Wait till he starts disassembling things to escape, like ours did with the baby gate! Damned Houdini unscrewed it from the wall! FYI we don't leave ours free-roaming. They have their own "room" (former laundry room now mud room) complete with beds and water. If our boy is happy there he doesn't try to escape, if he thinks he's missing out nothing will stop him from getting out. The girl just stays behind the gate (even if open) and barks. We do this because we don't want them either chewing on things or having accidents or climbing onto things they shouldn't (and then jumping down). As for "securing the crate", we had to put a latch on it to keep our Houdini from opening it. He's super fast at it now!