In a SMALL minority of dogs, crates are not a good idea. My ex-wife and I crated our first dog, Bear, when we were gone. What we didn’t realize was that he suffered from seperation anxiety and what is know as “crate syndeome”. When we were gone, he would try to chew his way out of the crate. Upshot is, by the time we realized this, he had broken off one of his lower fang teeth ( that’s when we noticed ) and killed all the little lower teeth between his fang teeth. We took him to a vetrenary dental specialist ( they exist- rare, but becoming more common ) who explained this to us, and noted that it was most common among Shephard and Shephard mix dogs. The old solution was to pull the broken fang, but this inevitably broke the dog’s jaw, leading to weeks of a wired mouth and misery for both dog and owner. We elected to have what is called a “vital pulpotomy” done, which saved the fang. The dead front teeth were pulled. This cost us about $1k, but was best for both Bear and us. Fortunately, by the time it happened, he was old enough that he no longer needed to be crated, he would behave himself when we weren’t home.
sigh God, I miss my dogs. sigh ( Ex got them in the divorce, I wish she’d let me see them occasionally)
Depending on the intelligence of your dog, you may not need a crate. My dog was raised without one, and she’s perfectly fine being left alone when I’m at work. However, she did have an enclosed area (about the size of a crate) made with cushions and blankets that had a “pack” smell to them. She was regularly visited while confined (at least twice during the work day) to be allowed to eat her fill, drink her fill, and then use the facilities. Playtime for a few minutes after that, and then back to her nest while the rest of us went back to work. After a couple of weeks, we never had unintentinal accidents (although when she was really upset with us, we did have a few intentional “accidents”). As a bonus, she self-feeds from a bowl of kibble she has near 24 hour access to, has free access to most of the house when we’re not home (except for Esprix’s room, for obvious but unstated reasons), and has very little separation anxiety.
One downsied to that method is it encouraged her to become very resourceful in finding ways out of her “nest” when she got bored. She has become quite the accomplished escape artist, and demonstrates that when she feels the need. Thankfully that is rare! 
JOhn.
But how to learn the proper method? It’s true that you should do the actual training of your dog to build a bond. But I would still recommend a class to train yourself. There are a ton of good books out there, and I wouldn’t hesitate that people read and use several of them (I liked ‘The Culture Clash’ quite a bit). But sometimes one-on-one instruction and feedback is very valuable.
Many humane societies across the country offer low-cost obedience training classes regularly. The ones I’ve been to have relatively small groups, and excellent instructors. They teach you how to train your dog effectively, help in building bonds, and allow your dog a chance to socialize in a controlled environment. One I participated in even offered the first class for free. What’s not to like about that?
Certainly, some people and some dogs will do fine without pro instruction. But I’ve watched numerous people struggle with training their dogs (myself included with our Basenjis). And everytime someone I knew took a class it helped.
jkusters, I’m not sure if it has a lot to do with intelligence. 
Anyway, I think you’re still talking about ‘crate training’, even if you didn’t have an actual crate. The idea was still there. Sounds like you did a good job regardless. Oh, and I know all about escape artists! I think my dogs may rival Houdini. . .
I don’t know whether or not intelligence factors in to it. I do know, however, that breed certainly does. Some breeds are naturally more difficult to train than others. You can find out the basics about your breed by searching the American Kennel Club at http://www.akc.org.
I believe the majority of dog owners would be satisfied with a calm, well behaved dog. This can be acomplished by most anybody able to read and follow instructions. And what I mean by basic obed. is sit, stay, heel, etc. that’s all. I just feel these things are easier to achieve, especially with a young dog, in a less stressful situation with as few distractions as possible. There are many other opportunities to socialize your dog with other dogs and people if you look for them.
Maybe I’m just letting my own personal experience with dogs cloud my judgement in thinking that dog training is easier than it is. But I still think that you should give it a shot and at least try it, then if your having no success perhaps it would be a good idea to get professional help.
In general I agree with you except ‘heel’ is a very hard behavior to train (at least train well). A professional dog trainer I talked to said that even with Border Collies (what she had and eminently trainable dogs…perhaps the best) they plan on two full years of almost daily training for the dog to get it perfectly.
Sit, stay and come are certainly easily within the reach of anyone however and this suits most people just fine for a pet. Repetition and consistency are the watchwords here as well as a non-violent approach (i.e. praise or treat the dog for desired behavior, don’t punish undesired behavior).
One thing to do when training your pet is to ‘proof’ the behavior. That is, test the dog to be certain it has understood (really understood) what is expected of it. For instance, many dogs will sit on command but will they stay that way? Ideally the dog shouldn’t move from a sit or stay till you tell it to do so. The release command should always be the same and something unique (i.e. “You’re free”). What often happens is the dog is taught the behavior and you walk over and say, “Good girl” while releasing her. She now hooks “Good girl” with “You’re free” and you don’t want that.
To proof the dog have it sit and then try to trick it into moving (don’t say “Come here” as that is too unfair). However, throwing treats around her paws or tugging on the leash are good tests (among others…be creative, use a favorite toy or something). If your dog can consistently pass tests like these you can be comfortable in knowing your dog’s behavior. Very useful if, say, you tell your dog to sit near a busy street so you can use both hands to get something out of the car and be comfortable knowing she won’t dash into traffic.
I want to point out that this particularly useless comment was not made by the member “grimpixie,” but rather a look-alike sock called “gri r n pixie.”
Thank you.