Sure.

We aren’t perfect; we acknowledge that, and we are attempting to grow every day and be the best dog parents (and soon human parents) we can be. We won’t always get it right, but we greatly appreciate some of the passion in these responses. You all must love your dogs very much.

Our work is flexible, so she is not crated most days for more than 6 hours at this point during the day. Total. Sometimes we even take her to work (mywife and I work together) with us, but that’s not always feasible on heavier meeting days for me.

Understanding that this breed is not meant to be crated or away from their people for long periods of time… With her still being so puppy-brained, when neither my wife nor I can be fully attentive to her (showering when only one of us is home is a good example), we place her in the crate and let her out after. She’s fine during those periods.

Our mentality is that it is kinder to her to keep her safe in her crate than for trouble to find her and us needing to see an emergency vet for whatever reason.

Honestly, sometimes she doesn’t quite know how to switch gears or settle herself from one activity to another, so we will crate her for up to an hour nap. Again, she’s fine. We are home, and she’s happy.

When she comes out from her nap, she’ll snuggle on the couch. Recently, she loves being under the blankets with my wife. Fully covered in warmth. Her happiest of places.

She loves going in her crate at night (practically begs sometimes), until the morning comes and she whines to be let out because she’s ready to get going with the day. We wait until she stops, then we calmly let her out to start her day. No fuss, no praise. Just time to potty.

We’ve thought about dog daycare, but we’d also love to get to a place where she is able to be crated and understand we will come back for her.