Crating dogs..when did this become the norm?

[Lady_Eboshi]

[QUOTE=Chall;7602969]
Doh!
I just remembered, there were no leash laws (or no one paid attention to them) and there were absolutely no scooper poop laws.
Roaming neighborhood dogs were the norm.

I haven’t seen a loose dog in my neighborhood in the last twenty years!
So there was a sea change.[/QUOTE]

THAT’S the truth! So much so that hardly anyone would even think of calling our Animal Control “the dog catcher” any more; seems like most of what they do is dealing with wildlife encroaching on human activity.

[Nezzy]

my 5 dogs- all under 16 lbs, are all crated individually at night. we would get NO sleep if they slept in our bed. They are fed in their own crates with the doors wide open. They have a doggy door and a fenced acre to go out and run or hunt along the edges. i am home most of the time, but at most gone for 4-5 hours. dogs are crated every time no one is home, for their safety. They get a treat when they go in their crates, so if i grab the treats they run to their crates and wait for their treat. When i am home, they are out of their crates. They can go outside or stay in the house. If they are barking their heads off, then they are all locked inside the house until whatever they were barking at is gone. If i left my dogs out all day, I’d be getting in trouble for letting them bark all the time. I don’t understand how some of you think that some dogs should be outside when you are not at home. It is a danger to the dog, and the neighborhood might complain which would possibly lead to you losing your dog or dogs. In this modern world, we have to be considerate to our neighbors, or risk having out dog taken away. We need to keep our dog safe from those who might steal your dog for bait-dog in dogfights. They could dig out if you are not there. Crating is a safety measure and a training tool.

i have also seen evidence of dogs who have chewed molding on dog-proof rooms and even eaten thru drywall. Give me a crate any day.

[cowboymom]

I’ve never crate trained a dog and don’t know any dog that is crate trained. We do helicopter owner when they’re young and if they need to be left alone they’re left in a bathroom or laundry room with a bed and a toy. I have six dogs, family has had and does have scores of them. No issues-we go through puppy phases but nothing major. The dogs are all well-behaved, trained and good citizens.

And in MT we do still have a “dog catcher” and Fish and Game handles the wildlife. We live out of town so the dogs go outside and sleep on the porch a lot. Last night they chased coyotes for a few hours so they’re tired and crashed out on the yard in the sun, sleeping.

ETA my six dogs sleep on the floor at night, quietly. Half of them stay in the outside yard when we’re gone. One of them is loose chasing coyotes 24/7. I can’t see another neighbor from my house. Not every house in the United States is the same.

Come to think of a it, a lot of the change I think is from a rural “farm dog” perspective to an urban “dog as fur baby” perspective.

[CrowneDragon]

I think part of the change from years of old is there are fewer stay-at-home moms to take charge of puppy training. If everyone is leaving for work in the morning it’s tough to leave puppy free in the house.

I think crate training can be great and I used it for my dogs but some people use it as a crutch for way too long and use it as a drawer to store the dog when they don’t want to deal with it. Also, can’t get home often enough to let the dog out? Leave it in a crate where he won’t want to pee.

A crate CAN be a comfy den for a dog, but in the wild a dog isn’t going to sit in its den for hours on end all day.

[cowboymom]

They actually don’t sit in a den at all. They have pups in a den and then get the heck out of it as soon as possible.

[North_Dakota]

All our puppies have been crate trained. It kept them contained and out of trouble until they were past the “puppy phase and chewing.” None of them stayed in their crate once we could trust them not to chew bad things, like our childhood puppy chewing the wall and legs of ALL the dining room tables when he was alone……

The only exception was the adult border collie we adopted when my sister and I were teenagers. She was a mom in a puppy mill, and was absolutely terrified of small spaces.

My current dog didn’t spend much time in her crate after I adopted her. She couldn’t get down from my bed so she just slept with me, and was rarely left alone.

