Loki stays in his crate when we are not home. He is almost a year and a half. He is extremely well trained and well behaved, but the crate is safest. I worry that he will hurt himself if he is out when we are not home. He is only allowed certain indestructable chew toys in his crate, and he has destroyable toys
when he is out. There are electrical cords. There are garbage cans. Plus, if he rings his bells to go out and no one hears him, that ruins his bell training. He is not left for long periods of time, even if he could be. We were gone for 6 hours yesterday and I had a friend let him out. He sleeps in his crate, which is probably all he would do if he were out, so he might as well do it in his crate. I'm not trying to convince you, but I thought it might make you feel better about your current situation.