We were really hoping by now to retire Misty's big ol' crate. We've had her for nearly six months and she's now housetrained, etc., etc., etc. -- and we'd REALLY like to get this enormous crate out of our living area and stored away in the garage, but Misty JUST ISN'T HAVING IT.

Misty LOVES her crate. Absolutely loves it. Any time we give her a treat or a new toy, she first has to take it to her crate before she does anything else with it. She isn't mean about her crate possession, and she doesn't spend an unhealthy amount of time in it (she's still very active and sociable), but she always has to have it THERE. As far as she's concerned, it's hers and how dare we even think about removing it from the house.

We've tried all sorts to tricks to get her to abandon it. We've tried leaving the door open, taking the top off of it, taking the cushion out of it ... NOPE, Husky refuses to abandon it. If we remove it, she grumbles, whines, and goes searching the house for it -- or she sits by the door to the garage and whines and scratches until we bring the crate back into the house from the garage. Yeah, we did try just ignoring her whining, but we gave in after she spent two days staring at a door without eating or drinking.

Misty even still sleeps in the crate at night. In the morning, we try to get her to come out of the crate to let her out, and she takes her ol' sweet time about it. Every other dog I've had eagerly charged out of the crate in the mornings to go out. Not THIS dog. Every other dog I've had abandoned the crate when given a chance and staked out other territories in the house for sleeping, etc. Not THIS dog.

It's WEIRD -- almost like reverse crate training. Instead of trying to get the dog to use the crate and be happy with it, we can't get our dog to abandon it! Misty has all but proclaimed, "My crate is my castle!" Maybe her being a former abandoned/shelter dog has something to do with it ...?

So, any other ideas on how to retire this massive crate from my house without traumatizing the dog? Or should we just accept the fact that a huge dog crate is now part of the furniture?

Where do you want her to go if she doesn't have the crate? Where would you like her new space to be? My girl lives under our coffee table. My other dog lives between the coffee table and a side chair. They do like having their own space to feel like it's theirs and it's quiet and safe. I would say move the crate where you think you want her new spot to be like next to the couch or something and put it there. You might have to move some stuff around temporarily to get the huge crate to fit, but put it there and cover it with a towel. when she gets used to that new spot try removing the crate but leave the crate bottom with her bed and the towel that used to cover the crate draped over the place maybe across a chair like a kid's sheet fort. See how she does. Basically give the illusion of the crate still being there in the new spot you want to be hers and then slowly dismantle it. The crate is a security blanket. Like with little kids it takes time to get them to forget that they need it and that they are fine without it. We spend weeks, sometimes months, trying to get dogs to accept the crate. It's possible that some dogs will take just as long to be comfortable without it.

Thanks very much for the advice, Jenn! We started placing a towel over Misty's crate over the weekend to get her used to it. She didn't like it at first -- she would pull the towel off the crate before heading into it. She's getting used to the towel, though -- hasn't touched in in a couple of days. Now that she's used to the towel, we can start slowly making more changes. Slow and steady, right?

Ha ha, I think Rumo cheered when we put his crate away!!
This is so interesting.
Agreed that the huge crate is not a stylish addition to one's living area...

The gradual transition sounds like a great idea!
It worked for us...

Rumo's' dog bed was getting thin and flat, so I bought him a new one, thinking he would be overjoyed. Instead, he refused to lay on it for many days. I started leaving both beds out, side by side, at night...we found him sometimes sleeping on the new one, then ALWAYS sleeping on the new one...recently I put the old one away. Time of transition just from the old dog bed to new dog bed: around 3 weeks!  

( They are so different from us humans - my daughter laid on his new bed (memory foam) and was like, "I want one too!" )

Dogs are weird. The first almost year, Ami spent nights in a crate in the shop. Since then he has been in the house. Now Z'ev has a crate in the sun room where he sleeps st night (only time he's not muzzled is on the crate) for the past month or so, after Ami comes inside late evening, he sleeps in Z'ev's crate until last pee before everyone goes to their sleeping spots.

It might be that Misty is very attached to the crate because it's one of the first things she's ever had that is definitely HERS. Who knows?

Moved the cushion out of the crate and put it in a corner with the towel over it - and she actually went and laid on it a bit last night before going back into her crate. So far, so good ...!