Do You Use a Dog Crate for the Right Reasons?
Dog crates are invaluable especially if you intend on travelling your dog in a car whether for a short or long distance journey. However, there are certain situations when placing a dog in a crate would be deemed inappropriate and in fact, quite unacceptable and even cruel!
However, training a dog to go in a crate is essential because you need for them to feel totally relaxed when the door is firmly shut and when it's left open. Some dog owners like to put their dog in a crate at night for various reasons which includes the following:
- Their dog tends to be a little too destructive if left alone in a room at night
- They are restless and pace around during the night if not in a crate
- Their dog feels safer when they are in their crate at night – this is especially true of some rescue dogs and younger dogs who are still learning the ropes
Certain dogs like to go in their crates because it's somewhere they can get away from things, it's their own “little castle” where they like to take a nap even during the day!
Using a Dog Crate for the Wrong Reasons
However, to use a crate for the wrong reasons might get an owner into trouble. People who use them as a way to punish a dog, or to keep them from getting under their feet, or to keep dogs away from each other, is very wrong. No dog should be put in a crate other than when they want to go in there themselves, if they are recovering from an illness or because they are too destructive when left on their own at night. However, in the last instance, it is far better to deal with the problem of destructiveness, rather than just put a dog in a crate!
Dog crates serve a very good purpose when used correctly and when they are the right size to suit a particular breed of dog. Crate training is an important part of a dog's education and they need to feel like it's a good experience when they are put in one. Dogs must not feel like they are being put in a prison where they are left for hours on end which some lazier owners may choose to do which is very, very wrong!
Putting a Dog in a Crate Has to be For their Good, Not the Owners
When a dog has to go in a crate, it has to be for their own good, it has to be best for them and not for their owners convenience. If a dog, no matter what size cannot move around as they should, it can only lead to more serious behavioural problems which not only makes their existence miserable, but their owner's lives too.
Dogs, when they get the chance will eat some pretty gross things when they are out on a walk, even when their owners are about. Leaving them in a crate for a few hours would be terribly cruel especially if they experience an upset stomach and as a result have a serious bout of diarrhoea. Not only would this be awful for your pet to have to go through, but the cleaning up afterwards is not something that would be very enviable – although well deserved.
Should your dog have an “accident” in the house and this is just something that will occasionally happen, it is far easier to clean up the mess than it is to deal with a smelly, confined crate with soiled bedding and a traumatised dog!
A Well Exercised and Tired Dog Will Behave
If a dog is well exercised and kept mentally stimulated when you are at home with them, they are generally too tired to start playing up or even being overly destructive when they have to be left on their own. It is usually a bored four-legged friend that tends to start chewing on everything and destroying things around the home.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, a dog crate should be used for specific purposes and not as a cage used when it is most convenient to do so. You can leave a crate with the door open in a room for your dog to use when they please because lots of dogs like taking a nap in them. Clean dog bedding should be placed in the crate and a couple of chewy toys to make it even more inviting. Dogs need to feel comfortable and happy about being put in crate, but they should never be left in one for long periods of time because that is just too cruel!
