My girl slept through the night without peeing or pooing right from the start. If you are crating her normallly during the day, then putting her there while you're eating should not feel like punishment to her. They sell "ziggies" that you can put into her Kong - they last a lot longer than filling it with stuff. Incidentally, cheeze whiz is not a good snack - peanut butter in there is good, and they also have stuff specifically made for squirting into the Kong. We have also given Shaye the chicken hardpressed bones by Nylabone, and when we have company over to play dominoes or something, one of those will keep Shaye busy long enough to get to her quiet time anyway. We've found that once Shaye is down for the night, she is down to stay. Most others I've spoken to agree sleeping outside the crate won't hurt anything, and makes crating easier - saying that, Shaye was never crateable, and we tried everything out there. Confinement and separation issues.