Crating your dogs is a terrible thing???

sorry but i have to "LOL" right now at what Dog_ma said

"Stockholm syndrome"

i love that!

that must be why my dogs are so affectionate. its REALLY sympathy for my plight as a world destroying, flower stompin' human
 

by the way... what are the other orgs. besides PITA? has to be someone who does good things for animal welfare without acting like genocidal maniacs.. besides ASPCA i mean..

I think it depends on your dog. I have a boxer who has terrible seperation anxiety.  If we leave her out she hurts herself gets really upset and tears apart the house.  She is better now with the crate it took a while for her to get use to it but now she knows the routine and waits for us in her crate before we leave the house. when I do laundry she goes in her crate while I am downstairs and lays down.  I have labrapoodle who will chew things but can be left alone without being crated. We however believe it is not fair to crate one and not the other, so he is crated too.  I do not think it is terrible they really do love the crate.  They have there toys and blanket and some treats and they get nap time.

I think the crate is great, we have a time limit i mean it does become cruel after a while.

Crates are like any other tool. They are useful for teaching and for giving the dog a place to retreat to that is his alone, but they can be abused. One only has to look at some of the puppy mill videos to see crate's being abused. Dog's are placed into them and never removed.

 For me the crate is the best method for teaching a new dog the rules of the home. I can contain them when I am not around or being attentive so that we lessen mistakes. Personally I would never leave a dog in a crate for more than a few hours and it is rare for me to even do that. Young pups are contained more and as they grow older and more reliable they are allowed out more until finally they are allowed out all the time.

 My ultimate goal with any dog is to end up with him able to have free reign of the house and be able to place him in his crate should I need to contain him.

edited to add: I know there are dogs that have to be crated longer with issues of seperation anxiety and what not, I have never had that problem so have never needed to crate for more than a few hours at most. Neither of my dogs are crated now unless we have workman over which Hektor hates,in which case we crate him until they are gone.

Liesje

boarding her in a kennel where she would be kept in a tiny cement cell for 8 straight days with no exercise and little human contact.

Liesje i would seriously be looking for another boarding kennel   Dogs staying at these facilities,good ones anyway, should recieve plenty of daily exercise,be housed in more than a tiny cement cell,preferably with another compatible/personality tested dog and recieve ample human contact! What you described sounds like an overstretched,understaffed dogs home

Just out of curiosity why cant your dog be around your nephew? 

In my breed there is same sex aggression, leaving them uncrated but still confined could end up as a blood bath.

Having said that I use to leave one dog uncrated each to enjoy the sofa etc while we were gone with no problems, until I was told this true story. (I confirmed the story with the owner)

These people had about 10 jrts, dogs that they hunted and showed and bred.  They didn't have kennels and the dogs were in the house with them.  Crated while they were away.

One day the owner goes to town and is gone for a couple of hours, upon coming home finds her road blocked off by the police.  There is a house on fire and the fire department had been unable to save anything but the basement.  It was her house.

Turns out a neighbor saw the fire/smoke, called 911 and then went over and kicked in the back door, knowing that the dogs were crated just inside that door.  Every dog was saved and were now in their crates at the neighbors.

After hearing that story, I moved my dogs crates to between a window and a door, under a window with a signs posted outside as to their location and to please save them.  And all dogs are now crated when we leave, no one is left loose.  Because I know that during a fire, that loose dog would hide or be difficult to locate.

 Ok i have finally read the whole thread,but was unable to read the original article which said it was no longer available.

I am one of those people who think caging a dog for more than a couple of hours a day is cruel. I have nothing against crates as long as the door is removed,this then makes it a den,not a cage,where the dog can come and go as they please.

I have read your opinions,and here are mine :)

I would rather see dogs euthanised than spend most of their lives in a shelter. Adopting a dog from a shelter only to put him in one cage from another is rather pointless IMO.

Is having a pack of dogs at home who will kill or seriously hurt eachother if left unsupervised/uncaged really a happy life for these canines?? These dogs sound totally confused and if they want to hurt their canine companions is this really a happy,content,relaxed environment for them to be in? Wouldnt these dogs be better off in a one dog home?

>>>because we're FORCING animals to live together and MAKING them accept the conditions...... like prison.<<<< 

I cant remember who said this,but i agree.

