To lose the crate or not?

[Jennifer Goaring]

So Sam will be 2 years old next month  (October 14th I think...  gotta double check that date!) and he is crate trained.  But ever since we let Mojo go (our trial pup that we were guardian parents for and it didn't work out :() we haven't needed to use the crate for anything.  I left it out because Sam seems to like to retreat to it at times.  It lives my living room which is open to the kitchen and thus near where we all are most of the time.  When he follows us upstairs he seems to like hanging out on the couch in the playroom.  

 

Anyhow... I still sort of feel like the crate is an eye sore and my goal had always been to put it up and away some day.  But while I am sitting here I see he has gone in the crate again and is curled up in the corner... so clearly he still likes it some.  I have no idea if he would really miss it or just find new places to curl up.

 

At night I just let him roam.  I think he probably sleeps up on the couch upstairs most of the night and then comes down to lie on the hardwood floor if he gets too hot.  But he does tend to start the night in his crate (out of habit I am sure... we used to lock him in the crate at night just to avoid night time accidents or the chance he would decide to get into something or chew on something.

 

He really never chews on anything these days.  He has some toys, but would rather play fetch than chew on them.

 

Just curious what others have done...  I know I have read up on it some before.  Anyone keep their crate beyond the puppy years?  Keep one available even with no puppy in the house?  

[Geri]

We had a crate for Kali, she is now 11. We put it away when she could be trusted to be alone, cannot remember how old she was. She did go into it to take a snooze. We did have a bed for her in the living room and she likes that. I just didn't think it was really needed anymore and looked lousy as part of the decor.

The crate was stored in the garage and now Brenna uses it at night and when I leave the house. I'm sure she will be trusted at some point,  but not yet.   

[Ronna, Murphy & Wilson]

Murphy doesn't need his crate anymore and I haven't put him in it for 10 months now but he goes in by himself when he needs a break (especially now when he is tired of his little brother) so I have decided not to put it away.  I want him to have it if he feels he needs it.  Wilson on the other hand is just a baby but I can tell already he is going to need a crate for the rest of his life LOL.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jack has never had a crate, but with my last dog, I kept it out for her entire lifetime. (16 years). She used it as her "den", going in and out freely, much as you describe what Sam is doing. It was her safe haven, also where she took her bones to chew on them, as if she was afraid another dog would try to take it from her, although there was no other dog around. The only time I confined her in the crate was when I had painting or some other work done, came in very handy to keep her out of the way.

[Christine & Shelby]

About 3 months ago I collapsed Shelby's crate and put it in the garage.  She has had house freedom since about 1 year old and honestly - while she was crate trained... she never "loved" her crate like I hear other dogs do.  She never - once - went in voluntarily to lay down unless I gave her the command.  Mine was also in the living room.... and it just wasn't needed.  I took it down, Shelby didn't care and she is very responsible in the house and hasn't had a distructive chewing incident since she was about 7 or 8 months.  I say take it down if his behavior is good.  You can always bring it back if needed.  Shelby will be 2 at the end of next month!

 

[Christine & Camus]

Camus never liked his crate, would not go in easily and never used it as a place to retreat.  When I felt he no longer needed I got rid of it.  I am sorry I did because last weekend I left him home for the afternoon (5 hours) and he decided to start unstuffing the couch.  Bad me!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Some time back, we had a discussion here about emergency situations and crates. This is especially important if you live in an area where there are floods, hurricanes, etc. In an evacuation situation, it's really important that your dog be okay with being crated. Some people who had done away with crates when their dogs reached adulthood decided that they needed to reintroduce them "just in case". Just something else to think about when deciding to get rid of a crate, or even to use one to begin with.

Here's the discussion:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/disaster-preparedness-and-...

[Ron Carnes]

Our crate is also an eye sore. Zack is never in his crate except for bedtime. We have tried to leaave him out but he cries until we let him in....what a baby.

[Jane Smith]

We want to stop crating Lucy during the day.  She is 2 and is very good and doesn't get into stuff.  Now Ethel, who is 1, is another story.  She is sneaky and I'm not sure I am ready to trust her.  Is it fair to leave one out and not the other?  I picture Lucy just laying by Ethel's crate all day because she's sad. 

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Keep the crate.  Peri is not required to be in hers anymore, however, let's say we have a big group of people over. Sometimes for the first 15 minutes, we put her in the crate to calm her down.  She comes out NOT jumping and much better to be around.  Plus, we use it when we travel - stay at inlaws, we leave her in it while we are gone (new surrounding - possible destruction).

My chihuahua STILL gets in his crate when it storms, when he feels bad, etc...it's his safe spot.  Keep it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

keep it. Cooper barely uses it but she does occasionally. We have covered it with some fabric that matches our decor and we put 2 cat beds on top of it to save space. We are moving, and as soon as I took the plastic tray out to clean it, ready to collapse it for the movers, Cooper ran in and wouldnt come out.

[Phoebe's Mom]

Many years ago we had a lab/chow mix who despised the crate and we got rid of it when she was about 8 months old.  I figured I would do the same with Phoebe.  Well, Phoebe LOVES her crate and although she is now just over 2.5 years old, we still use it every single day.  While I know she can be trusted in the house, she runs into her crate when we get our keys and she immediately curls up--the cutest thing!  We have a lot of windows and Phoebe barks at cars and people so I am grateful for the crate at night as she--and the entire family--sleep undisturbed with her crated.  Good luck with your decision.

[Jennifer Goaring]

Lots of good advice... from the responses below, I am leaning towards just keeping it out.  As much as I think it is a bit of an eyesore... it is not like I have a fancy home with lots of magazine ready furniture in it!  I have 4 boys... ages 3 to 12 who think every room is a potential playroom :)

Sam has always liked his crate... goes in without complaints... I just notice that since we no longer lock him in, he uses it a bit less often.  Used to be as soon as I head for the treat drawer or for my keys he would RUN to the crate... now he still goes there when I get treats, but not for just keys.  Smart doggie.

 

I figure it does give him a way to hide out from the kids if they have a bunch of friends over (I am thinking to my 8 year old twins' birthday party where we had 8 kids here last February... he definitely hung out in the crate for a lot of that).

 

Also, they do use crates at the groomers and I agree that for emergencies or whatnot, it is great that he is OK with it.  A vet visit overnight would involve a crate too I assume (Sam has never had that though...)

 

I liked the comment about using it when painting indoors also as I do have walls to paint eventually and I like the idea of the crate in case the weather isn't great or I don't want him outside the whole time for whatever reason.  

 

So it will stay... now to think about whether or not I want to move it to a less prominent/obvious location or not...hmmm.