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Originally Posted by lara2913  Well, I don't like them because dogs are not animals that do well caged in small spaces. I would rather spend longer potty training them and not have to put my puppy in a cage. Puppies in crates still need to be taken to their toileting area as much as ones who have free rein, crates don't magically expand their bladders, like people think, they just force puppies to hold their bladder/bowels for longer than they should by abusing the fact that dogs don't like to mess in their beds.
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I kind of agree- I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with crating- in fact I had to with my bigger spaniel because she used to tear up the carpet/eat whatever she could whether it was edible or not. But I think with Yorkie's they're so little that unless you're going to take them out once every 30 minutes they can't really hold it as long even at 6 mos or so! I tried crate training my Roo at about 6 or 7 mos and she would pee in her crate even if I only left her in there for like an hour and she had just peed before we left- I even had the crate blocked off in the back- her bladder was just too small! Plus she would cry all night long if I crated her at night and couldn't make it even 4 or 5 hours in there without an accident- it just wasn't worth it! At 9 mos she's still not 100% potty trained but we're both a lot happier =)
ps to the original poster I think leaving him out is fine especially if he's not having accidents- as others have said he's definitely old enough- however if you're going to make him stay in his crate over night after all- do it now or else he'll be confused and it'll be even harder to get him to stay in there all night without whining!