Can anyone explain how crating dogs isn't cruel?

[DalaHorse]

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?

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Yes, Devil Dog attracts a lot of comments too, mainly ones that involve the words "live wire" or "full of character"

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.

Ohhh D0oin - that is such a lovely story!!

Our hounds raid the bin whenever they can - they currently have two shredded quiche boxes in their beds.

Ddog2 is part pointer, and she can do the pointer thing of curling up into a teeny tiny ball, even though, when not curled up, she is an enormous collection of long legs and elbows in a bag of fur.

Worral the MN earless Pitbull still tries to squeeze in his but sometimes gets stuck and walks around like a tortoise with it stuck on his bottom. I never really shut the cage, just gave him a safe place that was his (the other 5 dogs turned their noses up at it). Like anything, misused it is cruel, used properly it gives comfort and security and I think if you have had your ears and tail hacked off and been chucked out of a car window all before you are 10 weeks old, comfort and security is something good, not cruel.

Mine use them as dens only our two puppies sleep in them at night as they both chew and climb ! We also use tem at shows and theyvmore happy in crates with blankets over tan sitting and being sniffed . They feel secure and safe we have never used the crate as punishment. I can't see the problem .

Shocked?? You should talk to Charlton!!

Here he is... in his crate... where he takes himself for a snooze...

[URL=s96.photobucket.com/user/Effortless01/media/Charlton/IMG_1488_zps33a501de.jpg.html][IMG]i96.photobucket.com/albums/l176/Effortless01/Charlton/IMG_1488_zps33a501de.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[URL=s96.photobucket.com/user/Effortless01/media/Charlton/IMG_1493_zps04b752b2.jpg.html][IMG]i96.photobucket.com/albums/l176/Effortless01/Charlton/IMG_1493_zps04b752b2.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

He loves his crate. The door is never closed. And especially when there's loads of kids in the house, he takes to it to get away from incessant cuddles... and nobody is allowed to touch him when he's in there. It's his refuge.

And there is really nothing to be genuinely shocked about ;-)

Cheers,
Effortless.

Not read whole thread yet but how is a crate any different from a dog bed, a safe place where they are left alone??

IT IS SO CRUEL. A dog’s den is nothing like a crate in the wild. A canine den always has more than one exit and they are NEVER locked in! Being trapped causes anxiety in all living animals! Dogs are social pack animals and isolation is inhumane. I’ve had apartments with shared walls with selfish craters and their poor dogs howled for hours. It broke my heart but these people were out of sight out of mind. Dogs need to be able to move around, see out the window, not sit alone trapped for hours. These people should NOT be owning dogs! Wait until you have a family where there are more people home and the dog is not alone for 9 hours per day! Exercise it and make sure it has things to chew on and you would never need to trap it in a crate! It’s vile!

This thread is over a decade old 🙄

Crates get a bad rep, especially if people are not sure how to use them properly. I've never used one but my sister has and her dog loves his crate.

Crates need to be a place of comfort, peace and solace, not of isolation or punishment. That is the crux of the issue.

I have done a lot of dog sitting over the years and some of the dogs have arrived with crates and they have all seemed to genuinely loved using them for alone time in the day and to crash and snooze at night.

We need a zombie emoji.

It is a good topic and always relevant.