A lot of people think crating is cruel but they don't understand the principal behind it. My two Labs adore their crates and will sometimes go in them during the day for a snooze. At night when they come in after their last play/pee pee break they automatically go into their crates for the night. They have never had an accident in their crated except for two slight throwing up sessions. I crate them around 10 and am up by 5:30 or so.
I always try to remember to take their collars off during crating time due to possible strangulation
Labmomma