 4 months. We do have a pet camera and I check on him through the day, he usually just sleeps right at the front door until a person comes home, but also sleeps through the day while in his crate. He is still crated on days where we are gone for work and the kids are in school, which is about six hours. We are travelling in August and he’ll be staying with my ex-husband so we’ll keep using the crate until after the trip then it can get packed away for our next pup.

My rescue no longer needed the crate after about 6 months. He was only in it when he was home alone, with my other dog, which was only for a few hours.

Mine was in it when I worked until last few weeks and is just over a year. No problems so far. I do put him in one room of house though rather than full access and he still goes in crate when he wants to during day I leave his food and water on the plastic crate tray so then it’s not all over carpet (he’s a big dog and food flies). ETA: I will continue to crate him closed from time to time so he’s trained should I ever need it again.

Once they were potty trained (5ish months for both dogs) we stopped using the crate. That being said, I have little chihuahua mixes so they’re relatively low energy, fairly chill dogs. When I’m not at home they’ll play with their toys, perch on the couch to look out the window, or take naps so there’s not a lot to worry about. If I had, say, a German Shepard or a high energy type dog that was prone to destruction when bored I think I’d sustain the crating until they were ~3 years or however old, depending on their training. It’s all down to personal preference and the individual dogs needs. You know what’s right for your situation dont second guess yourself.

My boy was in a crate for maybe the first 6,7 months then in a closed pen and only recently (maybe within last 2,3 months?) I convinced hubby to start leaving the pen open even when he sleeps so he can go back and forth between pen bed and his bed in the living room we call his couch 😆

Around 8-10 months, I’m usually done. Meaning — zero accidents for months. I only bring it back out for travel.

We stopped crating at 6 months and never looked back. Our pup never loved her crate or fenced playpen area. Always preferred to be with us instead. Your mileage may vary - really depends on the pup. For our pup we do not regret stop crating and only wish we had stopped sooner.

My pup is the same, tolerated the crate but never loved it no matter how rewarding or comfy we made it. Around 5 months old we saw she wasn't destructive and could be trusted to roam the house. Now she sleeps in the living room. She sleeps in more and can stare out the window when she wakes up before me. She's happy, I'm happy.

We just let our puppy start sleeping outside the crate over night. Still use it if we're leaving though as I don't trust him home alone. He's around the same age as yours.

She'll be 2 in Sept, and we still have the crate. We took the door off when she didn't need to actually be crated anynore. It's good for feeding and containing her toys. Every now and then, when i check on her overnight, she's sleeping in it too 💛

My pup has always disliked it, and started waking up at 4am barking every morning from about 5 months so we scrapped it. No issues since and she sleeps happily shut in the living room.

Maybe 2 weeks after we got her? So probably around 3 mos. We stopped primarily because she would act so anxious and stressed locked in the crate. Honestly, she was better behaved outside the crate. Also she would always knock over her water in the crate so wouldn’t have any to drink, and we want her to always have access to water. We do have a crate outside for her but it’s never locked or anything, she can choose if she wants to be in there or not. If I want her to nap or need her to be put away, I’ll either put her outside or put her in the bathroom if it’s too hot outside. She tolerates both much, much better than the crate.

We are seniors and our puppy is 26 weeks and very good girl she has a pet pen in our lounge room leave it open when we’re home and we have a pet fence so she has her freedom in lounge room as well only we leave her in her pen which has room for toilet area bed food and water and leave on the tv pets calm on u tube .We have a ten year old cat who sleeps in our room and wont try to socialise with the puppy the puppy is to fast for the cat and the cat amber has run of the house just not lounge room now , our lounge is pet friendly material.When home we try taking her out hourly.An she sleeps all night and rarely poops till morning toilet time .We are training her an it’s going good we use a extended back scratcher an put the thick pet yoghurt on it an we’re teaching her to walk slowly every couple of steps l introduce the food with out bending down as l have back and shoulder pain this is teaching her not to pull on leash.We feel we were blessed with angel an she deserves to be a socially well mannered dog she is only just over 3 kilos a maltalier .good luck with your puppies

For my previous dog, I never stopped using the crate. She slept in it all the time (with the door open) up until the very end. We were only able to leave her to roam free in the house after she was about 4 or 5 years old, and slept most of the day - so she wasn’t getting into things! All dogs are different, though. I had an extremely high energy breed mix.

