My friend that I live with has a dog as well, some form of a lab mixture and is spayed, her name is Maui. Maui is a stray he found who happened to be house trained, she has never been crated or closed off when left home alone. I feel as though Malfoy still needs to be crate trained. I am glad she is there so he won't be lonely if he ever has to be there alone but I am concerned as to how it will effect his crate training. Also once he is crate trained is it 'fair' or right to put him in the crate and leave Maui out? What would you say the proper protocol for this is?

I am about to attempt the same in my house on Friday with my new puppy...
My trainer said to make sure she can't see any other dogs while crate training. So keep the door closed to whatever room she's in so the other dogs can't tease her. He said eventually she will get used to being in a crate with dogs loose around her and she will know its just her sleep time, not a punishment. But you need to have a really solidly crate trained dog to attempt it... and even then there are no guarantees your Mr. Malfoy will ever accept it. Everyone is different.

I have had a foster that I didn't crate while at the same time I crated my pack. She was a senior GSD andso I let her loose so she could sleep on anything that was comfortable for her. She had a crate to go in with a bed, or my bed, or a couple couches. Most the time she chose the bed to sleep on. I was okay that because all my dogs have gone into their rooms on their own alot when just relaxing around the house. But its your call. I would consider a light blanket or sheet over the crate if want to.

i can understand how it doesn't seem "fair" but if you have to crate train then ya gotta do what you gotta do. Heck, i feel bad knowing my cat is roaming free when my puppy is crated (i know its not quit the same thing). But knowing that my pup cant get into anything dangerous and that crating has helped housetraining (exponentially) makes me feel better about it. Whenever i have to crate her, i try to come up with something she can focus her energy on while shes in there like putting part of her breakfast in the Kong (my vets suggestion) or putting peanut butter on a bone : ). In the end, if crating is whats best for your dog when your not there then i would still do it.