MP - Essentially, dogs are in the crate when 1) you're sleeping 2) you're not home or 3) you can't watch them. It sounds cruel, but we've done it with 4 dogs, and have had really good results. Our golden is now crate free - at 3 (and has been for about 6 months). For the last few months of his crate, he'd head for the crate when he got sleepy (now he gets under my edge of the bed). Helps immensely with house training (dogs won't go in their crate b/c they see it as their den), and keeps pup out of trouble.

CA