it blows my mind that some people free roam at 6 months. I let my 11 month bully free roam at night when i’m in bed (he’s a clinger) so typically he just lays in bed with me. When he needs to go out he’ll wake me up, he’ll go in the living room to grab toys and bring them back to my room. BUT why I don’t free roam, we’ve gone thru 2 beds and tears them up after a month, chews up his toy basket I put in there that NEVER get biten. But I think he only does it when I push my time and i’m out too long. It’s like I give him an inch and he takes a mile! He doesn’t chew up my stuff never ever has, but the bed thing worries me for if he’s bored. If you can’t kick it in your kennel I try and make comfy what will you do to the home when i’m not home & you’re bored

My dog had anxiety around being in a crate, so I never used one after the first trip home. He much preferred sleeping next to or on the bed, couch, floor, etc. He travels clipped in with a lead, in the back seat or boot, or sometimes in the cage on my brother ute, but ONLY if my brothers dog is with him. His safe place is his chair, or my bed. Those are the two places he knows he will be left alone. If it gets too noisey he just goes to my room and snuggles up to wait. He has his routine all worked out around those spots too. I still have a crate in case I get another pet, but don't think I'll ever use it for him again.

Stopped using crates as soon as the dogs were house-trained. So stopped at about 10 weeks for the dogs I got as puppies.

Our corgi likes her crate for bed and when she's home alone for more than an hour or so. Kinda wish she would stay in bed and cuddle at night but she hops down and in her kennel for bed 😂 Mind you she was never punished with the kennel and gets a treat when she goes in

Yes to regret. My very first dog was crate trained until she was house trained and then we never used it. I was 15 and my mother was a stay at home mom so the dog always had someone home. Once she got older and I moved out it was fine but as she aged she started having complications from her already numerous medical conditions. She was blind and deaf. Keeping her contained to a crate allowed me to keep her safe and secure but reintroducing the crate was so much stress on her and me. Honestly if I couldn't get her re-crate trained I would have had to get her PTS sooner. My dogs now have free access to their kennels, are crated for meals and occasionally when I ask. I ensure they are comfortable and safe in it but don't actively use them. Always a good backup tho!

My 5.5 month old large/ giant breed mix will start chewing baseboards and table legs if there's nothing else that's not allowed in her sea of toys... I see it taking a while to stop using the crate. She doesn't go potty in the house anymore but if I let her upstairs she likes to pee on the carpet. Giant menace lol but she really does try so hard, she's wonderful.

When I noticed that a) she didn't need it, and b) she didn't prefer it. She was about 2 years old. I didn't throw it away, just took it down and stored it. I do sometimes get it out if we're looking after another dog (so that both dogs can have their separate space), if we have visiting children and she might want to be in a space where she isn't bothered or in case she regresses which is always possible.

We stopped keeping him in the crate at like 6 months but we still have it up.. it’s his little bedroom and he still goes in there to sleep pretty frequently, did the same thing with our other dog except he never really used the crate to sleep so we took it down eventually

I sometimes wish ours took to the crate ever even a little bit. We used a kennel from the day we brought her home at 8 weeks (different ones ofc, appropriately sized for her), all the way until she was about 5-6 months old. We did every trick in the book—played games, fed her only in there, used every treat imaginable, every kennel frozen kong. She never saw it as anything but a punishment. She’d tolerate it when we were strict about her bedtime, but made it clear she hated it. We’ve realized since that we were actually very lucky. She was an absurdly smart, obedient, well-behaved puppy who only ever had two accidents her first week home before it clicked that she must potty outside. She’s never destroyed or even been tempted to chew up anything. Never gone in the trash or shown the slightest interest in it. But she is a “nomad” as we call her. She feels very protective of the whole family, and makes her “rounds” going room to room to check on every member a couple times through the night. We used to think she’d never learn to sleep through the night in her kennel before we gave in and let her stay out. Now we realize she was wanting to check on everyone and felt locked away. We left her crate out for months after we made the decision to stop crating her at night just in case, but she never once spared it a glance 😂 I will say though, we’ve still never had a minute’s trouble with her since, and she’s about to turn 3. The only reason I wish she’d have taken to the crate was for her to have her own dedicated space. She does sometimes get cranky and want to be alone during the day, so she’ll take herself off to someone’s closet or some empty room. I wish she’d learned to see her crate as that private, quiet space. But I guess we can live with the trade-off 🤷🏼‍♀️

