Of course the first thing I did was set of Dulce's "office".
Since Dulce is a little dog, I have always set up a cage for her. I think Tara was a bit surprised at that, but I'm a huge believer in the power of the crate. I have gone through the training protocol "Crate Games" and have found it useful.
And yes, Dulce can and does alert while she is in a crate.
When I'm at school, she hangs out in her crate, most of time with the door open. She is comfortable there and knows that she won't be bothered. The kids get a kick out of watching her pull the door open and closed with her paw.
Her crate is under my desk which keeps her close to me.
When we have staff development, I'll take a smaller crate so both hands are free. If we have a short meeting, I'll just take a mat so she still has a defined space.
Both of us tend to prefer the crate, as people can't step on her when she is one – a waiter accidently stepped on her last week when she was loose.
