Kallie is crate trained. This is a decision my wife and I made before we adopted a dog. This was one of the smartest decisions we have ever made. Kallie does not love her crate. She does not dislike it either. It is a place that she goes for bedtime or when both of us leave the house. I have seen the destruction that this puppy can cause when she wakes up early from a nap on the couch with me. If she does that in five minutes I shudder at the thought of what she could do if given the run of the house. Not to mention the cats. We have two cats that have been with us longer than Kallie. The older cat tolerates her well. The younger cat hides until he hears the crate latch or the leash snap on...smart cat. More on them later. Some people find it cruel to crate train a dog. I believe that is essential to their well being as well as our sanity. I would hate to come home to find that she had hurt herself or hurt the cats. It has also been a good tool in the establishment of ourselves as alphas in the house. She knows that she is greeted last and must wait her turn patiently upon my arrival home. The crate has never been used as a punishment. It would be entirely unproductive to lock her away for misbehaving. The crate comes with us when we travel. It makes us much more tolerable house guests. People tend to mind you having your puppy at their house less when they know she will not be causing too much trouble. She rides in the backseat of the truck when we drive. We do not put her in the crate in the back because it gets too cold. She has been up and down the state of California with her crate and has a trip to the Oregon coast planned in a couple of weeks. Who knows where we will go next, this is only the beginning of her many journeys.