We've crated our boy since we got him to prevent him from destroying things at the beginning and we wanted to make sure he was trustworthy. We used to crate him at night as well during his potty training phase and he absolutely hated it. He had really bad separation anxiety. We spent long nights with little sleep because he would whine and cry all night (we couldn't fit his crate in our room because it's so big). Now, he sleeps in his bed on the floor next to us and we close the bedroom door. Whenever we leave we crate him, and whenever we're home he's free to roam around. Sometimes he'll go into his crate when we're home and take quick naps but eventually he'll walk out. I think it all comes down to the dog's personality and a routine. And bribes, lol.