Leaving a dog alone, uncrated?

Never used crates here other than when Izzie had her eye surgery because that cost so much that i didn't want her accidentally screwing it up.

Izzie's slept on my bed with me since 12 weeks and had free roam since 6 months (before that she was gated off in the entry way that is tile (though we had to scrap that idea since she would scale the baby gate and greet me at the door... never destroyed anything or had any accidents though.)

My dogs aren't crated or gated overnight.

The chihuahuas all sleep in our bed, and Rory sleeps on the floor or in his crate (his choice).

Romy, I didn't know you lost Charlie until I saw this thread. I didn't go to that forum for ages and missed your thread. I am just devestated to read of your great loss. He was such an amazing dog. I just met him in summer and now he's gone. I'm so very sorry. (I left a post there on your thread in Rainbow Bridge)

Well, my family has never crated, but we haven't had a need to. 'sides, my parents don't believe in it, which is one reason I know we shouldn't get a puppy because of the chance it will be like Mia

Jackson has had fairly free roam since 5 months old. He was never destructive or anything of the sorts.

I started with a crate when I brought him home at 9 weeks old. I want to say I used that for the first month at least, so whenever I left the house, he went into the crate, and at nighttime he went into the crate BUT it was on my nightstand next to my bed. I got him during my first semester of college winter break so I had a long time off, so he really wasn't ever in the crate that often.

After a month, we moved to the ex-pen. I kept it in a corner in my bedroom and he never went potty in it so he became trustworthy in that. So about a month of ex-pen. Then we moved to being locked in my bedroom with a baby gate. He did fine with that. Eventually, I just started leaving him out. My dad "felt bad" for Jackson (when I would stay overnights at his house) being in the crate while the other dog was out, so HE was the first to let him stay out and we came back 2 hours later to a perfect house.... so ever since, free roam.

I'm not against crates, it's just something we've never needed. All of our dogs have ever done while we are away is sleep.

Auggie's crated overnight only because he's a PAIN... I don't sleep well anyway, and then with the darn dog annoying me and waking me up twenty times during the night...
I do hope to be able to let him sleep out of the crate overnight when I get my own place, when there aren't other people getting up throughout the night, making noise, and waking him up, which is apparently his cue to wake ME up.

I've never owned a crate. When they are little, I have a puppy-proofed room -- or rooms. With dogs as large as Filas, I do not like to see them crated, especially when they are growing. They need room and movement and stretching, in my opinion.

luce was five, i think, when she started being trustworthy out of the crate. about the same time, i started allowing mushroom out of the crate as well (one dog in the morning, one in the afternoon). lately though mushroom has not been trustworthy- he broke down a door to get into the cat box and he's been pooping in the house, so he's crated if i'm not here. sorry dude. which means luce hasn't been crated in ages.

i haven't allowed steve freedom yet except in very very short periods (when i'm outside working luce for example). i think he'd probably be fine, but he's low dog on the totem pole.

Peewees never been crated. He's never needed to be. Ivan is still crated. I don't think he really needs to be anymore, but he eats in there and then goes to bed. That is Ivan's own room, its even got the windows in the blanket for him to peek out of. I never thought about crating a dog until we had Chloe, that dog was trouble. She chewed, shredded, ripped up anything she could.
I think its an individual thing with each dog and owner.

I had started off crating Sawyer, but he stressed really badly over that, so I just dog-proofed as best I could when I left and cleaned up whatever mess (potted plants, not bathroom stuff) when I got back. Shortly after my then-bf and I got Aubrey, he calmed down and was great about being left alone after that. Aubrey just chilled out on the couch and showed him it was ok to be alone.

Virgo was crated when I first had her, then after that disastrous homing attempt, she couldn't be crated any longer. So then it was just a constant battle of Virgo-proofing and trying to wear her out so she'd just sleep. There were times I resorted to giving her 4 Benadryl pills when I left so she'd be too drugged to do much. That had varying levels of success and mostly seemed to depend on her mood that day.

THat is what my Mother always did when I was growing up and what I have done for all of my dogs. Did anything ever get destroyed? Yes Victor has put a few holes in my mattress and killed one bed pillow.
Mary did in a water bed mattress with help from her siblings. I know it was her, I know that will all my heart that she started it. Now who ripped up the feather pillows to add to the water is a different story. In their defense, it was my fault, i was gone too long. Jim's van broke down and I had to go to his rescue instead of home as I had planned. If they had been in the safe room this wouldn't have happened, but they had never needed to before, because I was never gone too long before.
I have never owned a crate either but in this land of loose dogs, I wished i had one for rescue purposes.

Oh, I did want to say that neither of ours has EVER been crated at night while we are home. Other than us leaving the house when Orson was younger, a crate was not needed. From day one Orson wanted to be right where I was, and that included at night........when it was bed time, he was the first to jump in and that's where he stayed till morning when I got up, LOL Even before he was potty trained to the house he slept all night with us without a single issue

The large wire crate we own is now all folded down and sitting in the closet under the stairs.........I imagine that's where it will stay until we get a new pup or unless one of these guys need it after an injury/ surgery or some such.

Eve is 3. I can leave her alone in the house uncrated, but frankly I choose not to for her own safety...

She doesn't get into things, but I feel more secure about leaving her, knowing she's in a safe spot.

We used to lock the Taz and Fudge in the kitchen when they were pups. That ended up with us needing a new kitchen by the time they were trustworthy :lol-sign: So when we got Scamp I insisted on a crate.

