Re: crates - unnatural?

" 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."

lol. Although I'll believe this dog liked the crate, I disagree with the reasonings behind it. Probably only because I'm familiar with Cockers and they're known for having random weirdness like seizures, epilipsey and paralysis. I Know a lady who quit feeding beef heart for a couple days and the cocker had a seizure, she did the same thing and rushed it to a vet who couldn't find anything wrong. Thyroid tests, blood tests, all normal. It's never happened again and she is sure its because she feeds it everyday now. There's probably a million similar stories on google.

When a dog gets scared and goes to the vet, they get an adrenaline rush and that would have done it. I took my 14yrold to the vet for being lethargic and he could barely stand up, turned out to be an internal tumor bleeding in his stomach. But as soon as we got to the vet, the usual pacing back and forth. That meant nothing but adrenaline since he died that night. I'm guessing since its a cocker and small, and you thought he was paralyzed, you carried him and held him the entire time untill he got put in that crate.


Even though I'm against crating (except for after a surgery) and more for buying my dogs comfortable beds, the cats even have a matress thrown on the basement floor that they love to sleep on..I have more respect for this story than others since you didn't crate train and he chose it himself. (although there's probably a bed in it you could've taken out and thrown on the floor..) Other people have to "train" and "force" their dog to use it.