If someone has to crate  their dog for 6-8-10 hours a day,does it ever occur to them that there may be a problem that needs to be addressed,or is caging the easier option?

If i were a breeder i would not sell to owners who intented to crate.A friend of mine who does breed, holds the same beliefs and has never had problems placing her pups.It is even stated in her contract!

I think a dog who is caged from am to pm everyday would be better off in a home where this would not be neccesary,eg someone home during the day etc etc or,strike me down,euthanised..As i have said before there ARE fates worse than death,and IMO being in a cage for 30 plus hours a week is one of them. 

I can understand people crating young pups for SHORT periods during the house training phase,but this should only last for a few short weeks or months and should not continue on for the dogs whole life.Some people start off with a crate and never get rid of it!

There are enough well adjusted,well behaved dogs available for adoption that would not need to be crated at all,these dogs should be given a chance first.We have enough martyr's in this world.

And FTR i agree with everything  ChelseaB said.

I didn't read this thread, I am just reply to the title.

My Swissy is cated when we are not home and at night, the night time crating is his choice though.  Sometimes he can be crated for 7 hours during the day and all night (at night with the door open).  My Catahoula is never crated and Pug is crated during the day.

My Catahoula was recused and forced to live in crate all her life, so she never went for it when we got her.  But she is well mannored and dosen't chew.  My Swissy is to big and has access to much that he can get into trouble.  For his own saftey he is crated during the day.  My pug is crated when were not home for the same reason, she still likes to chew.  She is also allergic to spiders, so keeping her crated is better than allowing her to seek out spiders.  Living in the woods as we do, we can have a spider problem e especially in the summer.  If she gets bit, she will die if we don't catch it and give her a shot.

People who don't crate don't understand it.  My dogs love there crates!!  If River is crated all day and then let loose when we home, plays outside and is uncrated all evening at around 10:00 every night he automatically picks himself up and goes in his crate to sleep.  He cracks us up, but he loves it.  Its his den of inquity.  His nice compfy bed in front of the sliding glass doors where he gets to view the going on in the neighborhood.  He is in the livingroom so he dosen't feel allinated either.  In fact, when my house being painted I had to move it only to the other side of the room, he hated it.  He cryied and whinned until we put it back.  How dare I move his house!

A friend of mine who hated the crate in her beautiful kitchen.  When her dog got older she wanted to get rid of it, the dog lost her mind when one day she took it down and put it in the basement.  The dog whinned and cried all night for it.  She was forced to put it back and 8 years later it still remains - door off it and in her Kitchen.

There are enough well adjusted,well behaved dogs available for adoption that would not need to be crated at all,these dogs should be given a chance first.We have enough martyr's in this world.

That is so offensive.  But I'll let Conrad know that you think he should be dead because he's not perfect.

It's not like I went to the pound asking to be given a messed up dog who had panic attacks unless crated. Please. I went to the pound looking for a new friend, someone to help my husband and I heal after the tragic loss of our first dog. We found Conrad and he has been everything we could ever want from a dog. Is he perfect? No. Neither am I, nor is anyone. I wasn't trying to be a martyr, we just wanted a dog to share our lives with. As it turns out, he didn't have such a great start to his life, but it's not like I could interview him at the pound and determine all the ways in which he was damaged before I adopted him. "Excuse me dog, but could you tell me how you feel about being left alone? I see. You panic in open spaces. You are anxious and scared and feel exposed. Interesting. Okay, well, sorry you're not perfect enough to come live with us. Enjoy your next 24 hours before you get euthanized."

**How dare I move his house!**

Haha, Kord does the same thing when I move his to clean behind it. How dare I move it to run that red devil thing around it. The nerve of me!

I have actually wanted to move furniture around in our bedroom. Two things stop me, one the way the house it set up it would put our bed under the window and that is something I could do, but I would have to move his crate as well, and that would just freak him out.

houndlove

As it turns out, he didn't have such a great start to his life, but it's not like I could interview him at the pound

No,but the staff would have interviewed you and should have told you that Conrad had these problems before allowing you to adopt him. In this instance i totally blame the shelter for rehoming a dog and not divulging it's problems! 

