Orson was around 4 months old when he came to us and I didn't even OWN a crate until he was about 6-7 months old, LOL
If I had been a more 'modernly informed' owner, I would have definitely had a crate with Phoebe. She was nearly a year old when we adopted her, but she was an untrained, crazy wild child! Trash raiding, door darting, inappropriate chewing WILD GIRL! She had TWO great things going for her, 1. She loved the kids beyond all else and 2. She was SUPER MEGA POTTY TRAINED. Mostly (IMO) because she was very picky on where she went....she only liked going on grass, LOL Some how we muddled through and got her trained out of all those bad habits without a crate.........but a crate SURE would have made my life easier!
Enter Orson. He was nearly 4 months old when he came here. Not potty trained, but not nearly as wild as Phoebe had been. I worked for the school back then and this was first week of July, therefore I had 2 months before I had to go back to work. He started out sleeping in my room on his bed from day one with ZERO issues. That boy has always liked to sleep, and sometimes even NOW has to be woke up for breakfast, LOL.........so ya, he slept all night never getting up to potty.
We got a crate before I returned to work. If/when we ever get another puppy........I will DEFINITELY be using the crate!