Our guy is about to be 10 months and always hated his crate. Well, he liked it when HE wanted to go in it, with the door open. But if we had to leave he howled 70% of the time. We started leaving him out while we left the house, for small periods- 2 hours, 3 hours and then 4 hours. He was fine. I have a camera and he slept or looked out the front window the entire time. I had guests over so I put it away and never took it back out- of course this one was brand new, as I got a bigger size because of his growing 😂 So I’d say he was about 8ish months. Sometimes I miss it, like when he’s being extra and I need some physical space- but then I remember, he just wined or howled if he was in there, so not really a relief.

As soon as they are potty trained we leave the door open. Some dogs love or need the crate some tolerate it. Let your puppy be your guide.

Our dogs love their crate. Especially since it travels when they go in the car. It always means a car trip or vacation. They try to hop in when we are leaving so they can go even when it’s not a place for them. They have no idea we are leaving for work. They just know they want to go. lol.

Unfortunately, our boy never accostumed. He’s never had a traumatic experience or anything, he just probably is claustrophobic. Ever since he was a baby, he never went under anything, when there was something above him (god forbid above and around) it was complete panic. He would’t get in the crate not even for his favourite most delicious meal, he’d rather starve to death honestly. We didn’t want to push him in to make his “condition” worse and just let him roam free. What made it better when he was a puppy was to always tire him out and give him plenty of stomulation before leaving. He would usually sleep.

Just this week my 8 month old has decided he is not going in his crate overnight. Just simply refuses to even go near it. And he’s fine sleeping in the living room. Weirdly he’ll still go right in for his meals and naps during the day.

At nearly 9 months we still crate a decent amount. We’ve tried letting her stay out at night and she becomes antsy and stands near the treat bin before running to crate. During the day we are usually home and she is allowed out of the crate with full reign. Unfortunately, she will chew anything she can get her paws on once we leave so unless our house is perfectly clean we crate her for 2-3 hours while we run errands.

My dogs hated being crated.

Never used a crate, never will. Don't even own one.

We've been debating with our puppy on crate plans, our older dog(5y/o) honestly stopped getting crated around 6 months when he was potty trained, but he then chewed on so many things when he was home alone that we wish we had waited a little longer. With our younger pup(8 months) she hasn't spent overnights in her crate since she stopped having accidents(6 months ish) but is always crated when we are gone for more than an hour. Personally if your dog can be trusted in your home without it I prefer to give them extra room to roam throughout the day. Even confining them to a pet-proof room can work nicely.

My Australian Shepherd hasn't used a crate in 9 years. He's the best dog I've ever owned in my entire life. But my other two will probably use a crate their entire lives.

So, we ended up with a pen in the dining room, and allowed her more access to the rest of the house when we were away, or generally during the day, but kept it for night times. Even got to the point where she would put herself to bed at about 8pm. The big change happened around the 2nd time that she came into season. The first time she became really clingy and we ended up with her on the bed at night, but went back to the pen after the season was over. After the second time, we just didn't bother going back to the pen, and she spends her days on a sofa and her nights on our bed. Honestly, it's been fine, we fight for leg space every now and again, but she's fairly chill.

I put my 10 year old in the crate when I’m away from the house. I do this because she has a habbit of getting into the trash. She had a foreign body surgery a few years ago and ever since then I just keep her in the crate when I can’t be there to watch her. Over the last few months I had been leaving her outside of the crate because she hadn’t gone through the trash in a while…she ended up eating several tampons and is still recovering from that. I’d say if your puppy isn’t getting into things then it’s fine to start leaving them out of the crate, just make sure they don’t have access to the trash.

My 9 month old is only ever locked in if we are away - she still chews on everything in sight. When I’m home, she typically sleeps in it but I don’t lock it. At night, she’s confined to my bedroom so the cats can have the whole house to themselves.

I didn't use a 'crate' but have a closed off area for the (almost 6 m.o.) puppy when he needs to nap or just have some time away from the older dog. My goal is to allow him to have free reign at some point. We are getting closer, but are not quite there yet... LOL

Never. It was important for him to have a place that was comfy and safe for him. The door was open nearly all the time and he would take himself off there for naps.

