Another set of silly newbie questions from old poodlenoodle! Sorry.

My boy is now 7 months old and 26" at the shoulder. He has two crates, one is made of tall pen-panels constructed in a 36"square with a fifth panel for a lid, and is in our bedroom. It has layered vetbed in it. He overnights in it, most nights, usually but not always with the door shut. Sometimes he is left loose all night but he tends to climb on our bed (which is our fault because we like a cuddle just not all night, he always gets down immediately if told to) or wander and either wake the kids with a friendly cold nose or drink from the toilet (i always shut the door and leave the lid down but the kids aren't so reliable!).

Downstairs he has a large (36"X48"X31") crate. His food and water are in there on a strip of lino at one end, there is a large deep cushion in the rest of the space.

During the day he is crated if we are all out but as I don't work and have three little ones those times are generally short. So say 8.40-9.15 while I drive the kids to school (if I walk them he comes with us) or 12.50-1.10 while I take himself to nursery. He is NEVER crated for more than 4 hours and I think he's been created that long twice in his life (once when I was at A&E getting a child x-rayed - we never plan to crate him that long). I have left him loose in the hall before but unfortunately he is in his second big chewing phase already and despite raw chews almost daily and continuous access to various chewy treats, he would rather eat a shoe. Thus we still use the crate. In the daytime crate he has his food and water bowls (though he is fed in there he is not free fed so the food bowl is mostly empty) and if I have to leave him he usually has a frozen-something (raw paddywhack/heart/tripe/duck neck) or dried-something (paddywhack/ear/tripe strip). I don't give him rawhide or anything with bones he can't just crunch up as I worry about him choking when alone. He does have bigger raw bones when I'm here.

Anyway there is tons of background, I have two questions:

1) I recently met someone who is a "dog person" (met via but not at training club, nothing to do with training club, but used to attend and is a dog walker/trainer by trade) who was ADAMANT that crate time is the total time in the crate and NOT as I'd been counting, time SHUT in the crate. He often sleeps in there during the day, but as the door is clipped open and he is free to come and go as he pleases, I don't count it as crate time. This person says all crate time should be taken into account and not just time he's shut in. And thus, for example, if he's opted to snooze in there for an hour and a half in the middle of the afternoon, he should not be crated if I go out to collect the girls from school. Is this true and if so can someone explain why? He really likes his crate, which I thought was a good thing, but not of he's "using up" the acceptable time in it by sleeping and not when I actually need to contain him!

2) when is a good time to transition to a bed overnight rather than a crate? He is completely reliable in his housetraining, not had an accident for 3 months. My main worry is that he will chew something he shouldn't as puberty is well under way and he is definitely chewing more and tougher things. He, and we, enjoy him upstairs with us all but it's harder for us to make everything completely safe there, the computer equipment for example, wrapped as it us with the cable tidies, would still make a tempting chew. When do most people pack the overnight crates away?

Many thanks in advance.

Mines 8- still got a crate. its rarely shut- its up to her if she wants to go in and I do not count that as 'crate time'
I keep it as sometimes have visiters who are not good with dogs and its a hell of a lot easier if I haven't got paniced guests who fear dog, and she doesn't like children so its a bad idea to have her loose around kids.
nothing wrong with using a crate as long as it isn't abused as punishment or long confinements.  Its a nice little private bedroom.

Rubbish, crate time would be shut in time, the rest of the time the dog chooses where to go which may be the crate.

I have one crate in kitchen and five dog beds, the door is always open unless I need to shut someone in for some reason (a pup on extra meals, someone after an operation).

I have sometimes had a youngster sleep in one at night shut in, but current youngster hasn't been a general chewer, (other than plastic) and didn't like being shut in, so has for her whole 17 months been loose.

I have never shut nay of mine in a  crate in the daytime other than when away from home, but do shut everyone in the kitchen when out, and unfortunately youngest has chewed the edges of some the plastic beds, but not my kitchen cupboards which I have sprayed with anti-chew spray from the time pups were running around..

We got our crate back out this summer as we have pups.
As soon as our 6 year old spaniel saw it he was straight in there! We have to haul him out if we need to put the pups in there. If it were up to him he'd stay in there all day and night. Our back door is usually open and the dogs potter in and out as they like, but since the crate has reappeared, he'd much prefer to be in there.
I understand that all dogs are different, but I do think sometimes people see a crate as a cage, rather than favourite place for a dog to be.

I consider crate time to be time when the human decides the dog has to be in the crate, e.g. if you were training stay and asking the dog to stay in the crate with door open then I would consider that crate time. If the dog chooses the crate that's his time not crate time.

