An alternative that we use for Toto is an X-pen. We never confine her to any of her crates unless absolutely necessary ... if we leave her in the car for a few minutes we zip the door of her portable crate where she can't be seen by people in parking areas. But when we are at home, we never ever crate her. If we have to leave her home [which is rare] we just close the gate to her X-pen which gives her lots of room and has all her comfy things ... wee wee pad, water/food, bed, toys, etc. Even though our home is "puppy proofed" we still can't stand the thought of her having all that freedom and noone there to supervise!