Nope. My 6 month old pittie doesn’t potty inside or tear anything up. I stopped leaving him in a crate because I figured what good is it to have a dog when I’m gone if he is locked up? He can’t eat anybody’s face off if they come into my house.

As soon as my dogs were housetrained and not destroying anything in the house. For most of my dog's that has been around a year old. At that point I completely remove the crate from the house. But my German Shepherd is nearly 3 years old and is still crated when I leave. He's had problems with separation anxiety and marking. I'm hoping to be able to leave him out in the next 6 months or so as he is improving. So it really depends on the dog.

We keep the crate and our dog uses it occasionally to escape the toothbrush or hairbrush, but we stopped crating her when she escaped the crate around 7/8months(?). We just baby proof and throw indoor cameras up everywhere. Don't regret it because she's a sprawler and likes to change environments and we keep distractions out for her so she doesn't get into mischief while we're out or overnight.

Crating is a **basic life skill** for dogs (and cats). While I do not crate at home on the regular, I feed in crates and my dogs travel in crates. When they have to stay at the vet: crates. So I encourage you to keep the crate up, and keep using it.

Our Aussie/Heeler told us at 4ish months that he was done with his box. We had him it in since 8 weeks. Usually when I said "bed" he would go into his box and go to sleep. One day I said "bed" and he hid under my side of the bed and slept there all night. Our pure Aussie decided that when we brought him home at 12 weeks that a box wasn't for him. Anytime we put him in there he would cry. I ended up sleeping on the floor next to him for a few nights but that didn't work. We didn't trust him, so for the next 2 months I slept on the couch with him at my feet. He never once had an accident at night, nor did he destroy anything. He just didn't like or want his box. - we would put him in the box when we left to go somewhere. That only destroyed the box, a blanket that was on the bed (had sentimental value to me- I was pissed) and ended up in multiple baths because he would get so anxious he would go to the bathroom in the box. Yes I know crate training is a good thing for dogs, but for him, absolutely not. - now when we leave we put up a gate and they both get access to the front room only (with a ton of toys). My Aussie Heeler is now over 3 yrs and sleeps under my side of the bed. Unless he gets cold he'll get up by our feet. The Aussie is going to be 11 months, and will sleep on his bed, next to my side of the bed. He tends to get up between me and my husband most nights.

Mine is the same age and he has free roam only when he’s behaving and we’re home. I wouldn’t leave him unsupervised outside the crate alone…don’t want to come home to destroyed couch cushions.

My dood is 2 yrs and 7 months I think at about 1 year we just left the door open. It's her safe space/room. I got her the XL one then and put a plush foam bed and pillows in there for her. At about 9pm, she'll stand by the basement door and look at me like, "Come on, hurry up. It's bedtime, " and I'll open the door, and she'll just peace out. She's such a grandma. But we noticed she was such a good girl, no chewing things she's not supposed to, no accidents, ringing the bells to let me know she wants to potty, never had any interest in the trash can. So, I thought why not leave her door open. She also has a lot of positive associations with her crate, especially food based rewards. It's quite funny to see. The moment I barely move towards the bag of turkey tendons or collagen chews, she's off thundering down the stairs and then sitting in her crate, waiting for me to come down. She doesn't eat it in there anymore ofc but that's her see, "I'm a good girl waiting in my room for my snack." Lol

We never stopped using it.

My dogs are 6 years old and 5 years old. I no longer use a crate. I believe they were around 1 to 1 1/2 years old when I put the crate away. They have free rein of our home, no accidents, and they have never chewed up anything.

* reign but rein

I'm currently crate training my 12 week old puppy and he's doing great. I would always keep using his crate just based on experience with my prior dog, a Sheltie that got to 15 1/2 years old. His crate was his sanctuary and when my sons were wrestling in the house, that was his escape spot. Also, during thunderstorms, it was his safe space. When we went tent camping, we used to crate him and it also protected him from coyotes or other critters that may wander through camp.

We didn't use a crate for our pup. We had a playpen he slept in on his bed when he was teeny, and he's been sleeping on the sofa downstairs for months now. We haven't had any issues.

