Re: crates - unnatural?

Five years ago, I might have agreed that crates are unnatural, but I want to tell you a story.

I have a cocker spaniel that's about to turn 17. I also have a 5 year old lab. The lab has severe hip dyplasia and was diagnosed at about 8 months. We decided to do hip replacement as she had her whole life to look forward to. We were told she had to be crated for 3 months after surgery. So we got her a cage, and set it up with a ramp so she could get used to it as we weren't going to do her surgery until she was a year old. She would go in it occassionally, but wasn't too keen about it. The cocker loved it. He claimed it as his "home", and slept there all the time. When he wanted to lay down, into the cage he went. He even stopped coming into the bedroom at night.

After the lab's surgery, she was in the cage. The cocker would walk up the ramp, walk right into the door, turn around go down the ramp and turn around and repeat. After a couple days, the cocker couldn't walk anymore. I raced him to the vet as he seemed paralyzed in his hind legs. They couldn't find anything wrong with him, so they kept him for tests. Right after they put him in a cage, he got up and started pacing.

So, we had to buy him a crate. He was fine from that moment on. Had I known that he wanted a crate, I would have bought one for him years sooner! I use his crate as an end table!

Bottom line, it depends on the dog, it depends on the owner. Crating a dog for 12 hours a day is cruel, but many dogs do like them, some puppies are extremely destructive when left alone, even for an hour, and a crate may make the diffence between having a home, or being left outside all day, or being turned over to a shelter.