I am not trying to be controversial. I am genuinely shocked by the crating "trend". I am aware that lots of people do this. But I cannot understand how locking the dog in a crate is at all fair or beneficial to the dog. I can however see how locking the dog in a crate is very beneficial to the owner. Is there any justification in terms of it being beneficial to dogs that I really can't see?
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.
The doghouse
Can anyone explain how crating dogs isn't cruel?
215 replies
DalaHorse · 03/05/2013 13:10
OP posts:
FrustratedSycamoresRocks ·
05/05/2013 07:31
dala exhuberent is definately the right word to describe lab-dog. I'm going to start using that word to describe him, 
definately sounds better and isnt as much of a mouthful as bouncing slobbering over-friendly nutter.
D0oinMeCleanin ·
05/05/2013 01:07
Yes, Devil Dog attracts a lot of comments too, mainly ones that involve the words "live wire" or "full of character" 
tabulahrasa ·
05/05/2013 01:02
Exuberant, aye that's one word for him.
Funnily enough, no-one ever offers to steal my boy, lol, I get lots of comments about how friendly and affectionate he is closely followed by words like playful, lively and energetic... I offer him to people on a fairly regular basis, they sort of slowly back away.
D0oinMeCleanin ·
05/05/2013 00:51
Honey, everyone wants to steal whippy. She comes on the school run with us sometimes by demand of the pupils My next door neighbour has more than expressed an interest in purchasing her or borrowing her to take rabbiting (she is scared of rabbits) I regularly get asked if I am willing to put her with X's dog, so people can buy her puppies (she is spayed)
To rub salt in the wounds of all the whippy admirers she is the dog we were never meant to have. At first she was supposed to be a tortoise shell kitten, the story being every time I left my FB open dd1 would jump on and post "Dose anee won hav a kiten i can bi for 5 punds on x rowd?" £5 being her weekly pocket money and x road the only street she was allowed to play in unsupervised. One day someone replied to her and I agreed she could take the kitten. They then messaged me to tell me the kitten had gone, but they knew of a puppy looking for an urgent home. I declined the offer a puppy and received a reply asking if I knew anyone who would be interested because she would be drowned that night if she did not find a home. Of course we took her in. Only ever meaning to keep her a few days until a rescue space was located. As soon as DH saw this tiny, palm sized ball curled up in a bawling teenagers arms he said "Don't call the rescues just yet, wait a while and see how things go" That was three years ago and we still haven't called the rescues Lots of people offered to rehome her in the two weeks it took DH to decide she was here forever and was his dog and his dog only, including every vet nurse she ever met.
I often wonder if her potential murderers would have been so hasty in getting rid if they knew how she would turn out. They've certainly missed out on a very loving, calm and funny dog.
HoneyDragon ·
05/05/2013 00:16
I love hearing the 3am wander that dogs do. In our case it's between ransacked chair and digested sofa in the conservatory. So two flumps. Then at 5:30 pm lie on the kitchen floor pretending you were there ALL night.
You Dad is weak DooIn, weak.
D0oinMeCleanin ·
05/05/2013 00:16
Whippy can be trusted, she's never really chewed anything or displayed any kind of anti social doggy behavior, to be honest I am not wholly convinced she is actually a dog. She may be an oddly shaped cat. That would make sense She's only crated because she likes it.
Devil Dog was crate trained because we had a few problems with him including toilet training, cat chasing, snapping and general aggressive behavior. The crate was a place where he could be left when we had small children around who did not know how to properly behave around him and where he would not toilet or attempt to make supper of the cat. He is mainly cured of most issues now and a perfectly friendly, if a little excitable wee terrier, although we have newbie dog who arrived yesterday, so he is currently doing his best impression of the world's most over sexed bi-sexual dog - we are trying to train the dry humping out of him, it is his last remaining anti-social habit.
He didn't take to his crate as well as whippy. He went in it on command happily enough and stayed in quietly as long as we needed him to, however once we got to a point where we were able to leave the door open he opted to sleep outside of his crate so we folded it up and put it away.
We still get it out from time to time to play crate games with it, so he remains comfortable with it because he is the dog we have trouble finding sitters for, so if we ever to go to DH's friend's caravan or weekends away, he is the most likely to come with us and the crate makes that much easier. While I can trust him not to pee all over my house, if we took him somewhere new and left him alone, he almost certainly would leave his mark there and over there and a bit more over there and some in the corner over yonder...
It's also handy if we ever get any short term, emergency fosters who may not be dog friendly. When that happens we operate a kind of double door system, whereby the hallway is a no go area and dogs are kept in separate rooms, with the hallway as a buffer zone in case of escapees. However in order for the front room dogs(s) to get to the loo they must pass through the back room, so the back room dogs(s) get safely crated before the front room dog(s) is allowed out there.
DalaHorse ·
05/05/2013 00:04
Moosemama our bin was our lab's equivalent of a pick and mix sweet counter 
, he would do anything to get his nose in the bin! He loved greens too, carrots and cabbage especially. Oh he really was a sweetheart. He had been so ignored in his previous life he had no idea how to play. He couldn't grasp the purpose of a squeaky toy or a ball. All he worried about was making sure he had food. He was the most unassuming, gentle dog. If he had had a motto it would have been "I don't mind" or maybe "Thanks for everything". He was so grateful.
