I tink my main issue with crates is that we have had this line for some time, that dogs are den animals and love crates as they are substitute dens. But where did this oipinion that a den constituting a crate only large enough for the dog to turn around, would be a satisfactory place for a dog to spend more that a few hours or overnight? I haven't found a believable answer to that yet; it seems to have emerged as a given on the basis of little more that that it must be so because we find it convenient for it to be so.
One could equally argue that wolves are den animals, or wild dogs. But imagine going to a zoo where all these animals were locked into cages barely large enough for them to turn around -- and you were told, 'They are very happy in there, they only sleep during the day. They don't want to get up and move around.' I do not think there's a zoo left that considers such a small space a satisfactory enclosure for an animal for hours on end. A wild dog's den also isn't a tiny enclosed space, but a large space in which the dogs get up, shift around, and resettle, or play for a bit, or go out into the sunshine, interact, or whatever. I'm home most of the time with the three I have and they would never stay in one small spot for the day or more than a couple of hours. If I tried to enclose them for a long period, even though they are crate trained, they would start to whine to get out.
So are long hours in a crate remotely natural, or are they something we train our dogs to tolerate -- after all they are highly trainable -- because it is more convenient for us to manage them in this way? I feel the latter is true, and therefore feel that while some basic crate training is useful, that most dogs will accept a crate as needed anyway and needn't be assigned to long hours every week in a crate in order to train them to accept such confinement, nor should they be left in such a small space as a ruti re way of 'keeping them out of trouble. (surely an enclosed room with anything valued up off the floor will keep them out of trouble, in a happier, more comfortable environment?).
Over time I have also become more and more uncomfortable with the regularity with which crating is used during daytime, and how it has somehow, in the space of a decade or two, passed into the norm of what you do with your dog when you are gone for hours.
I think all of us have to be *persuaded* at first that crating a dog is acceptable to a dog. We all initially feel this is too small a space and cannot be acceptable for long periods. Then we are told by a vague 'they' -- on the basis of little more that 'they say' that dogs think it is their den, that dogs really find it fine to spend a day in a crate -- that this is the best way to confine a dog.
I haven't been able to find anything authoritative that supports this stance for either the size of space or the time that is now routinely recommended as 'acceptable' periods for a dog to be crated. Yes, dogs and canids use a den but never something so small, for so long, as is used to enclose dogs these days.
How do we go from a gut feeling that this isn't right, to being persuaded in large numbers that dogs will be very happy in such a small space? This would have been a totally unacceptable view when I was younger (eg 60s, 70s and 80s), before a household had two people out working all day. I can remember when I first encountered crate trained dogs (early 90s) -- they went into their crates for the night and my mother and I thought it very strange.
Crating for longer than 30 -45 minutes when housetraining went so against what, for me, seemed like a fulfilling, stimulating life for a puppy that I could never do this to Jaspar. I'd crate him in the time leading up to when he would need to do his wees and poops, as a method of helping create a routine, and rarely for longer than 20-30 minutes. And then he was out being a puppy and playing. This worked very well. I did the whole routine of encouraging him to use the crate and see it as his 'den' and he was having none of it. He'd go in if he had to and that was it.
That said, all three including Lily, never crate trained in her life, will happily go into a crate for transport or to sleep overnight or anything I might need it for within a modest usage framework. Jaspar in particular associates the crate with going somewhere inteeresting and he goes right into it when I have it in the car. But I cannot imagine using it as a place they would stay all day, every day, when I am out. If I am to be out and away, they go into a room, they get water and a treat, they have toys and a place to lay, they play a bit and sleep and sit and watch traffic go by and do other do things.
So I am of the opinion now that it is a useful tool in a range of circumstances but I am not persuaded that it is appropriate for long term confinement when an x-pen or room would be more appropriate.