Dog crates are cruel

[Poppycorn123]

In light of this terrible story I think they should be banned. Yes people will say they are good for training etc but I think in general they are being overused. A family member would put the dog in it while they have guests. Dog is not vicious or anything, just gets a bit excited as a young dog should. I think this is awful.

Crates are not the issue, arseholes are

It's the feckless and cruel owners who are the problem, not crates per se.

My old labrador absolutely loved his crate from when he was a puppy right up until he was an adult. I didn't even have to actually train him to it. I just put it up with some nice bedding and a few treats/ water inside when I first got it. He was so eager he leapt straight in there and went to sleep. That was it.

He was only closed into it overnight (stopped him from chewing his way through the house) and was always let straight outside early in the morning and was fine. Often still took his time to leave it once I had opened it.

The crate was left open during the day except if I had to go to the supermarket or something and he would almost always take himself in there after we got back from his walk. It was his den and the place where he and my then very young children knew he was to have peace and not be disturbed.

From the age of about two we moved him to a dog bed on the house and just used the crate for safety and control in the car. Around the age of two he was through the real destructive chewing stage of a very young labrador and could be trusted around the house, even on occasions when I had had to pop out, which were never for long.

That is the sort of way a crate should be used, not as a prison.

When I got my rescue dog - her crate was her safe space , it had a blanket over it . She would take herself off to her crate of her own accord. I don’t use it now. But used correctly I think they have there place

Crates are not the problem. The dogs would have died anyway with an owner like that.

In many circumstances, crates can be the difference between a dog thriving a surgery and a dog never recovering. Forced bed rest is absolutely essential when recovering from a variety of operations and crates are essential for that. They are also a useful space for dogs to escape to to get away from children in the house until the child is stupid enough to stick it's head in the crate and gets bitten.

What you should be angry about is how terrible this country is when it comes to taking animal abuse seriously. If the warnings had been acted upon, the dogs wouldn't have died.

When I got my dog as a puppy, she was already crate trained and used to them. It was her safe space.
She broke a leg when she was still a bouncy youngster, and the vet ordered very strict crate rest for a few weeks.
We did get rid of it after that, as her bed became the sofa and our bed.

We euphemistically call them crates because we don’t like the word ‘cage’ , but cages they are. And like all cages , they need to be used correctly. ( to be clear, I am not a fan)

This is a sad story, but it’s neglect which killed the dogs

That man would have been cruel to those dogs with or without a crate. He was an abuser and the crate didn't enable this. We have crate trained our dogs and they absolutely loved their crates, they were kept for many years afterwards as their dens with the doors open and they always chose to snuggle up in them.

You can say this about anything. People misuse loads of things, but that shouldn’t prevent a responsible owner from having any given item. And I actually think if you have company and an excitable dog that a crate might be the safest place for them until they are trained properly. It’s their den, not a jail.

I’ve had dogs all my life and never used a crate.

UNTIL the dog we have now.

A crate was a game changer. She used it all the time until she was just over 12 months old. At nighttime, when we were out of the house and yes, shock horror, when guests were here. Not everyone likes dogs and even people that do like dogs don’t want a massive golden retriever puppy excited to see them, nor do they want to be part of the training of that dog.

It kept her safe when she was alone at night or we were out, it gave her a space to retreat away from the children if she wanted to. It made toilet training a breeze.

The breeder we got her from used crates. The rooms she was in from birth had lots of crates in with no doors. The puppies would come and go from them as they pleased.

As they got older, she would put the doors on and close them for a few minutes at a time.

By the time she let the puppies go at 12 weeks, they would all jump into a crate happily to sleep.

The first thing my dog did when she walked though the front door was see the crate we had set up for her and she happily went in it to have a sniff around. No first night crying, she was happy.

We don’t use the crate anymore. Stoped at just over 12 months when she was fully trained and I knew she wasn’t going to chew anything or hurt herself on something unsupervised.

We so use one when we go on holiday and she goes in happily.

They aren’t cruel at all.

I see it the same way as putting a baby in a cot. You put them in a contained area to keep them safe.

People put babies/toddlers in playpens and cots. No different.

I’m with you OP. I’ve never used a dog crate and never would.

Same here.
Its covered with a blanket.. she goes in and out when she likes.

You are completely missing the point. I didn't say that the crates were the reason for those dogs' deaths. Yes they probably would have died of starvation and dehydration regardless. What I'm saying is that using them incorrectly has been completely normalised and they are overused. Complete laziness. I don't think they should be completely enclosed.

My dog was crate trained as a pup. Is happily toilet and house trained 8 years later. She still sleeps in the crate. She takes herself there when it's bedtime, keeps her toys in there, and lets us know when she wants in and out during the day.
It's not the crate, it's the owner. It's like saying all leads should be banned as some people hit their dogs with them.

Just echoing what the pp have said . It’s not the crates that have caused the cruelty, but the owner.

They have a place to keep a puppy safe - cooking, gardening, washing the car with the front door open or need to go out for short periods - to do the shopping etc. They’re also valuable to teach a puppy to have some downtime.

Anyone who shuts a dog in a crate and leaves them to go out to work, over night or for other extended periods shouldn’t have a dog. They are absolutely cruel when used like that.

It’s not the dog crates that are the problem, it’s the owner.

It’s not laziness though. It takes effort to crate train a dog.

I use crates for my dog and my cat. They both walk in happily.

my dog is a puppy and gets very distressed if she has an accident. She cries when she pees in the house. Putting her in the crate for a few minutes when I can’t supervise helps to prevent that from happening.

my cat is just a little devil who is obsessed with human food. She gets a few appropriate treats and sits in her crate during human meal times so that she doesn’t bite and scratch while trying to steal our food. Everyone, including her is happier.

there is a huge gulf between short stints of containment and neglect.

Absolutely , for good owners it takes effort. For the lazy ones - they shove the creatures in there for their own convenience and see nothing wrong with it.

I’m not a fan, and don’t use them. I have four rescue dogs. If used correctly I don’t doubt they are fine to use, I just don’t personally agree with them. Bad owners are always the issue..

The dogs didn’t die because of the crate, they died because their owners were awful people. A crate is supposed to be a safe space, and used correctly can be a really great tool for a dog. Also, whether you use one or not, all dogs should be crate trained as there are almost certainly going to to be times in their lives when they end up in one eg. at the vet, so why wouldn’t you want to prepare them for that ahead of time so they aren’t scared?

That is an owner issue, and nothing to do with crates.
The same bad owners would instead just shut their dog in a bathroom and go out for hours instead.
My mum used to know someone who shut their staffy in the bathroom and went on holiday for two weeks. My mum was one of many people popping in to let the dog out for a wee and a stretch.

Crates are useful if a dog is recovering from illness or surgery. My dog was already crate trained and we already had a crate when the vet told us that we had to get one and keep her in it so she could recover from her op.

Crating a dog overnight or when you are out of the house is illegal where I live, or rather, you can have a crate and they can use them but you are only allowed to close the door if you are transporting the dog or if it's due to veterinary care. I know of 2 countries that ban them like this but I can imagine it will become more common as people are sharing the view that it's not in the dogs best interest. They need to be able to move around, stretch, and it has shown to be bad for their mental health.

I do however think it's fine to have a crate that the dog chooses to use or not use where the door is always open. I am all for dogs having a, to them, safe space. Just don't like small solitary confinements for dogs.

I have exercise bands in my house. This week I learned to my horror that a mother used them to strangle her children. Banning exercise bands wouldn’t have saved them from their mother. Those poor dogs died because they were owned by a scumbag.