OP posts:
DalaHorse ·
04/05/2013 23:58
tabulah and frustrated your dogs sound lovely! I know that different dogs, especially younger dogs, do need tailored and appropriate responses, for their own safety. I think most dogs under 3 are still giddy kippers and some will be very hard to control - not because they are badly behaved but because they are, er, exhuberant and full of the joys of life!
I read Marley and Me... that dog! He was very destructive when distressed. I think he ate through some concrete too. Certainly he ate a lot of furniture!
OP posts:
moosemama ·
04/05/2013 23:51
The only thing I don't trust lurcherboy with is the kitchen bin. He seems to think it's his personal nosebag. We've actually moved it out into the back porch and the door is locked at night, but as you have to go through that door to get to the downstairs toilet we frequently find him with his snoot in the bin when the dcs have left the blooming door open - again!
For that reason, anything that might vaguely be dangerous to him if he ate it has to be taken straight outside to the wheelie bin.
I have a cunning plan to change it for a pedal bin to put an end to his bin mooching ways. I can clearly imagine the reproachful looks he's going to give me already!
He used to be an expert counter surfer as well, but seems to have grown out of it these days. Mind you, I think it's second nature to us not to leave any food out these days, so maybe it has more to do with that than his levels of self-control. Bizarrely, he had a thing for baked potato skins and they would guarantee a smash and grab raid on the worksurface if left on a plate. 
Mostly he is a bit meh about any food we have anyway, as he's raw fed and we are vegetarians, so while he does enjoy the odd bit of fruit and veg - in fact he begs for the apple peelings when I'm making the porridge every morning - he clearly believes his raw meaty bones etc are far superior to our rabbit food!
FrustratedSycamoresRocks ·
04/05/2013 23:40
dala I don't completely trust lab-dog I still half expect to come down one morning to discover he's eaten a table-leg during the night. he has so far proved me wrong and hasn't so much as touched a shoe overnight.
I also think he is very loyal to his stomach more so than to me he is fickle in that way. But if he can find something edible he will find a way to eat it.
He is also still quite young, (under 2) and hasn't lost all of his oversized puppy behaviours, but he is getting there.
FrustratedSycamoresRocks ·
04/05/2013 23:28
D0oin I do believe you've just instructed honey on the best way to steal her. (Don't open the car door. )
DalaHorse ·
04/05/2013 23:27
SDT Our first dog was an elderly rescue collie-cross. Then we had a rescue labrador. They were both wonderful. We are waiting until the DCs are slightly older before getting a new dog, because we want the DCs to be old enough and aware enough to experience it all thoroughly, eg accompanying us to training sessions with the dog. We have a cat too. the cat wasn't very welcoming with the first dog. (spitting and hissing) so we made their introduction very gradual. We put a baby gate on the stairs initially so the cat could leg it upstairs away from the dog if ever it wanted. In time it wasn't needed - the dog and the cat each minded their own business but occasionally they laid down together in front of the fire together .
Maybe we were lucky, but both our dogs despite having very different personalities (sparky quick collie cross, and lumbering, sweet natured lab) we got them fitted in quite quickly. We showed them what we expected of them, they were told if they misbehaved, which was rare. They were allowed to move around the house freely, unless for example we had a visitor or a party that they might find noisy or perturbing in some way. Then we would move them upstairs away from the action until after the party was over/visitor had left.
The dogs' bed was under the desk. If it wasn't appropriate for them to be in the lounge or the kitchen on occasion for example, they were directed out of the room and that was that. At night they had run of the hallway and the study where their bed was. Occasionally we would hear them getting up for a drink of water and having a bit of a wander and a stretch of the legs but then flump down back in bed. They were happy.
This is all why I struggle to see the need for a crate for a dog who has clearly adjusted to the household. If they are well behaved and mentally adjusted why would I lock them in a crate at night as opposed to letting them have at least a hallway to stretch their legs in? Not to reopen any closed points. Just I didn't have any reason to. I would actually have felt... I don't know... slightly snidy, like I was only pretending to trust them but really they were not to be trusted. I can't explain it. but like they were so lovely and loyal to me, I would have felt guilty limiting their personal freedom if there was no real reason to.
OP posts:
D0oinMeCleanin ·
04/05/2013 23:24
@ Honey.
My Dad tried to actually, properly steal her once. He was convinced she was happier with him after he dog sat her for a week. It took us three days to convince him to return her. He eventually brought her back, but did admit that he just opened the car door and if she didn't get out of her own accord he was going to drive back home with her. Apparently she "shot of the car like shit off a stick" so he started to feel bad about trying to steal her
impty ·
04/05/2013 23:08
I thought a crate needs to be large enough for a dog to stand up and turn around in?
In my experience people who use crates have ones larger than needed. Obviously that's not everyone though 
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
HoneyDragon ·
04/05/2013 23:07
This thread keeps challenging my ethics. I think of myself as a very moral, caring and law abiding person.
But
If the chance ever arises I am going to steal Whippy dog from Dooin and run away, and I won't feel one teeny tiny bit of remorse
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.