Dog crates are cruel

Is it only crate doors that you don't like closed, OP? How about room doors, pen doors, stairgates and house doors?

I could shut the bedroom door or stair gate to separate scavenging dog from bumbling DH at night. It's still a shut door. The difference is that the dog would be unhappy. Trust me on that one.

o the. Reeders advice we tried a cage with our older lab. He wasn’t happy unless he could see me from the crate, and he quickly learned to settle in a soft bed by my desk. We trained him not to chew ( directed chewing toys, bitter apple spray), and being the smart dog he was, he learned quickly and the cage was gone.

Lab 2 was rehomed to use, and it was clear she had been left, a.one, in a cage for much of the day . The cage was too small and she has a deformed spine as a result .

Neither dog has been destructive, and both settle on their own if I am out. It’s all training.

You’ve never owned a dog if you believe that.

Why are you asking a silly question like that?

You shut the door to keep them in there.

What are you supposed to do with them when you go out then?

I don’t work, but today, I’ve got a hospital appointment that will take around 3 hours. Then, I have to pick my daughter up from school this afternoon, a half an hour round trip. My dog isn’t allowed in the playground and I doubt the hospital would be happy with me turning up with my massive, bouncy 2 year old golden retriever.

I also have to run errands most days, go to the gym, the supermarket, the school run. All places a dog can’t go.

What do you propose I do with my dog during those times?

She’s happy to be left at home. She just sleeps on the sofa when she’s alone (we used a crate until she was 1 and we knew she was over chewing or getting into anything where she would harm herself). And yes, the terrible person I am, the
crate door was closed - otherwise she would have been able to get out, rendering the crate to keep her safe pointless.

I can’t spend my life only going to places where I can take my dog, or sitting with her all day. And I’m certainly not going to pay someone to come and sit with a dog who is absolutely fine left alone for a few hours.

Mumsnet is bonkers sometimes.

You must be a responsible dog owner, have the best insurance, feed them only the best food, but oh hang on, you have to also be at their side 24/7.

Life doesn’t work that way.

I'm not the person you asked, but I close the door on my dog at night because DH is long-term unwell and is careless with medication and sharp objects. I'd rather shut the cage door and be sure that our (entirely relaxed and unbothered) dog is safe than panic as DH yet again blindly searches for "a pill, about 5mm, probably dropped it on the floor in here or maybe I forgot to get it out of the packet".

She could have the run of the whole downstairs, but she prefers to share the room with us.

Yes, always said they are cruel. Dogs are pack animals. Abandoning them when you go out or to bed,. Poor puppy.

When my 2 dogs were puppies and up to a year old we used a crate for them. After walking they would go in crate to sleep. As they got to about 6-7 months the door to the crates were left open but they still chose to sleep in the crates after their walks. They carried on sleeping in their crates, despite having comfy dog beds, up until about 24 months old. Then we fazed the crates out and they slept in their dog beds. I don't see a problem with it. They were put in crates to rest for a couple of hours each day.

We have never needed a crate. But there's always one or two people WFH (each supervised by one or more of the dogs) and our dogs (even the large ones) all sleep with us so just come up to bed at night. We have had to manage a post op dog, but just had them on a lead and someone sleeping on a mattress on the floor with them.

Another one of those things that well, we just didn't need before and don't need now. Just train a dog.

We use a crate and when we say “off to bed” our dog toddles off and gets inside and it has happened more than once that the kids haven’t latched the door at night so she could come out but she doesn’t until we say good morning and give a scratch to her ears - we never use it as punishment though - once during a rowdy Christmas gathering she took herself off to her crate so we assume she likes it - it’s her bedroom that all - we like it as we have a dog door and wouldn’t want her to have the option to be out in the back garden at night time ( chasing squirrels or cats and barking)
depends on the people I think - the guy who mistreated those dogs might have done it in a different way without a crate - some people shouldn’t have dogs - it’s not the crates fault

Adult dogs sometimes need to go in a cage, @Hellohelga - when our pointer cross rescue needed three knee operations (repair of two ruptured cruciates and then repair of a dislocated kneecap) she had to be on cage rest for 6-12 weeks after each operation. We had to stop her running, jumping, or slipping on the floor because it would have ruined the surgery. In all, she was on cage rest for nearly half a year, but it was what her vets told us we had to do.

Precisely. Crates are for pups and youngsters who wouldn’t be safe or trustworthy otherwise. I don’t know of anyone who contains an adult dog in a crate. Apart from a few cases in the paper, most dogs in the uk are thoroughly spoilt and pampered. As a nation we go the other way entirely. My dogs have expensive raw food, sleep on a sofa and get lotion massaged into their elbows every evening followed by a biscuit, they live like queen bees. But were they crated till age two, when I was out? Hell yes.

leave the door open ... and allow free choice.

Most of the crate users here specifically state that that is exactly what they do.

I have cats but from what I have seen from my friends who have dogs, crates are used to keep puppies safe at night or encourage nap time and then as a safe space for adult dogs...sometimes the crate is in a quieter place in the house or covered in a blanket so that the dog can take itself away.

Obviously I have heard of people leaving them in crates all day to go to work and I agree this is wrong but don't think that means they should be banned as these people would just find another way.

My dog takes herself off to bed in her crate when she’s tired or doesn’t want to be bothered, I don’t generally lock the door but I can and it’s come in useful when for example a glass was dropped and I needed her to be safe, or when she had to stay at the vets overnight.

If they are the right size and used appropriately they are useful for owner and a safe space for her dog, like everything else if they are misused then bad things can happen. Sounds like those owners were abusive.

Oh, yes.

Crates are not intrinsically cruel, a lot of owners utilise them in a way in which dogs feel safe and comfortable.

The people in the news story are vile, criminal, animal abusers and should be inhumanely euthanised.

Basically the same as all the other right-minded responders really.

YOUR puppies. not all puppies. Mine never even so much as whined.

Likely down to how you introduce them to it. Any time I've had a new pet I've slept on the couch a couple of nights until they feel comfortable in a new environment.

Those dogs died of neglect and would have died whether they were crated or not. I remember a few years ago an awful story of some dogs who died after being locked in a shed. Sheds aren’t evil though, it’s the owners who neglected them.

Our dog loves her crate so we’ve never gotten rid of it, but we never really ‘crate trained’ her, we just had it in case we felt it was needed. She went straight in it on her own accord the day we brought her home and she chooses to sleep in it most nights (the door is left unlocked so she can come and go as she pleases). She often takes herself off to her crate for some peace and quiet when she’s had enough of people, I think she definitely sees it as a den/safe space. It was especially useful after her operation to allow her to rest in peace and help the kids understand that she needed to be left to recover.

I don’t particularly like the way some people use crates, but it’s not the crates themselves that are the problem. If you’re going to get a puppy you kind of have to accept that some chewing will occur and there will be some toilet accidents, I think some people use crates excessively to try and bypass this, but unfortunately it’s just part of having a dog.