I'm not opposed to using a crate, and I will always have a crate on hand, but Chloe was never crate trained. We just gated her off in the laundry room an then later extended her area to the laundry room/back hallway when we were gone, or we'd kennel her outside. She is 110% reliable in the house and we now just leave her loose whenever we are gone. At night when she was a pup I gated her off in the little walkway area by my bed and now she has full run of my room at night.
The way we use crates in house training is if the puppy can't be watched, the puppy is crated. In Chloe's case, gating her off in the back hallway worked just as well and she was much more content having more space (but it was still limited enough for her kennel instinct to kick in and her not want to soil it).
If I had a dog that wasn't reliable, I'd definitally crate it. Or ex-pen it, or contain it safely in some manner.
*And, every single dog I have, and have had, was calm while in a crate. Chloe does bark at first, but that is when she is crated and there are no people around. She shuts up after awhile and we found that when I take her to the groomers, if we put her in a front kennel where she can still see people she is quiet.
And I don't use a clicker when I train...but I do use a verbal marker. I've tried using a clicker and I end up just saying "Yes!" anyways, often more on time than me clicking because I have to fumble for the clicker. ROFL So my marks went something like "Ye-" *click* "-s!" Old habits die hard, and Chloe does just fine with a "yes" marker. I can think of a few situations were a clicker would be a bit more handy, so I may use it then, but I definitally am not apt enough with it to use it all of the time. I also lure/reward and give collar corrections...but often in tandem with marking.
The way we use crates in house training is if the puppy can't be watched, the puppy is crated. In Chloe's case, gating her off in the back hallway worked just as well and she was much more content having more space (but it was still limited enough for her kennel instinct to kick in and her not want to soil it).
If I had a dog that wasn't reliable, I'd definitally crate it. Or ex-pen it, or contain it safely in some manner.
*And, every single dog I have, and have had, was calm while in a crate. Chloe does bark at first, but that is when she is crated and there are no people around. She shuts up after awhile and we found that when I take her to the groomers, if we put her in a front kennel where she can still see people she is quiet.
And I don't use a clicker when I train...but I do use a verbal marker. I've tried using a clicker and I end up just saying "Yes!" anyways, often more on time than me clicking because I have to fumble for the clicker. ROFL So my marks went something like "Ye-" *click* "-s!" Old habits die hard, and Chloe does just fine with a "yes" marker. I can think of a few situations were a clicker would be a bit more handy, so I may use it then, but I definitally am not apt enough with it to use it all of the time. I also lure/reward and give collar corrections...but often in tandem with marking.