[Roker]

The first time I took taking care of my dogs seriously, I had asked the question, why crating was important. We've been taking care of dogs and they seem to grow up just fine without the crates, but here are some things I've noted when I started using one.

1. Crating makes housetraining easier. In the wild, dogs have dens. Instinctively, a dog would not do his business in his den. So the logic of crating a dog is, if he is kept in the crate for a certain amount of time, he will learn to hold his potty until he is let out. This said, potty time for puppies should include after meals, after naps, and after playtime.

2. Crating will give your dog his own space. Sure a bed is nice, but a crate can be a dog's retreat when he's too tired or prefers to avoid the dreaded vacuum cleaner noise. The smaller space makes it cozier.

One more thing I'd like to add. I have noticed dog behaviorists help canines get over separation anxiety with the crate. However, since I have not experienced this first hand, I did not add it here.

Do you have a crate for your dog?

[voodoosdv]

Yes, we do have a crate for our dogs. Before I never bothered with using a crate so my dogs ran a bit wild around the house. They seemed a bit lost since they didn't have their own space and they often ended up doing their business in the house. After a while I decided to try the crate and it works wonders. The dogs are happy because they feel like they have their own room (it's their hideaway whenever we get visitors) and like you mentioned in the first point, housekeeping has become super easy.

[Jannet.K]

We've been through 3 crates with our dog, he's escaped from and broken all of them. On top of the escaping and breaking he's also chipped his tooth and left himself so dehydrating from licking he had to be hospitalized. Crates are an important thing for training MOST dogs but it doesn't work for everyone I wish it did because he is SO bad when left out of a crate but the crate is simply not safe.