Crates.
Crates seem to be a bit of a controversial subject these days, and I felt compelled to make a post about them, after a discussion with someone I met on a dog walk today, who told me, in no uncertain terms, that crates are cruel. Not only that, but my dogs are abused, because I use crates.
Since I’ve owned my own dogs, I have always used crates. And I always will. I genuinely don’t know how people live with dogs without a crate. Absolutely no judgement from me if you don’t use them, I just know I would struggle without them.
My dogs are crated every single night, without exception. They will never not be crated at night. They are also crated, regularly throughout the day. My main reason for this, is their safety. My dogs are young. My boy dog, is partial to lego, and anything else he can get his paws on. If you follow my personal page, you will know that he’s tried to eat and chew some questionable things. When he is in his crate, he can’t do this. Another big benefit, is that my dogs get adequate rest in their crates. Young dogs can be like toddlers, if they don’t get enough rest, they do silly things, annoy one another, harass my cat etc. I crate my dogs after every walk and after every training session. This allows their body and brain to recover. I never use crates as a punishment. I remember going to a training class ran by the lovely Pawzitivity Dog Training. Where Dianne said the crate should feel like finishing work on Friday evening, when you have your favourite tv show on, and a takeaway in your lap. Complete relaxation and contentment. That’s what it is for my dogs. Their crates are available 24/7, and they happily go in of their own accord.
Also, let’s not forget that, God forbid, your dog is ever at the vet for a longer period of time, or recovering from surgery, having a dog that’s crate trained will make life, yours and theirs, so much easier.
My dogs have a pretty decent life. They have adequate exercise, training,
Incase you ever wondered what happiness looks like…..
And just incase anyone is under the disillusion that I know at all what I’m doing with dogs, this as at the end of the session when we were heading back to the van. The other dogs were waiting patiently while I got all our stuff together, while my own two dogs ran off all the way to the other side of the field, and completely ignored my efforts to recall them.
I just wanted to share something I learnt from TikTok, of all places, for how to tire out your dogs if they’re not having their normal amount of exercise, due to the cold weather.
My dogs are usually walked twice a day, once on the long line for a sniffy walk, and once on pavements for more of a structured walk. We’re not really doing much of the street walks at the moment, and I think they’re missing it.
I did this for five minutes with each of them, and they’re now fast asleep.
This one is Loki, Lyla’s is in the comments. 🐾❤️🐾