[Chall]

Yes, SAHM was also a factor.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Sswor;7603320]
It doesn’t take 6 months with that method. Of course when you’re showering you just shut the bathroom door and drop the leash. But otherwise, no it’s not necessarily convenient but very little about raising a puppy is convenient. Convenient puppy raising is probably an oxymoron.[/QUOTE]

Well, it certainly depends on the type of dog, doesn’t it? I have a high drive breed and even with our best dog ever I wouldn’t have let them have free run of the house at 4-5 months while I was at work.

You are right - puppy raising is never really convenient, but there is certainly nothing wrong with putting a puppy in a ex-pen or puppy corral (or a crate) while you make dinner, take a shower, or (gasp) do something with your kids. Dogs don’t need to be loose in the house 24/7.

I do agree, however, that dogs that are crated during the day should not be crated overnight as well, if there is an alternative. We did have one puppy that would go comatose from 9:20pm (exactly) until 5:00am (sharp) that we put in a crate in our bedroom as a wee pup, since he never moved anyway. But once he was house trained he slept on the floor, in his crate, or on the bed, as he chose.

[saultgirl]

[QUOTE=jetsmom;7603161]
I don’t crate my dogs, but it’s a good idea to teach them to be crated in case you need to use one for travel, vet or recovery from vet treatment.
I’d much rather see a dog crated than tied up, and would rather see them crated rather than eat something that can kill them, if they are the chewing/eat anything they can get type.[/QUOTE]

Just curious, why you’d rather see a dog crated than tied?

[saultgirl]

Growing up our dog always had run of the house (he got closed in the vestibule while he was being housebroken) and my current dog also has run of the house.

Our old dog had a nice doghouse and we used to tie him up outside when we left for school/work, but he would bark at the mail man and the post office said the end of the dog’s chain must be more than 25’ away from the mailbox or we wouldn’t get our mail. So he staying in during the day after that.

I would love to be able to tie up my current dog outside but I’m too worried that he would break his chain if something too exciting came around, or that something would wander up and harm him in some way (we have skunks and porcupines around here).

I don’t have a problem with crating but I don’t think I know of anyone growing up who used a crate.

[Nezzy]

[QUOTE=saultgirl;7603508]
Just curious, why you’d rather see a dog crated than tied?[/QUOTE]

seriously? they knock their water over, they are a target for any loose dog to hurt or kill. a crate is a safe place. a tied dog can’t do anything either, but in a crate in a house, they are safe from other dogs or evil people.

[Chall]

I think Id fence my backyard and sides if I were to get a dog again.
The front yard is too accessible to strangers.
Most around here have invisible fences, but that means a strange dog can come in and attack your dog, no protection there.

[jetsmom]

[QUOTE=saultgirl;7603508]
Just curious, why you’d rather see a dog crated than tied?[/QUOTE]

Because here, people who tie dogs usually have them tied up outside where they are able to be stolen, attacked by loose dogs, poisoned or end up being in direct sun/no access to water if they get wrapped around a tree. Generally, people who crate their dogs, crate them inside where they are safe from the above. Most people here don’t tie their dogs up if they have safe fencing, so tying is common without fencing risking having loose dogs/predators attack or being stolen/teased by kids, or being poisoned.
Crating indoors keeps them safe an in a comfortable climate.

[Guin]

I’ve never used a crate for any of my dogs. I relied on gates to corral the puppies into a small room where they could sleep on a couch or look out the window when we were out. None of them took more than 4 months to housebreak. The only “accident” I ever had was when I stupidly didn’t put up the gate, and came home to find one of the other couches de-stuffed. Dumb owner! I guess a crate would have prevented that, but frankly the couch didn’t mean a lot to me.

As long as my dogs got plenty of walks and outside exercise, they left everything in the house alone.