Have you contacted an accredited behaviourist? Perhaps they will be able to help your dog cope with having free run of your home. 

houndlove

Enjoy your next 24 hours before you get euthanized."

Isnt this comment a little anthropomorphic? Dogs dont see death the same way we do.I'm sure the majority of shelter dogs would rather cross over then live their lives in shelters or cages. 

Edie, your post has me just about speechless which is hard to do, congrats.

It is very obvious that you have no knowledge of breeds that can have the risk of same sex aggression, your ignorance on this topic is plain.  For you to suggest that the dogs are 'totally confused etc ' , that they are being forced to live together and should only be in single dog homes is laughable.  For your info, these dogs do much better in multiple dog homes because of the day to day socializing, which many single dog homes don't experience or at least not to the degree of multiple dog homes.  I would highly suggest you do your research when obtaining a breed or a mix of breeds, because I would expect if you don't and you end up with such a dog, that you would be ill equiped to deal with the situation.

Your last statement is so sad and ridiculous, put down all dogs that require crating???  That only those without issues desire to live??? 

One can be imprisoned by their bodies, mind, judgements and beliefs, ignorance and lack of education...............

Edie

 Dogs dont see death the same way we do.I'm sure the majority of shelter dogs would rather cross over then live their lives in shelters or cages. 

How do you know either of these things?  Isn't that a little anthropomorphic?

As to PETA, DH has a bovine heart valve. I do hope the animal was also used for meat and leather since it died anyway, but I'll take DH over a cow any time. Or at least most of the time.

I'm not a big fan of crates and pretty much follow the protocol of Turid Rugaas, that adult dogs should be able to handle a crate for a reasonable period of time. In our home crating is occasional to get them used to the crate in case they need it for travel or medical purposes.

I was very surprised when adopting an adult dog, how many rescues don't even want to talk to you if you have that opinion. A rescue does have the right to set their own rules, but I was just very surprised.

How were the people at the pound to know about his SA either? This is a huge municipal pound that serves three huge rural counties.  Hundreds of dogs go through it every week. Most are only there for a matter of days before they are either adopted or, more frequently, euthanised.  Given the nature of SA, it's actually quite probable that it was not something he even arrived at the pound with, but was caused by the experience of being abandoned by his original family. Nothing on his surrender paperwork mentioned it, which means he either did not have this issue prior to being abandoned, or he was an "outside dog", which is common where he came from, so no one knew how he'd act when left alone in a house. The only thing his surrender paperwork said was that the kids wouldn't take care of him any more and he had to go.

But I'll thank you for not making the decision for me about what dogs I am or am not allowed to care for. Conrad's SA is managed quite well, he's made enormous strides over the years, I am proud of the work we've done with him,  he's happy. I think the person here who is anthropomorphizing is you. You can't imagine being happy being crated for any length of time, and you're projecting that on to dogs.

Conrad is a beloved member of our family. Suggesting he'd be better off dead is highly offensive to me. You're lucky you've always had perfect dogs, but I'm lucky that I've known the love and companionship of a dog like Conrad, and he's lucky that he found a home with a family who was willing to work to solve his problems instead of taking the easy way out and killing him for not being perfect.

Benedict

How do you know either of these things?  Isn't that a little anthropomorphic?

If dogs had the luxury to choose the home they would live in.I would assume if presented with a home where they were to be caged all day long,and one where they would not,i'de say they would choose the latter,dont you? I know it's not that black and white,and the uncaged home could be an abusive,neglectful one,but all that aside,if everything else were good i'm sure dogs and any other creature for that matter would choose not to be inprisoned in a cage.

Ado

It is very obvious that you have no knowledge of breeds that can have the risk of same sex aggression, your ignorance on this topic is plain. 

Well,i currently have bullmastiff's,in the past i have had rotties,blue heelers and a staff,amongst others.Some would say that the aforementioned breeds suffer from aggression,but i have yet to encounter it... 

Ado

I would highly suggest you do your research when obtaining a breed or a mix of breeds, because I would expect if you don't and you end up with such a dog, that you would be ill equiped to deal with the situation.

Crating would be my absolute,utter last resort,not the first and only option, that's for sure! Having said this i wouldnt put myself or my dogs in such a position to begin with.I need my dogs to live in harmony with eachother,anything else would make for an unhappy home IMHO.