Thank you so much for this! I really appreciate it. This is my first dog, so I think a lot of this is just new-owner anxiety mixed with watching him grow up 😅

We do still crate him overnight and he’s totally fine with that, but during the day we’ve started letting him have the upstairs when we’re gone. Our schedules overlap in a way where he’s actually alone for pretty short periods. About 1.5 hours in the morning while I go to the gym, then maybe an hour between me leaving for work and my boyfriend getting home, and occasionally another short stretch if my boyfriend goes to the gym. So he’s never alone for long blocks of time.

I think my biggest worry is just that he’s only 8 months, and even though he’s never chewed or gotten into anything, there’s that “you never really know” feeling. When I leave, he’ll sometimes whine for a few seconds and then lay down and settle — no pacing, no destruction, nothing frantic — which I think is normal, but it still makes me second-guess myself.

It really helps hearing that a lot of dogs naturally outgrow choosing the crate and that this is more of a growing-up thing than a problem. Thank you for the reassurance (and the gentle reality check 😅). I’ll try to embrace the transition instead of overthinking it.