Agreed - crating (IMO) should not be used as a behaviour modifier (unless in the case of house training) and should be a safe place for your dog for a couple of hours when need be. I would never, ever advocate leaving a dog in a crate for an extended period - and certainly not all day whilst at work.
Leaving dogs out unattended...
- Thread starter Buddy'sParents
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we leave our dogs outside unatended for about 3-8 hours 5 days a week. it just doesn't work to leave them inside. and we don't agree with crating. however these dogs are out the back, someone woud have to climb the back fence with is high and rigid and made of corragated iron. to even get to our yard, at which point, they'd probably be severley punished for trespassing.
i would be cruel to crate our dogs for that long.t hey arn't scared of the backyard, they have all day to run around and play, or they can lie in bed or in the garage. i don't see a probalem in doign this
i would be cruel to crate our dogs for that long.t hey arn't scared of the backyard, they have all day to run around and play, or they can lie in bed or in the garage. i don't see a probalem in doign this
i just think, theres always a chnce soemthign bad will happen. but i couldnt sentence my dogs to hours and hours of boredome locked in a vrate every day. they have to have a life. like buster, i know it isn't always safe to let him off lead, but i can't just leave him on all the time. i can't do that to him. even if he has a shorter life, i'd rather him have a really fun happy one while it lasts
That's right - there is always a chance. Just as there is always a chance when you get behind the wheel of a car or let your child walk to school. But I wouldn't be locking my child in a crate 8 hours a day to make sure nothing happened to them, either.
For those who live in areas where break-ins, poisoning and dog theft happen, then I don't blame you for not leaving your dogs unattended. To use the child analogy again, if I knew that my neighbourhood had a higher incidence of children getting kidnapped or assaulted, of course I wouldn't let them walk to school alone, either. It's all a matter of degree, a matter of circumstance. Whatever is safest for your dog, is I think the issue here.
For those who live in areas where break-ins, poisoning and dog theft happen, then I don't blame you for not leaving your dogs unattended. To use the child analogy again, if I knew that my neighbourhood had a higher incidence of children getting kidnapped or assaulted, of course I wouldn't let them walk to school alone, either. It's all a matter of degree, a matter of circumstance. Whatever is safest for your dog, is I think the issue here.
I leave my dogs outside while I run to our little town market. I can't imagine what knucklehead would want to open that gate, and no...Hammie isn't the least bit impressed by food so you're not gonna sway him that way either. sure...I guess some idiot could come along and do something harmful...but I guess I just don't live in that kind of fear. they're fine while I'm gone. 
My dog's never outside unless someone's home, largely because our immediate neighbors are whackjobs with huge dogs and a bad fence. I'm never really relaxed when she's out. In terms of other dangers, we live on an alley, and years ago my first dog was poisoned and nearly died at Halloween. We could never figure out if someone deliberately poisoned her or someone cluelessly threw chocolate over the fence at her. Either way, I never let any dog out alone after dark on Mischief Night or Halloween.
No worries, Melanie
No worries, Melanie
i am lucky i can bring Ruckus to work with me.
but sometimes he is in the crate 8 hours a day (sleeping)
and another couple of hours (naps)
but get this.... his crate door is open. he loves his crate!
i dont think there is anything wrong with crating at all mrose_s
unless they would be crated over 12 hours a day. but it very common to have your dog crated 8 hours while you are at work, and 8 hours when you are sleeping. however i would never ever do it this long.
about leaving your dogs outside unattended... It would really depend on your fence, your neighbors, your dogs. generally i think its an accident waiting to happen.
but sometimes he is in the crate 8 hours a day (sleeping)
and another couple of hours (naps)
but get this.... his crate door is open. he loves his crate!
i dont think there is anything wrong with crating at all mrose_s
unless they would be crated over 12 hours a day. but it very common to have your dog crated 8 hours while you are at work, and 8 hours when you are sleeping. however i would never ever do it this long.
about leaving your dogs outside unattended... It would really depend on your fence, your neighbors, your dogs. generally i think its an accident waiting to happen.
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When Buddy was younger and both Hubby and I had to leave for work (he now works from home) Buddy got crated. There was no other choice. He was a young pup and even though the house was puppy-proofed you don't just give a 4 month old puppy run of the house. So he got crated.
He loves his crate, by the way. When we first started it, he wasn't much for it, but he sure likes it now. He can go in and out as he pleases. If he wants time away from Banzai he can go to his crate and vice versa for Banzai.
How fortunate for all of you to be able to leave your dog unattended and not have to worry about the sick people in the world, but we do. And we are certainly are not cruel for keeping our dogs safe.
He loves his crate, by the way. When we first started it, he wasn't much for it, but he sure likes it now. He can go in and out as he pleases. If he wants time away from Banzai he can go to his crate and vice versa for Banzai.
