GREAT CRATE DEBATE

I don't remember ever having a crate for any of the dogs our family shared our home with while I was growing up.


We brought the new puppy home and house-trained it.

I'm not just referring to making sure we weren't slipping on a soggy floor or experiencing that squish between our toes as our feet hit the floor upon awakening (am I the only one who's experienced this one??).

This is breaking the dog of the habit of urinating and defecating in the house. House-breaking.

The house-breaking was the easy part--took all of a week due to our vigilance and dedication, no matter what breed we were dealing with (although males always did seem to be a bit more trying).

The house-training took a bit longer. Teaching our puppies what was ours as opposed to what was theirs. Respect for their surroundings, their den--and for their humans.

Teaching dogs to respect the boundaries we gave them, which obviously included redirecting them from a shoe to one of their toys, redirecting their attacks on a potted plant or cautioning them to leave anything on the coffee table alone (every living room had a coffee table back then, right?) was all in a day with a new puppy.

Sure there were accidents, as there are with babies when they're just beginning to crawl and are overcome with wanting to experience their tactile sense but we were ever more watchful--there was, after all, a four-footed baby in the house.

I'm not sure when the whole crate craze started escalating out of control. I believe it was about fifteen to twenty years ago.

No longer any need for breeders to pass up a sale to the people who desired a puppy, even if they had full time jobs and were out of their den between fifty to sixty hours a week.

No bother for newly-married couples who desired the status of instant 'family' to concern themselves with their daily out-of-den commitments.


One of the many reasons given for introducing the crate to a pup at an early age is the 'what if' scenario. What if your dog has to have an emergency stay overnight at a veterinary hospital?

In emergencies, my dogs (as adults) have on occasion had to spend time at the vet's. They have to be really ill, something life-threatening for me to agree to have them stay over-night at any veterinarian hospital usually because there's no staff on over-night--but that's a whole other post.

When they've had this unfortunate experience, they've been too ill to concern themselves with their accommodations. They've not fought the crate or shown great anxiety . . . they've been ill.

If you have ever seen those horrid images of dogs in puppy mills, you are aware that in fact a dog will soil in a confined space.

To confine a puppy to such a space when physiologically it hasn't even got full control of its bowel or bladder in order to teach it to relieve itself out-of-doors is ludicrous.

It is however . . . convenient. For the human--not for the puppy.

To crate a puppy to keep it from exploring its new den and possibly chewing on an exposed electrical wire or knocking over a plant or chewing up a tennis racket or the millions of other things puppies are drawn to, is simply being l-a-z-y and not stepping up to the responsibilities involved in molding a new puppy's teeny little brain.

Of course a pup will approach an object it's not familiar with-sniff it, if it still can't get a read on it, next best thing would be to whack it with a paw, see if it's going to move. If it still doesn't get any feedback from the object--the pup will probably try giving it a chew, see if it's edible.

At the point when the pup has sniffed whatever object has its attention and is zoning in for further exploration, the owner should step in and redirect--letting the pup know that the object is of no further concern to the pup.

It may take some repetition but it works! The pups' exploratory nature is satisfied and they're learning the boundaries at the same time...with the owner's involvement.

Basic and simple--and agreed, it's exhausting and time-consuming.

There are no instant results--unless of course, you just stick the pups into the 'safe place' (as pro-craters like to call a cage) and get on with your life.

To believe a pup needs a 'safe' place--a quiet place or a time-out place to go, other than a bed, sofa or blanket in a space on the floor is nothing more than great marketing. For puppies there's no safer place or any better feeling of security than to be beside their humans (preferably touching a body part).

My dog's 'safe place' is our home. It's her big, roomy den. She respects it and everything in it--because I've taken the time, put in the energy and raised her that way.

I just can't imagine how we or our dogs ever survived puppy-rearing before the use of crates!

***In this post, I'm not referring to breeders who have to deal with males and females and the challenge they are faced with when one (or more) of their females is in season. ***

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COMMENTS:

I use a crate only at night but it is by the bed and that way I know when to get up before it is too late.
I agree some people use it as a place to stick a puppy/dog for hours on end.
Once they are potty trained it gets put down in the basement.

I have also found that it is a haven/safe place for puppies from older adults. I take the door off and it becomes their cave. I use the 900 Vari Kennels so lots of room.

Back in '92 , I had two brothers that loved their crates. I never put the doors on, they would kiss you good night and go to a crate. It didn't matter which one.
They then out grew the 900 crate and decided sleeping on a mat in the family room was OK.
BM

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I agree with you Deborah. The only time our dogs are ever crated is at ringside and those crates are big enough for 2 full grown Danes to stand and lie down fully stretched.
Why on earth have a dog and then isolate it from you in a crate!
KY

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I can not help but agree with you..
We do not crate either.
IK

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We never used “any sort of crating”. I hate it ! I’d never agree to do it. Why imprison a pet.
You named the only –if ever- acceptable reasonfor it: season of a bitch.

For one, a dog needs to become housebroken and trained by the owners. It needs education and if people won’t accept that I simply say “hands off”pets.
BV

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Crates have become a "must" now for the convenience of the owners, like so many things to-day, complete food, electric collars, halti's and lots of other short cuts that are purely for the convenience of the owners.
Nobody seems to just use things in moderation anymore -- its all or nothing.
I think crates used correctly can be a big help, at shows, when a dog has to be restricted for a health problem or lameness, bitches in season safely confined, also sometimes for a babies protection, BUT I have actually seen crates three high in RV's with all sorts of breeds in them--- what I did'nt see was those dogs going out for a good run and exercise before going in them. !!!!!
Crate With Caution!

SS