People who are almost never home should not have dogs. But they don't realize that, so they get a dog anyway. The dog gets left alone all day and is lonely and damages some property, so then he gets left alone all day in a crate. Any time he gets let out he goes completely apeshit, so he ends up spending more and more time in the crate even when folks are home. Eventually they decide the dog is a BAD DOG so off to the shelter he goes.
We are almost always home (Hubby telecommutes, I have a flex schedule so I stay home the one day in 2 weeks he needs to go downtown.) And we have 3 children and 2 dogs. It's dog heaven at our house.
His crate is open unless I need to quiet him. Not often, but sometimes he get barkily overwrought. But sometimes he just goes and goes. I've learned to tolerate his noise, mostly. The crate's got a well-fitted pillow. He sleeps there by choice, sometimes. I watch the dynamic. He likes pillows.
Dogs DO like their crate if it has not been used in an abusive way. It is their nature to want to retreat to a smallish, enclosed "den" type of shelter to rest. Unfortunately, stupid humans are able to twist this normal inclination. "Gee, he likes to sleep in the crate for several ours at a time. Why not just lock him in while I leave the house for 18 hours at a time?"
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We are almost always home (Hubby telecommutes, I have a flex schedule so I stay home the one day in 2 weeks he needs to go downtown.) And we have 3 children and 2 dogs. It's dog heaven at our house.
Crating
Re: Crating