To Crate or Not to Crate

We started out with a nylon crate with both Valentina and Katya.  The first crate that my husband ordered  for Katya was too small, eventually. I found and ordered a jumbo-sized crate from Amazon when it was obvious the smaller one would no longer work for Katya.  We moved the smaller one downstairs, and used it for keeping Katya safe and out of mischief when we both left the house. Katya determined when she would no longer be crated downstairs by ripping out the main "screen door" in the crate.  A few weeks ago, we decided to stop crating Katya at night. We left the crate in the bedroom, with the screen up. The first night that Katya was allowed to be free, she quietly stayed on one of the dog beds in the bedroom, almost as if she thought she was getting away with something. We did have a couple of accidents. A couple of nights she got up, forgot to come over to the bed to let us know that she had to go out, wandered downstairs, got flustered when no one answered the bell, and peepeed or poopeed on the tile floor close to the door. But, that's all in the learning curve -- she is doing very well during the day, and we feel we just have to give her a little leeway while growing and learning her body system. We have a strip of jingle bells on the door with a small bell attached at the bottom of the strip. We thought that perhaps she got downstairs, did ring the bell, but we didn't hear her while we were sleeping upstairs. Enter, the brainchild of my husband.  He ordered a baby monitor from Amazon, set it up at the back door downstairs and by the side of our bed. It was pure genius -- not only can you hear the bells ring, you can hear every lap of water from the water bowl, AND you can even hear Katya scratching at the outside of the door to get in.  Problem solved.  I've read all the positive information about crating dogs, but I still don't buy it. I'm sure it really depends on the personality of the dog. Great Danes are extremely intelligent, and if left in boring environments, they can go looney. One person told us that his son and daughter-in-law had a Great Dane that destroyed the entire set of backyard furniture. I asked if the dog was left alone most of the day and night, and the answer was "yes." I've seen description of constructions of Great Dane-sized crates, (essentially chain-link fence inside of a laundry room) and I find it a little ridiculous. I do understand that many people work jobs that keep them away from home for 8 to 10 hours a day. When I had my first 2 Danes, I worked (taught school) only 5 blocks away, so I could rush home to check on the Dane and Dalmation during lunch. I did give them the run of the back yard during good weather conditions.  They had a dog house and lots of trees for shade. This was in Arizona, but even in Arizona, it can be cold a few weeks in the winter and very hot in the summer, so they were inside the house in extremes of weather. I have retired from school teaching in secondary education and higher education, and I work on my writing from home, so the dogs stay inside with me most of the time. Great Danes are very sensitive to temperature extremes. I know they are big guys, but they are not built for the cold, or for hot extremes. I'm not sure if I would have gotten a Dane if I had worked away from home, and were unable to go home at lunch. I know what is said about a dog crate being a protective cave for the dog.  We leave the jumbo crate in the bedroom, but Katya never sleeps in it now that we don't zip her in. (We plan to continue using the jumbo crate in the hotel for a while when we travel. Last trip we had the crate set up in the van for the actual drive as well as in the hotel, but next time we will not set up the crate in the car, and will use it only in the hotel.)  We have dog beds (lots!) in the bedroom, but the pupsters' favorites are two large dog beds placed in a line against the wall, separated with a  king-sized pillow  and rimmed with pillows on 3 sides, against the wall, used as bolster pillows. Valentina still grumbles at Katya if she tries to sit on her or jump on her while she is sleeping, but she never grumbles about Katya's company in the adjacent dog bed. They have become regular buddies.