I know that a crate can be a great training tool and a safe haven for a
dog. But when does it go from this to a cage to lock up your dog and be
less hassle then the dog having the run of a room.

Some people keep there dog in a crate while at work and then over night
so i dog could be spending over 16 hours in the crate. What are peoples
views on this?

I think a crate is a good training tool but when it is used to 'put a dog away' it has to be a cage I think

Both mine love their crates and will often go in on their own accord during the day for a sleep, when we are in the crate doors are never closed. When we leave the dogs Kalas crate gets locked as she wont leave Marley alone and he sometimes gets annoyed with her and vice versa and I would hate things to get out of hand and one of them get hurt, Marley doesnt know his own strength at times!! having said that the longest they are left is 2 hours during the day and they are usually sound asleep when I come in and give me the look as much to say that I had disturbed them.

all my three are used to crates. they are a very good to have especially for training. Sam sleeps in it during the night so that he doesnt get up to mischief and when they have been fed. During the day the door is open and its usually molly that stays in it. ...think its her safe heaven from sam .

freds never been crated... but betty was... she was locked in at night and if we were out as she was a bad chewer.... but during the day when we were in she had the freedom to go in and out as she pleased.. i think theyre a handy tool to have for your dog

We have a crate but dont use it Mickey was put in the crate at night for the first few nights just to make sure the two dogs would be ok together but neither has been crated since
I hate to think that poor Mickey was crated every day for most of the day by his previous owners No wonder im having problems with him
I was talking about this today with Zep and he was saying Mickey can be very silly and acts like a young pup not a 14 month old male gsd but i suppose its because he never got to act like a pup being crated all day

aww it breaks your heart to think about it doesnt it :love: ... it wont be long beore hes old and boring and you'll wish he still had a bit of puppr bounce :2431:

if we had the room i would have a crate for fred...so he had somewhere to escape too

i never did until we had betty, if we didnt crate her, she would have destroyed the house :2431:

i did think of crating Shady but decided that it would probably make matters worse coz the other 2 were'nt crated

My lot love their crate. There is always one of them sleeping in it.. its never empty.... I usually put my young pups in at night for safety reasons more than anything but when im up and about its just left open. We call it bed !!! i do lock it when i go out and young pups go in its just in case until they are big enough really or they have a chew cause the big ones pinch it !! Any more than that and its a cage.... they are tools nothing more or less....

i guess lots of dogs like it because you all make the crate a GOOD place to be and not a form of punishment, when then it becomes a cage. your such a lovely lot

i have used crates for puppies until they stop chewing ,a friend of mine let her staffy have the run of the house he chewed the wiring and the house set on fire killing the pup and badley damaging my friends house

OMG Sue thats awful!!!!! Your poor friend

forgot to say as well that when Marley is frightened by anything or if he is unwell he goes in his crate I think he sees it as a safe place

I used one when mine were younger and still would if I didnt have 3 big dogs. We just dont have the room but they love being in a crate. We dont have one at all now and fortunately, hardly anything gets chewed.