My Jamie is 7 1/2 years old and try as we might to make sure everything is put up, she will STILL somehow find things to get into while we're gone!! She's simmered down on that a bit over the last year or two, but NOW we crate her while we're gone because if we don't, we come home to find her in the crate, anyway. We figure it's like a safety blanket for her, she feels safe and secure in there. It's funny though, she has our routine down so well that if we even go through the motions of getting ready to leave (even if we aren't going to leave, ie, take a shower or blow dry my hair), she will put herself in her crate!!

Another reason we crate her, too, is she is on DES (diethylstilbestrol) life-long for urinary incontinence... since we're renting a condo I don't want to take a chance at her peeing if we're gone too long... add prednisone on top of that for her seasonal allergies and she's a peeing machine lately!!!

Jamie would sure love a big bone like that, though!!!!!