Now Ozzy, Fudge and Taz are left loose when we're not at home. They are fine for the most part but we have to remember to make sure that all chocolate is put away because that is the ONE thing Ozzy will countersurf for. Scamp is crated when we're gone and since he has demonstrated his window opening skills probably will be forever.


At night Ozzy is loose, Taz and Fudge are loose in my room and Scamp is crated in my room. I've tried several times to leave Scamp loose at night but I haven't been successful yet. I tried over the summer but my sleeping pattern was so messed up that I had to go back to crating him. I'm trying again at the minute now that I am getting up at the same time every morning and so far it's going well.

There's nothing wrong with using a crate if it's not used excessively. It must be large enough that the dog can stretch completely, fully out, turn around easily and stand up completely. I used a Great Dane sized crate for my Doberman. Filas aren't the only dogs that need to be able to stretch and move their limbs freely and get plenty of exercise. All dogs need to stretch and move. If I put my Chihuahua puppies in a shoe box when they were puppies, that would have been too cramped and bad for them. So, they had a medium sized crate.

I used my crate for no more than a couple of hours at a time when my puppy couldn't be trusted left loose in the house or even a separate, puppy "proofed" room. Four hours was my max. And that only occurred occassionally, as I'm a "stay at home Mom." LOL. I put "proof" in quotes because there are still door jams, walls, floors, molding etc that could be chewed up, splinters stuck in the dog's throat or chemicals/glues used on those materials that could be unsafe. Some puppies will be fine in a puppy "proofed" room and others won't. I've seen the damage caused in some puppy "poof" rooms by some very bored or stressed puppies and adult dogs. An X pen is another option. I used a crate, but that didn't mean my dog didn't get ample exercise, walks, hikes off leash, romping and the ability to stretch, stand up, move around at ALL times.

Most dogs, when accustomed to a crate, if introduced to one the correct way, when not used to excess....come to love the security of their own little semi-darkened den where they can curl up and nap or chew on a bone....away from the commotion of what's going on around them. As a matter of fact, many dogs curl up to sleep and don't need to be stretched out at all times, but that option should always be available to them, of course. In addition, puppy bones are soft for a time and more flexible.

My dogs have been crate trained and when they were trustworthy to be left loose in the house, they'd go in their crates for nap time or just random times when they wanted a little peace and quiet. I'd leave the door opened so there was no force involved. Eventually, because my house is so small and my dogs functioned beautifully loose in the house as they became adults, I put the crates away. Now, they just use the couch to hang out on or under a blanket when I'm gone.

But the generalized implication that the use of a crate is unhealthy for a dog or that a dog isn't getting his needs met as far as exercise or normal movement of his body (stretching, turning around, standing up) is a bit off. Anyone could say that keeping a dog in a puppy proofed room is also unhealthy IF one suggests that the dog isn't getting enough exercise outdoors at other times, is chewing on vinyl flooring and the glue on the backing or woodwork with lead paint on it, is left there for hours and hours on end. You can't take the worst case scenario, just one context of how someone might use a crate (too cramped, too long time in there, too isolated... whatever) and apply it to the use of crates by everyone.

For the record, I don't think dogs should be left alone for excessive amounts of time, whether they're in a crate, a puppy proofed room, an x pen, loose in the house, whether they have the companionship of another dog...I don't like to see dogs left on their own without their humans for whole, long days and into the evening.... at all.

I want mine loose in the house at night to be our guardians while we sleep.

The girls are 3 1/2 (Dance) and almost 3 years old (Keira), and both of them I can trust to be loose in the house while we're away. They've never been destructive, are not noisy, and they get along great. But, unless we're only going to be gone for an hour or so, I crate them. I just feel better knowing where they are and what they're doing while I'm gone. Their crates are big enough to move around, and they have a bone to chew on should they so choose.

Ripley's almost 18 months old, and there's no way I'd trust him loose. He's not in the least bit destructive, but he's a very high energy dog, and would probably not settle most of the day if I left him out. He'd pester the girls constantly, probably jump on the furniture (my dogs are not allowed on couches/chairs), and just run around like a maniac, sniffing and licking/tasting anywhere the girls are or might have been (gross boy). He's much better off in his crate to chew a bone and sleep.

At night time, Dance and Ripley sleep on my bed with me. Ripley just started getting bed privileges about a month ago. He probably could have sooner, but I didn't let him until recently. Their crates are in my room though and are left open. Often I'll wake up to one or both dogs in their crates in the morning by choice. Keira has slept on my mom's bed since she was about 9 months old.

All the dogs are trust-worthy in the house. That said, both the young dogs get crated when we are gone. I don't trust them to all get along without suprovision.

None of the dogs sleep in a crate (unless they do so by there own choice -even if that means they won't quite bugging me so they get crated lol).

Bamm used to be awful outside of the crate. He'd chew up stuff while I was gone so I had to crate him. I still crate him sometimes when I go out, but it's mainly to keep him off the couch. As long as I have a sheet on the couch though then I'll leave him free roaming since he does so much better now

Yep, we always used to and just clean up the mess when we got home (entire packs of toilet paper shredded, all the wool in the house strung around the loungeroom with the toilet brush sticking out of the middle of it like a sculpture, etc) until they got over their distructive faze. They were in a puppy proof room when they were little but we came home to som very interesting things when we started giving them time out.
I still leave Buster out in my room because he's doesn't touch anything. But last night I didn'tput up my treat bag and came home to find the bottom chewed out of it. grrr