I have always had a crate for my two dogs and today, I have decided to try them without it. My Cavaliers are now 2 & 3 years old and both are very well behaved. Its always been so convenient to pop them in while their feet dry off after walks, after going out into the garden in wet weather, when I'm mopping the floors and when we have visitors for the first 10 mins or so until they settle down but as we only have a large kitchen/diner and lounge, the 43" crate up constantly in the kitchen takes up quite a bit of space and is a bit of an eye sore. I have put it in the garage, spring cleaned the whole kitchen, washed their tuffies bed and it looks fantastic, there's a feeling of so much more space now. I'm going to go to Argos later and buy a dog gate for the kitchen doorway so that when we do have visitors, I can close the gate but the dogs aren't shut away in the kitchen unable to see whats going on. It's strange though, I feel kind of insecure without the crate for some reason.

I know that feeling :-).  I move mine on from crates when I feel they are responsible enough but it is hard to pick the day.  A spring clean is a good prompt isn't it.

i tried this the other day with my male gsd- hes 18 months....BIG mistake he was well a little naughty shall we say during the night. needless to say the crate was back up the next day!...the crates big enough for a mastiff so you can imagine i have a giant eye sore in my kitchen...not to mention the crate ! :D

Oooo do tell Qwerty.......what did he do???

> I'm going to go to Argos later and buy a dog gate for the kitchen doorway so that when we do have visitors,

This one http://www.bettacare.co.uk/acatalog/Child___Pet_Gate.html is a lot better than the Lintran one in Argos (I have both, and have twice broken the lift up handle on the Lintran).

Thank you for that link Barbara. I have just this minute read your post and have already been to   Argos and bought this one ......http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8704267/Trail/searchtext%3EDOG+GATE.htm   There is a problem with it though, in the description it stated that it was removable without tools so I assumed that it had the tension wheels but it doesn't, you have to screw into the door casing and I don't want to do that. The one you have though looks like it has the tension wheels? I shall order one now  :-)  Thanks again!