How fortunate for all of you to be able to leave your dog unattended and not have to worry about the sick people in the world, but we do. And we are certainly are not cruel for keeping our dogs safe.
Auggie loves his crate, too. When we brought it home (he had a little plastic one as a puppy, and got the nice wire one when he got older) he knew it was his crate and went right inside and lay down. =>
The house isn't safe for Auggie to be out when no one's home. There's no way to make it safe unless we had an empty room, LOL! (And then he'd probably resort to chewing the walls!) He's just a trouble maker, and he would find things to eat, tear up, destroy, whatever. And I'd prefer he didn't get into something, eat it, and then have a blockage, and wheeee it just goes on.
See, the funny thing about declaring "SOMETHING could happen, but that doesn't mean you should never do it!!" is that it's not perfect logic, nor a perfect analogy for all situations. Yes, there's a chance you could die when you get in a car. Most of us don't avoid it, but most of us also do what we can to be safe when we DO get into the car.
But just because something "might" happen but "probably" won't doesn't mean you should.
edit:
I just had to edit and quote this because I agree completely. I'm honestly amazed at how many people are being insulting to those of us who won't leave our dogs outside alone...
The house isn't safe for Auggie to be out when no one's home. There's no way to make it safe unless we had an empty room, LOL! (And then he'd probably resort to chewing the walls!) He's just a trouble maker, and he would find things to eat, tear up, destroy, whatever. And I'd prefer he didn't get into something, eat it, and then have a blockage, and wheeee it just goes on.
See, the funny thing about declaring "SOMETHING could happen, but that doesn't mean you should never do it!!" is that it's not perfect logic, nor a perfect analogy for all situations. Yes, there's a chance you could die when you get in a car. Most of us don't avoid it, but most of us also do what we can to be safe when we DO get into the car.
But just because something "might" happen but "probably" won't doesn't mean you should.
edit:
I just had to edit and quote this because I agree completely. I'm honestly amazed at how many people are being insulting to those of us who won't leave our dogs outside alone...
My dogs are out while I'm at work but we live in a rural area and are one of the few people who keep their dogs contained in a fenced yard (about 3 acres). Everyone else lets their dogs run loose so I figure I'm one up on them (our county doesn't have a leash law).
The dogs (when they're not racing around playing 'catch me', having wrestling matches or digging up moles) usually snooze on the covered porch (the house sits about 150 ft off the road) or they go in the basement. My neighbor also stops by to check on them every day.
The dogs (when they're not racing around playing 'catch me', having wrestling matches or digging up moles) usually snooze on the covered porch (the house sits about 150 ft off the road) or they go in the basement. My neighbor also stops by to check on them every day.
I just thought of something, for those of you who crate your dog all day long for fear of something happening to him while outside do you not run the same risk of having him restrained while in the house? I mean obviously the risks are different of course. If your gas line broke, or there was a fire in the house, or a storm damaged your home in some way or any other house emergency happened, is your dog not more at risk because he is cooped up somewhere? Don''t get me wrong I totally understand crating and did it myself when OC was a puppy and sometimes still leave him int he crate if it is beastly hot outside or nasty weather but before scaring those who leave their dogs unattended outside with "What ifs" think about the "What ifs" that could happen to a crated dog too. There is no magical answer for anything, there will be risks not matter what you choose to do.
Oh, my dog is at risk all the freaking time. We do agility. He could fall off the a-frame and snap his neck. He does herding. He could get his face kicked in. We take him places. He could be stolen (almost was yesterday. LOL!) He plays frisbee. He could jump wrong and break his leg. There's risks everywhere, but I think it's my responsibility as his owner to keep him safe from very likely risks that can easily be avoided.
Perhaps where you all live, it's all fine and dandy to leave a dog outside. Here in Arizona, if the people don't harm your dog, the wildlife will. With my little dog, I even have birds of prey to worry about. You're freaking insane if you think I'm going to leave them alone out there. I do the best I can to make the yard safe but there are lots of things I can't predict.
I just think the odds of them getting sick, getting injured, being stolen, ETC because they were left in the backyard unattended are greater than the odds of them dying because they were locked in the laundry room while the house randomly exploded.
Both dogs know the drill when it's time for us to leave. It doesn't detract from their quality of life. Hell, Dakota paces at the closed door of the laundry room before I put him in there, because he knows I've made some fun treats and given him bones to chew on. Ripley squeals at the door of his crate because he sees his goodies in there. Neither of my dogs are being abused, and honestly neither are being bored out of their mind either. Ripley even has a litterbox in his crate in case he needs to pee while we're gone.
Get off your high horses. We do what we think is best for our dogs.