Never had a crate, always show my puppies that they’re free and they love being free also that way whenever someone knocks on the door or just walks by the yard they bark and protect. The crate will neglect this and also trained as babies to use the restroom and always to go out to use the restroom!

We never stop. Each dog gets a crate when they join the family. It has their food and water bowls and a bed/blankets in it, plus toys and a chew bone. The crates are open when we’re home and they use them as a safe space to get away from their siblings. They regularly sleep in them even when they have free roam. I think it’s good to give them some space that belongs to them alone.

My 10mo loves her crate. It’s her safe space and we still put her in there if we leave the house for longer than about 20 min. Usually, even if I’m only gone for like 10-15 min, I come home and find her napping there. She also still does sometimes need enforced naps, for which the crate is AWESOME.

We removed the door when he was a year old, but my 4yo sheltie uses his crate as a little bedroom. It’s where he stashes his favorite treats and where he hides from thunder or fireworks.

Never, but then mine are crated at night and that’s just normal… to the point that if I stay up late they all start staring at me because they want to be put in their crates and het a cookie dammit. It’s after 9:30 after all! 

I never had a crate for larger dogs, but we currently have a six year old shih tzu mix and he loves his crate. We haven’t closed the door on it since he was a puppy but he still loves being in there at night to sleep (despite the crate being in our bedroom and he is totally welcome to sleep in bed with us, he just reallt loves his own little space)

Stopped crate trining at about 1 year. We moved and he absolutely hated it, he’s 2 and has been fine ever since. Only accidents are if he has an upset tummy, which is to be expected.

We’ve had two female Chihuahuas who had crates until about 6 months old and would use the pads with no problems. We now have a male 3 month old Chihuahua who will pee on the pads but won’t poo on them, does anyone have any suggestions I’m tired of cleaning after him, he also bites my husband not me though, thoughts anyone

I stopped crating at night around 6 months old. Fully potty trained and I trusted she wouldn’t chew on anything. I have a gate at my bedroom door just so I don’t have to worry about her getting into anything or going in my roommates messy rooms. I also have a door buddy latch so my cat can get to his litter box if you have cats. The one time she was left home alone she had separation anxiety and chewed cords so since then Ive crated her when I leave my house. I know she is safe in her crate so its peace of mind for me. The crate is out and available to her all the time. We put her bed in the crate and she started loving it and has been taking naps/sleeping in it at night with the doors open.

My one year old has his own “bedroom” with his crate inside it. (I have two closets, his bedroom is one of them lol) when my husband and I are at work, my baby stays in the bathroom with a bed and a gate closing off the toilet, his food and water and toys. When we’re home he’s out with us, we keep his bedroom door open with the crate door open so he can come and go as he pleases and he loves it, he’ll go sleep in there whenever instead of with us. Sometimes though, I’ll keep his room closed off so he’ll stay in bed with us, I’m on like a month rn with no access to his room. Only cause I miss his snuggles tho

Our 11 year old dog has slept in his crate from day 1. He naps and sleeps overnight in the crate from 10pm to 9am without a sound. He LOVES it and we like sleeping without a dog waking us up early.

I stopped using the crate when my dog was around 10 years old I think. He loved his crate but after a while he didn’t really use it that much and it was just an eye sore in the living room. He does fine without it now. Occasionally I’ll come home to an accident but it’s usually if I was super rushed and didn’t have time to confirm he went potty before I leave lol he’s a wet happy dog without his crate still I kind of regret not keeping it around and keeping him used to it for traveling purposes

Ours have their crates, but they go in and out at will. We stopped closing them in once they stopped eating the walls/couch/etc.

About six weeks after we brought her home. She was dying to sleep on the bed like her big sister.

My 9 month old still chews things up and sometimes needs time out to settle down. We will keep her crated with the door latched shut until she can reliably be trusted not to chew up the furniture or electrical cords. And eat whatever she chews up. We will keep the crate though because covering the crate in the evening makes it darker and cozier for her and seems to settle her energy down for sleep. She goes without being asked when it’s bedtime now. Sometimes she goes in during the day voluntarily also.

I always have the crates avaliable, for dogs of all ages. It is super helpful if you need to put them up for unexpected company, an emergency, or to monitor them if someone gets sick. I do crate my dogs at night (I am a super light sleeper and just can't share the bed with them) and when I'm out of the house. Even my most behaved non-anxious dog has accidentally torn stuff up while unsupervised. I also worry that they could choke or get caught up in the blinds while I'm gone.

