Crating isn’t new. It’s a very effective training tool - basically, the idea is to provide a “den” for your dog when you’re away, keeping him safe from household dangers and keeping your house safe from mass destruction. Also, it is used as a tool for housebreaking, as a puppy will almost never soil its crate. It will rather raise a fuss and ask to be let out - you can see how this helps teach the notion of “ask to go relieve yourself”.
Crate training also is a blessing if your dog ends up sick or injured and his movement has to be restricted. With crating, you know exactly where the dog is, and he can’t run around hurting himself. If he’s at the vet, he’s also less likely to freak out, because the crate isn’t a foreign element to him.
For those of us who work with working animals, the crates have been used for a VERY long time for transport - it’s safer to put the dogs in crate in the vans, safely secured to the vehicle’s “floor” than to have bouncing labs who hop over seats and become projectiles in case of accident.
It’s also a great way to keep a dog out of the way when you’re out tracking or doing SAR work - when on site, it remains crated with a chew toy or something to do until it’s time to work, and you have your hands free to get your info, get your maps, talk to other people, without having to worry about your working dog getting into things, or being in the way.
While Zap just had a bad experience with her crate because she tipped it over, she is also safer in there (or penned) than loose in the house. She’s an Aussie With A Mission, which involves finding things to do, when I’m not home. She will happily go find something to chew or tear apart, or will see squirrels in the back yard and bark like a madwoman, or will pick a fight with another household dog over a toy. Crated, she can’t. She has her Kong, stuffed with goodies, and that keeps her busy if she’s awake. Otherwise, she sleeps.
Crates are also very useful when you have guests over and you don’t want the dogs running around - face it, we have 3 in the house right now, so it can get pretty chaotic, no matter how well trained they all are… if coats or harnesses are not on, dogs are being dogs… with a good chew or a stuffed Kong, crate 'em up, and they keep themselves busy while you don’t have to worry about them.
Valen, who is prone to separation anxiety, NEEDS his crate. I made the mistake of “taking it away” from him this year, and with all our moving around and such, he totally freaked out on us. We thought he was sick - he’d sit and pant and shake all morning after lno left for work, and if I’d leave too, he was in a TOTAL frenzy. Turns out it was pure separation anxiety. Now that he’s got a “house” (crate) again, he’s FINE. He sleeps in there all the time (even when we’re home and its door is open), hides his favourite toys in there, an takes his favourite chews in, knowing that Zap and Spanky will NOT go into his house. That’s HIS safe spot.
Crates should never be used as a punishment for the dogs. It’s their safe spot. Some, who were abused, or in the pound with issues, continue having issues with being penned up and crated. Most pups raised well from puppyhood take to crates readily, even if they fuss a little when they’re little.
Hope that answers that.
Some people, like my grandfather, are terrified of dogs. He also had a knee replaced, and he can’t take (for example) my parents’ 75lb Golden Retriever knocking him in the knees.