All of our dogs have loved their crates - or “rooms” as we call them. I get up early, so I head to bed at 9 pm or so - and the girls remind me to “tuck them in”. Our older dog retreated there frequently when younger was a teething puppy. It was her safe place.
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D1’s husky loves his crate and even though her finance is working from home the pup still puts himself in his crate to sleep during the day.
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I should add, nothing against crates! I guess we just didn’t have experience with them and didn’t feel the need for one. It’s just surprising to me that we are probably an outlier!
Maybe not for your dogs but I don’t know of a reason a rescue dog or younger dog can’t be crate trained. Like to know. Your room is just a large crate in my eyes. I really am just curious.
When I brought my shelter cat home to a large house she went nuts. Finally my sister told me to lock her in a small room that could be her “safe space”. Let her claim it as her territory. Worked so great! After a couple days she slowly explored the rest of the house knowing she had “her spot” to safely retreat. I think crates are meant to provide “safe spots” for pets. They aren’t meant to be a cage but a welcome retreat for an animal in stressful situations.
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I am nervous around big dogs after having been around some very poorly behaved ones as a young person. I had a small dog for well over a decade who recently passed away and now I foster shelter dogs. Funny thing is most all the dogs in my local animal shelter are huge–many pit bulls and the like. I have slowly become more comfortable around the big dogs (with the help of my kid, who is great with dogs of all sizes) and now I foster the big ones.
I always kept my dog away from guests and/or under control and am very sensitive to the fact that not everyone is a dog person. Plus, since my dog was small and pretty cute (if I do say so myself), guests insisted on picking him up, which he did not care for, so I was very aware of letting him have his space from my guests as well.
My small dog enjoyed his crate and would go in it on his own when it was thundering out or when he wasn’t feeling well (he had a few medical issues). It was his safe place and he loved it. At night, he would find me in the house when he was ready for bed and insist that I put him to bed. He would lead me to his crate and patiently wait for me to move his blanket, so he could enter his crate and I could tuck him in under the blanket. It was so sweet. I really miss him and miss tucking him in at night. He was the best dog!
I crate train the dogs I foster and it really does not take long. My recent foster–a 7 year old, big ole german shepherd–wanted no part of the crate initially, but I started feeding him in his crate and after about 3-4 days, he really started to like his crate and would go in and out of it all day and would bring his toys in and out as well. We would crate him when we went out for errands and he would nap in it. I think being able to say a shelter dog is crate trained makes the dog more adoptable and gives the adopters the option to use a crate or not, as suits their family situations. I was amazed at how fast my foster dog took to his crate, especially since I think he was an outside dog prior to being abandoned by his owners.
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Don’t want to derail the thread with my awful experience, but I got Animal Control involved as well. Unfortunately, this is a troublesome neighbor. AC already had incidents reported on this guy and his dog, and there were neighbors who could have but refused to provide evidence, out of fear of reprisals. The dog was ruled a “potentially dangerous dog” and the owner was given several measures to follow. He did not comply with any of them. The only good thing is that he no longer walks the dog on my street.
So what can you do when you have a jerk who owns a difficult dog and does not train it and cannot control it?
Anyway, back to the pleasant stories about good dogs and owners. It was more fun discussing who picks up poop! 
My understanding is that the crate mimics the nest or den the animal would have had in the wild, and that’s why the animal usually takes to them. It brings out their instincts.
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I love hearing about your pup, @PurplePlum. That’s really sweet and makes me think of my nighttime ritual.
Our last male Lab really loved our son-in-law and was pretty forward in his affections. He also loved his veterinarian. He got very exuberant when he was around them - he just couldn’t contain himself. Happily they were both pleased by the greeting.
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This!
Way too many people think their dog is SO friendly, encourage kids to pet them “he loves kids” etc. …not so much. Some people encourage their kids to pet strange dogs.
One training site was flat out “don’t trust your kids to dogs and vice versa”. Keep kids away no matter what the owner says until you know for sure that the dog is willing to greet you.
Best thing I ran into while walking our “grand dog” was a little girl who from several feet away asked “can I pet your dog?”. We said yes and she was very careful in approaching him. He was happy to meet her.
THAT is how it should happen. Gotta train kids too about dogs and not just dogs about kids. If I did that over again I would’ve told my grand dog to sit and stay while she petted him. Still learning.
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D2’s dog is a rescue. She has crated him since day one. She doesn’t lock the crate, unless she has people over. The dog will go into the crate without being told if he is overwhelmed. It’s his quiet place.
He is a 50 pounder, so a good size dog. When I walk him, if I tell him to wait he will immediately slow down. If I tell him to sit when another dog come by, he’ll sit and not engage. I used to have to cross to another street to get him out of the way.
When I prepare his food, he won’t eat until I tell him it is ok.
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@abasket our first and second dogs, both shelter dogs adopted around 1.5-2 y/o, never used a crate. We just got another rescue dog this spring and she was crate trained at some point. The foster home used a crate with her and she loved it so recommended we get one. It worked out well b/c she occasionally gets a little feisty with our other dog, so we don’t like to leave them alone together. She happily goes in her crate, even when we are just hanging out at home. We just leave the door open all the time, and she will go in and lay in there whenever she feels like it. When we are going out, we tell her to go to her crate and she runs right in. It’s actually kind of nice having that option for her. I was worried it might piss her off that our other dog roams freely but she doesn’t seem to mind.
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As soon as I tell our young dog, “Time for bed!” he heads for his crate in the basement and goes in willingly. It still amazes me that he does that! Our older dog has the run of the basement.
Even though my dog never got aggressive with or bit anyone and was a sweetie, I was never really comfortable with kids outside the family petting him and thus discouraged it. I always thought in the back of my mind that he is a dog after all and what if a kid pulled on him or bothered him in a way he did not like. While I never saw him get aggressive with people, I could not guarantee 100 percent that he would not. My kids were older when we got him, so he was not used to very small kids. That was another reason why I kept him away from guests, especially those with small kids. It was not worth the risk to me to leave him unfettered access to the area of the house that I was in with my guests. He was loved and cherished by us every day of his life and was not going to be permanently scarred by being put in his crate or otherwise confined when guests were over.
I have never understood those dog owners who push their dogs on others (I have been around many of those). No one can 100 percent guarantee the behavior of his/her dog (well maybe owners of some highly trained dogs can–I dunno). Regardless, in my opinion, it is common courtesy and respectful to accommodate those guests who are fearful of, or just do not want to be around dogs. Having had a fear of big dogs, I am very sensitive to this issue.
I am super careful with my foster dogs as well and do not let random people approach or pet them. Since I do not know these dogs well and often only have each for a short while–I do not trust them around others and err on the side of caution–no matter how sweet or docile the dogs may appear to be.
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I have owned dogs pretty much all my life, big and small, and have never had a guest try to pick up my dog! How weird! I have never even thought to try to pick up anyone else’s small dog either. That is bizarre behavior. I have cats right now (our last dog died during COVID) and no one tries to pick them up either unless I offer (one is an exceptionally friendly cat who doesn’t mind being picked up).
Pretty much all the kids I have encountered while walking my dogs through the years have asked if they could pet them. This is just common courtesy. I happily let kids pet my dogs. I think it’s great for the kids and the dogs both. It socializes both of them to the other and doesn’t foster fear. I am always in control of my dogs.
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