Perhaps where you all live, it's all fine and dandy to leave a dog outside. Here in Arizona, if the people don't harm your dog, the wildlife will. With my little dog, I even have birds of prey to worry about. You're freaking insane if you think I'm going to leave them alone out there. I do the best I can to make the yard safe but there are lots of things I can't predict.
I just think the odds of them getting sick, getting injured, being stolen, ETC because they were left in the backyard unattended are greater than the odds of them dying because they were locked in the laundry room while the house randomly exploded.
Both dogs know the drill when it's time for us to leave. It doesn't detract from their quality of life. Hell, Dakota paces at the closed door of the laundry room before I put him in there, because he knows I've made some fun treats and given him bones to chew on. Ripley squeals at the door of his crate because he sees his goodies in there. Neither of my dogs are being abused, and honestly neither are being bored out of their mind either. Ripley even has a litterbox in his crate in case he needs to pee while we're gone.
Get off your high horses. We do what we think is best for our dogs.
Coming late to the conversation (as always) and want to add my two cents (as always).
We do not have a fenced in yard. We live about 1/4 mile from the road and our dogs get free reign outside when we are doing chores (both morning and night), the little dogs as well as the younger dane. The older dane HATES being outside, goes out on a light tie when she needs to do her business and occasionally to sit outside in a patch of warm sunshine for ten or fifteen minutes before coming back in and curling up on my bed.
We do not leave our dogs outside unsupervised while we are gone mainly because of the road. If the pups hear kids next door playing, they head in that direction (but call back REAL quick) - if they heard kids across the road you bet they'd go - the biggest problem is that we live on the road to one of the largest ski resorts in our province, the roads are horrid, there are loads of blind hills and the drivers' are idiots. If we had a fenced yard, I would probably consider leaving my dogs outside in the summer while I am gone to work - only because the younger dane would never allow anyone to come and TAKE anything (as she proved a couple of weeks ago!), but for now all I could do while I was at work if they were outside would be worry about where they're going and what they're doing.
Our "across the road neighbor" had a pup they used to leave outside all the time, considerably closer to the road than we were and one day when I got off the bus afterschool in middle school, it tried to follow me across the road and was struck dead by a skiier coming by. The guy pulled over, and watched while the pup twitched and bled out on the road, and then got back in his truck and drove away to leave 13 year old me with the mess to clean up, the people to tell, and the guilt to live with. I would never want to put that on someone else. As a general rule though, MY dogs love to be outside, SUPERVISED.
I don't worry *much* about theft ON our property, though over the summer, a girl who was here to look at horses jokingly called Morrie into her car and went to the end of the driveway with him and he didn't worry a bit. The worst part about those outgoing dogs is that they just want to be with people, whoever they are!
We do not have a fenced in yard. We live about 1/4 mile from the road and our dogs get free reign outside when we are doing chores (both morning and night), the little dogs as well as the younger dane. The older dane HATES being outside, goes out on a light tie when she needs to do her business and occasionally to sit outside in a patch of warm sunshine for ten or fifteen minutes before coming back in and curling up on my bed.
We do not leave our dogs outside unsupervised while we are gone mainly because of the road. If the pups hear kids next door playing, they head in that direction (but call back REAL quick) - if they heard kids across the road you bet they'd go - the biggest problem is that we live on the road to one of the largest ski resorts in our province, the roads are horrid, there are loads of blind hills and the drivers' are idiots. If we had a fenced yard, I would probably consider leaving my dogs outside in the summer while I am gone to work - only because the younger dane would never allow anyone to come and TAKE anything (as she proved a couple of weeks ago!), but for now all I could do while I was at work if they were outside would be worry about where they're going and what they're doing.
Our "across the road neighbor" had a pup they used to leave outside all the time, considerably closer to the road than we were and one day when I got off the bus afterschool in middle school, it tried to follow me across the road and was struck dead by a skiier coming by. The guy pulled over, and watched while the pup twitched and bled out on the road, and then got back in his truck and drove away to leave 13 year old me with the mess to clean up, the people to tell, and the guilt to live with.
I would never want to put that on someone else. As a general rule though, MY dogs love to be outside, SUPERVISED.I don't worry *much* about theft ON our property, though over the summer, a girl who was here to look at horses jokingly called Morrie into her car and went to the end of the driveway with him and he didn't worry a bit. The worst part about those outgoing dogs is that they just want to be with people, whoever they are!
oh, and when we move out of town, we'll have a secure fence yard. but if buster is presenting problems i may have to cage hm. in a large cage kennel because he'll just run off hunting and chasing. or maybe him and harry will fight.
plus, our dogs are FIRTST! our pets, we love them. but they also protect our house. i don't feel safe when the dogs arn't around. buster looks after me as much as i lok after him
plus, our dogs are FIRTST! our pets, we love them. but they also protect our house. i don't feel safe when the dogs arn't around. buster looks after me as much as i lok after him