OK so here goes...Duke, my 20 month old Boston Terrier ate my kitchen floor...yup, the whole thing.  At 4 1/2 months old, I kept him gated in the kitchen while I was at work because I thought crating was "cruel."  It started with one little rip of the linoleum.  OK, he looked like he felt bad about it, so I naively "gated" him the following day, giving him his usual run of the kitchen.  When I came home that afternoon, he had managed to rip a 6'x6' spiral circle up, leading me to have to replace my entire kitchen floor.

I have since learned that the crate provides sanity for us both!