All my dogs have been crate trained since the early 70s. They travel in crates & some sleep in crates, even the GSDs. I don't want to have my lot deciding to have a game of tuggy or mouth wrestling in the middle of the night.

They ensure the dogs safety & preserve the condition of the home. I don't crate dogs together for long periods unless it's a road trip when Megee & Mr T often share a crate.

My dogs see the carte as a place of safety & they can often be found in them with the doors open

We found feeding Betty in hers initially made her think it was a nice place, then closing door for a couple of minutes. Building up to a couple of hours. She can't hold her water longer than that so we try to get back before she has to pee.

Joedee when Bella used her crate (well it was an airline kennel actually) she too obviously saw it as a 'place of safety' because if anything scared her she'd run in there and get right at the back! And if she didn't feel too well or had a pain she'd go in there too. She'd drag all her favourite toys into it and when it went I found a markie biscuit under the floor pad! I never ever had to 'shove' her in. She always came over and walked in and didn't go berserk on my return either. Just waited until I went over and opened the door.

She went into it just a day after getting her as transport to the vet. She was at the vet for 4 days and I took it to bring her home in. That was the one and only time she ever soiled it - on the way back from the vet that day. But she was in a very distressed and poor condition. She never ever peed or pooed in it again after that. Well she wouldn't poo in her 'castle' would she!

In fact, the first time I left her in boarding kennels, I took the crate along for them to put it in her quarters because I knew she'd feel secure in it. They said she hardly came out of it for the first day or so then didn't hardly go back in it once she settled. It obviously helped though. I am saying about this to show how much she LIKED her crate - that I was worried she'd miss it if it wasn't there!

We have always crated. I had samoyeds who loved to dig, one dug up my floor to the floorboards, so we crated. They loved their crates and prefered to sleep in them than near us.
However our new addition dislikes his. He will eat in it and sleep in it at night but if we try to put him in it for more than 20 minutes and leave the house, he has upset runny poo all over it
We have purchased a huge pen (very tall) and put the crate wedged open inside with his water bowl, stuffed kong, fake grass for toiletting and hidden treats and he is much happier. Confinment is a must IN my opinion for puppies. I would never leave a dog, expecially a puppy loose in the house for the house safety and mostly the dog/pups safety.

I seem to be the only one who has never used a crate. Even if I had one I haven't a clue how to train my dog(s) how to use it and in any case as I travel a lot my car's much to small to hold a crate!

My dogs have the run of the house from the day I have them - usually at around 8 weeks of age and they're allowed to choose where they want to sleep. Chloe likes to sleep on my bed, as did M'boi my late Peigirl. So far10 week old Georgina seems to prefer sleeping on her bed in the living room, but that could change.

On Sunday having lived here for a week I'll start training her to be left in the house alone. First by leaving her for about 5 minutes and then building up to an hour or so. I've already started teaching her the things she's NOT allowed to touch, such as cables, furniture, my food etc and she's learning very quickly.

Chloe and M'boi were only 12 weeks old when I had to leave them on their own for nearly 12 hours - the person I'd asked to look after them let me down at the very last minute. When I got back home apart from a couple of puddles and a few scattered rugs they'd done no damage whatsoever.

As a single mum who takes her dogs (and cat) on holiday and stays in hotels which means leaving them for an hour or two in a hotel bedroom at my dinner time it's important they know how to behave - I'd hate to go back to the room and find it destroyed!

We started when we got our first Chihuahua she was a love but was a nightmare for cables so we had to keep her safe and the crate did that very well. Mollie we put in a tiled room so it was like a crate but bigger but only after she had chewed though 2 walls and two king sized mattresses !

Duncan had to go into one when he started getting over excited and leaping on Mollie in the back of the car (she didn't like or appreciate it).

Ours go everywhere with us too, just packing their bags for our holiday to wales tomorrow but I wouldn't travel without Betty's travel crate just in case we need to leave them in the car for a few minutes, don't like leaving her in sight.

Crates are great short term, but it depends on how long you are leaving them for. Could the puppy make it through without a toilet break? A dog of any age will get bored too. Izzy loved hers but I think the longest she was ever in it (during the day) was for 4 hours- at 10 months old. She no longer needs a crate. Is there somewhere you could enclose them with nothing in their reach? Or the oldest in his crate and the youngest out in the space?
Izzy had an area she was in for most the day, it had a bed and bowls in and if the back door was closed than a puppy pad. The place was perfect for her. She was left slightly unsupervised in there (dad worked nearby). The only reason we put her in her crate if we left her was because we were scared the cats would attack her. The room has laminate flooring...
Good luck!

Crates are brilliant. Just now, we only use one in November, for the fireworks-- then it has to come down for the Little Dog, who we crate-trained to get her toilet habits down straight when we first got her. She feels safe in there. We leave the door wide open. That is where she chooses to be.

Dogs are den animals, so a nice den is a welcoming place for them. One thing I did with Old Dog, when he was just a baby, was to set up a puppy place outside the crate but still fenced in, with papers for him to go on. He never made a mess inside the crate, even though it was about five times the right size. I just bought segments of fence from the hardware store and made something up.