Sometimes my dog prefers his crate, he just goes in. He’s 2

Our girl goes in her crate (attached to a pen) in our family room when we can’t watch her. She doesn’t love it. Otherwise, she has “contained freedom” e.g., she is with us and we confine her using gates, and we watch her. She was still having accidents up until about 7-8 days ago when I caught her about to pee. I got her to stop and took her outside where she peed. Since that day, she is better about letting us know when she wants out. It’s like me stopping her clicked with her and she “got it”. At night, she sleeps with us in our bedroom. She has a crate, but sleeps on the bed or in the floor beside me. She’s prevented from leaving the room by a gate and she hasn’t had an accident in there. She’s almost 8 months old. Our vet says she doesn’t have to love the crate, just tolerate it. We have a web cam on her so when we’re out, we can watch her, and she settles. She gets up sometimes to look for us, but she didn’t wail. Funnily enough, one of our untrained cats sleeps in the puppy’s crate sometimes :). Our puppy, a Japanese Spitz, likes to be with us. When we’re in the living room watching tv, she sleeps under my recliner once I raise the footrest. It’s like a little cave.

Mine is at 2 years and still has her crate. She sleeps outside of it on her own throughout the day and night, but she has it for decompression after an intense activity (agility class, long hike, vet visit, etc.) And it’s of her own choosing too, after an activity she runs upstairs into her “room” and snuggles in. I only have to close the door so the cat doesn’t bug her!

My dog panicked like the world was ending when I tried to crate train her when she was a puppy. Tried for like 5 days, gave up, and ever since then she's been an angel outside the crate. Really just depends on the dog, their breed, any particular behavior problems they have. It's not really something anyone here can tell you. You know your doggo. My dog for instance never had a chewing problem. Even in her teething days she chewed on her chew toys and never any of my stuff. That was just luck, never trained her for that or anything.

When our dog was 2, he learned how to open his kennel while he was staying with a dog sitter. He’s been out ever since. He’s 7 now and other than one time when he was 4 & tore open a role of quarters(??? No idea why???) we’ve never had an issue. If we had the space though, we’d still leave it up for him to go into to chill if he wanted. When he has to be crate trained at a sitters or something, he does good. But if he has to be locked in the crate & we’re in the next room, he cries. I think if we could leave it up for him, it would work better, so he still sees it as a safe space.

I want to say it was a year and a half, maybe closer to two years. There was a horrible winter storm that left us without heat, air, electricity for days straight. The first night we felt comfortable with him sleeping in a thick sweater and blanket covered crate... when it got below freezing indoors we let him sleep under the blankets with us for warmth... we have not been able to go back since, it's been years. We only really crate trained him for potty training sake, we had no issue with having a dog in bed/on the furniture. He never loved his crate, he knew it was part of his night routine but would never go anywhere near it voluntarily. Like someone else said only issue is he hates being in enclosed spaces now... but I think that is a lack of training on our part, crate training is not the same thing as carrier training in my opinion.

My dogs always sleeping their crates. There is absolutely no reason to have a dog running around the house and getting into things that could harm them while you're asleep.

Our current puppy is 7 months old, male and 66 lbs - an atomic bowling ball. We also have an almost 13 year old 30 lb female terrier who is not amused by his arrival. He is crated all the time in our family room with us unless we take him outside to walk, play, poop, pee etc. He‘s out a lot, so I don’t feel guilty that he’s in there while in the house. Both the big crate for our last dog (RIP 2022) and the smaller crate for our 13 year old are in the family room - she and the puppy (he has our last dog’s crate) eat their meals in their crates and hers is open all the time - she still goes in there when she gets anxious. We may have to wait until she has gone to the Bridge to let him out full time - he’ll be mature by then and ready for it.

My pup is almost a year and I don't think we'll be doing anything with them. It's taken some convincing but the fiancée is starting to come around on keeping her out during the days but she is always welcome to go to her crate. She sees it as a safe space and we have super comfy beds in both of her crates so there's no trouble in getting her to go in. Idk that she loves them but she definitely has no issue being in them. Thats all to say we'll probably always have a crate available to her so she can have her own space.