My boy still sleeps in his soft crate in our room on a night he walks straight in for his night time biscuit and is happy in there until whatever time we get up. He's happy, we're happy no point changing.

Can't comment on day time crate as were really lucky he's never chewed anything so isn't crated while out.

Zuma was 9 in July, he has 2 crates - they both have an 'up & over door' not the side hinge type - one up and one down.
He was shut in when we were out till he was about 10-12 months for safety

He is currently dozing in the down one, the up one is in spare room and sometimes he sleeps in it , sometimes out on the landing.

His down one is great as he knows he will not be disturbed and asked to move 'out of the way'.
He has learned 'in your box' means go in when I sometimes shut the door, quite often , if someone comes round I will just put the door down without even fastening it and he will stay in till they have gone, come out, then winge later that the door is still down and he can't get back in for a doze

Oh fgs.  How can anybody say 'crate time' kicks in whether or not a dog is shut in a crate?    For me 'crate time' means being SHUT IN the crate, not just going off to sleep in there with the door open.

That said, our two, now 7 and 8 years, still sleep overnight in their crates, in my room with me.   We don't use their crates, other than in the car at all now other than that, and haven't since about 6 months, both.    We do confine them to the kitchen when we go out however.   And all of this, apart from the safety of crating in the car, is down to having to rent and not wanting mistakes as apart from the kitchen the place is fully carpeted.    And I can't leave crates up all the time in our currently small kitchen.   I move their day beds in there when we go out with a baby gate across the kitchen door so we don't have to shut the door on them when in there.

I think by 6 months, unless you have to use a crate as I do, you should be able to pack the crate away, or have it in the car!!   And re car travel, our Whippet rides in a crate in the car because she's light and if we had a crash, could 'fly'.   We only use a crate for our Basset, who rides behind her crate which is width-ways behind the front seats, if we are doing a long trip - not for local trips around town.   I can't see 35 kg of Basset 'flying', crash situation or not.   And he's have to get past her crate in any case.

Haha our crates won't fit in our car! we have an smax though and he rides in the third row with only one seat up (so he can sit on the seat or lie in the boot as he pleases) with one of those seat belt clip tethers attached to a crash-safe harness and plugged into one of the seatbelt buckles. As a teenager I knew someone whose neck was broken (no permanent damage done thank goodness) by their chocolate lab flying into the front in a bad crash and hitting their head, so I'd not be too sure on the flight aspect, but they had no guard or anything.

Thanks to everyone, you have confirmed my first thought which was "wait...what!?". It made no sense at all to me and I decided I was either right or missing something huge. It's just possible her dogs don't like their crate though, in which case maybe they do go in and stay in with the door open but only as directed to, and yes, I do count that as crate time (if I told him to go in and wait) but I rarely do it for more than a minute or two because he's still a pup and a long "wait" is beyond him. I think overnight freedom will need to wait until his chewing urges have calmed down again.

What a lot of rubbish, by that reckoning my whippet bitch must have done "jail time" as she spent 20 hours a day in her crate rolled up invisible in her duvet, door never shut she just loved her prison!!  If you must define crate time then it would be with the door shut so the dog is unable to leave, if your dog is chewing again then it's perfectly acceptable to confine him when you are out, for me that would include being upstairs doing housework or any other time when he is not in sight. Alternatively you could put all your shoes and other tempting articles in a cupboard or up high or in a crate to keep them safe, far better not to come back into the room and have to face another chewed valuable.

I remived the crates once they were only using them voluntarily and when I was happy to leave them free when I went out . The crates was a 48 inch in once case and although I wouldn't have been without it even in my reasonable sized kitchen to big for being permanent. Their beds  are now in the same places as where the crate was

That's my long term plan ff! I use the commands "go to bed" or " take it to bed" (when handing over a chewy something) with this in mind.

Yep that's the ones. Also if u are learning sendaway at trying u are half way there because they know the command to go to bed

Crate time is surely time they are shut in on our terms rather than on their own!

Mine is 3 years old and still in a crate at night, for traveling, and if I am leaving the house (unless popping out for a 10/15 mins).

She's loose in the puppy room (outside of the pen) at the moment incase she wants to give them some tough love. But when the keeper pup is crate trained they will both be back in their respective crates :)

I have issues keeping them out of them, as puppies they where taught go in get a treat, now having multiply dogs for safety when I am going out or just need them out of the way for any reason shake the biscuit box they come running, but dog room is where back door is so letting them in and out when weather means door cannot be left open means they jump straight into them wanting a treat, but they all travel in crates for safety human and canine.

Sometimes they go to their own crate for a bit of me time and peace and quite from the others