Originally posted by Pit Chick
I've rescued young and old dogs and managed to crate train them. And these are usually dogs that have lived their entire lives outside. I rescued a senior Dalmatian that had apparently been an outside dog all his life and he became very attached to his crate and would open the door to let himself in.
In these cases it sounds like all the situations were for the better. If I was a dog who had to live outside all the time and someone brought me into a nice inside environment where I didn't have to put up with heat, cold, weather in general anymore, I would love a nice cozy crate. However, that is not the case here. I still say I would NOT crate train this dog at 13 years of age. I would make something else work. If however, all else is tried and nothing else works and the dog is in danger of hurting itself, then (and only then) would I consider a crate for this particular dog.

You can bring the dog to my doggie daycare center and I will watch him for you during the day!