[cowboymom]

I have had to tie my Great Pyrenees from time to time to keep him contained. That was usually in a 3 sided shelter in the back yard that was bedded with straw. He slept through any drama. It’s not very unusual to see a dog tied up here and until I read on here I had no idea it was bad in any way except for the usual tangling issue. We always put the food/water at the end of the reach of the cable so he didn’t spill it. And good luck to anyone that approached and meant him any harm! :lol:

[independentlyawesome]

[QUOTE=saultgirl;7603508]
Just curious, why you’d rather see a dog crated than tied?[/QUOTE]

They also tend to develop nasty behavioral habits when tied, defending their territory and getting frustrated when they can’t reach what they’re seeking beyond the length of the chain.

Crates are usually put in a quiet place with minimal stimulation so dogs just chill out when in there.

I think every dog should be crate-trained because at some point in their life they are likely to need to stay in a cage for some reason, usually while sick. But I don’t crate my dog for more than a few hours at a time. I might start crating her more while we travel, but she would prefer to be crated for a longer time than shoved in a kennel where there are no mommy walks & cuddles.

[jetsmom]

[QUOTE=Guin;7603561]
I’ve never used a crate for any of my dogs. I relied on gates to corral the puppies into a small room where they could sleep on a couch or look out the window when we were out. None of them took more than 4 months to housebreak. The only “accident” I ever had was when I stupidly didn’t put up the gate, and came home to find one of the other couches de-stuffed. Dumb owner! I guess a crate would have prevented that, but frankly the couch didn’t mean a lot to me.

As long as my dogs got plenty of walks and outside exercise, they left everything in the house alone.[/QUOTE]

That’s what I always did. The only puppy I crate trained was a Lhasa I bought for my mom, that would need to be comfortable in it for traveling/staying in hotels. she continued the crating at night for about 2 weeks, then let him sleep in her bed. That was the last of the crating!

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Nezzy;7603530]
seriously? they knock their water over, they are a target for any loose dog to hurt or kill. a crate is a safe place. a tied dog can’t do anything either, but in a crate in a house, they are safe from other dogs or evil people.[/QUOTE]

Definitely. Crates go in the house, so you minimize all of the above. Kennels are different, and have their own requirements (full height fencing at the very least, if not fully enclosed), etc.

My neighbors have an enormous Great Dane mix. He is a friendly dog, but I am so glad my yard is fenced and I don’t have to worry about him coming into my yard while my dogs are out. He outweighs them 3:1 at least, and if my dogs were tied or even just contained with an invisible fence, it limits their options to get away from another dog. Just imagine if he wasn’t friendly? (They have an invisible fence, which he is able to break out of whenever the batteries start to get low.)

[BuddyRoo]

Just because we grew up doing X doesn’t mean that it was necessarily good (or bad). Growing up, dogs were to be outside, tied up with a dog house, maybe let in to the garage if the weather was really bad or if Mom & Dad weren’t home to catch us. Also, a Tom Thumb was a “transition bit” from a simple O ring two piece snaffle to a curb and we didn’t wear seat belts or bike helmets. Cats were never inside, never vaccinated and lived about 2 years tops.

I crate trained both of my dogs as pups. It beat the heck out of coming home to a mess or waking up to a flurry of feathers when a pup decided to eat the down comforter as I slept. I will say that with my first pup, I worked from home. And with my second, he went to the office with me til he was older. I was never comfortable with the idea of a young pup being stuck in a crate for 8 hours.

Bottom line though, it kept them safe. Now? Meh. My oldest will be 11, youngest will be 4, I haven’t needed to crate them for years. But it’s good for them to feel comfortable in a crate should they need to fly or be hospitalized. We’ve had several dogs come in to the clinic where I most recently worked who were not comfortable in a crate. Made it very hard to keep them calm while ill. And my guys will need to be okay in a crate lying across the world.

To me it’s a skill. Just like being able to walk on leash or come when called. It just happens to have the added bonus of being a good training tool.

[Calamber]

[QUOTE=Coyoteco;7602883]
LOL, Border Collies are very possessive of their space. They want a kingdom to call their own:)[/QUOTE]

Laura’s are Rough Coats, not Border.