Off topic reply to members query
DD I only began to use a crate recently, they didn't exist when I started working in kennels 50 years ago.
I have always used a cardboard box next to my bed when housetraining numerous puppies and started using a crate when taking a puppy to work with me.
I only needed to use it for a few months.

My last male was intact and Jade is intact. Despite leaving them together being a generally bad idea, they had a truce and could be left together with no issues. They escaped leashed to each other once, went missing for over a half hour (my fault, has never happened again) and both came back with no issues. Many years, being left together quite a few times, and no problems. Call me irresponsible, but the ends justify the means. I knew those dogs. The current two... even though Nigredo is neutered, I'd not dream of it.

Dibbythedog - I didn't even know you could get crates for dogs until a few years ago when I was preparing to get stuff for my new dog. So read up about why people get them. I didn't want to have one for Poppy. When she was a puppy and the first time I left her alone I shut her in the kitchen where her food and water bowls are. She couldn't get to any work surfaces, she had a bed under the kitchen table and there was nothing within her reach to cause her any harm. After a while I didn't need to shut her in the kitchen. But Poppy has never been destructive, yes she used to run away with your shoe/slipper and may start to chew it but that was when you were there to get attention. I don't recall coming home to find chewed up things so I guess I have been lucky. When I go out Poppy is confined to downstairs. So I guess people who crate their dogs don't want their dogs to have free reign or they may have a cat or dogs that don't get on.

I've never used a crate for any of my dogs. As puppies they have free run of the house from the day I bring them home at 8/9 weeks of age. Until they are old enough to chose where they want to sleep, I make them a comfy bed in a cardboard box by my bed. Of my present two, Georgina will sleep on my bed until Gwylim and I go to bed and then she'll climb off and sleep on her mattress alongside my bed. Gwylim, usually snuggles up against me.

I'm lucky in knowing that when I go out and leave them on their own they won't touch anything and the house will be the same as I left it. I can dump my bags of groceries on the floor, make myself a cup of tea and even though there's usually meat in the bags, neither of them would dream of touching it.

I think most trainers recommend crate training for new puppies nowadays, though really, it's the same idea as the old cardboard box method for house-training at night.

After this, it's just a safe place for a dog to go, to escape noisy children or perhaps the attentions of another pup/dog. It's a handy travel item: in the event of a car accident, the dog is contained safely. I know someone who crated her dog at night because she had a medical condition and didn't know if she might need to have medics burst into the house. My sister had a Rottweiller once that had surgery on both her back her legs; she had to be kept confined for several days afterwards, and the crate really came into its own. Sometimes, holiday cottages or hotels that otherwise don't accept dogs, will accept one if it's crated when in the room. A wet, muddy dog can be put into a crate covered with towels and left to 'shake rattle and roll' itself dry. I use a fabric crate when I'm caravanning; in the summer, Esau likes to sleep in the awning, but he has a habit of digging his way out and 'visiting' the neighbours if he's not crated!

Crates should NEVER be a prison, or a means of punishment/banishment. The dog should always be happy to go in, and unless there's a safety reason why not, the door should be open. They are a 'den', and a safety precaution.