Re: Crates for Adult JRTs - an excuse for bad owners!

In Reply to: Re: Crates for Adult JRTs - an excuse for bad owners!
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Posted by:  Marie Evans
Posted on:  May 30, 2002 at 20:27:45

: : : Hi,

: : : Reviewing your forum on crating - the typical response for adult (trained) dogs is :

: : : "What's cruel is allowing a dog to run loose in a house where he may cause damage to himself or his surroundings, and ultimately have to deal with high emotions from an owner that returns to an unhappy situation all the time. Once it's determined that crating is for the good of the terrier..."

: : : To me that reads like a poor apology for making a dog prisoner simply because the owner has a) not worked out how to deal with canine separation anxiety, b) does not exercise their dog enough when home, and c) has not secured their garden and installed a "dog door".

: : : It seems to me that if you do "a","b" and "c" (and even "c" is optional if only away for a few hours) - then there is no need whatsoever for crating a dog - other than being a bad (or more likely lazy) owner.

: : : Certainly that has been my experience to date with a rescue JRT (unless you count making off with the odd bit of mistakenly left out cake)-and I cannot believe that it (or I) are unique.

: : : Would be interested in your comments. It seems hard to justfiy crating at all for trained adult JRTs. Providing a clear bed-zone and allowing them to stretch / explore / drink water as they wish MUST be a better solution for the dog.

: :
Response:

: : Well let me try to take a shot at this:

: : a) not worked out how to deal with canine separation anxiety

: : To me this best way to work with this is to crate the dog when you are not home, crating could/can only be done until the dog is properly trained, but until a dog is properly trained it should be crated when left alone for its own safety.

: : b) does not exercise their dog enough when home

: : I myself exercise my dogs all day long but when I leave the home they are crated, one reason is we have a dog with a bad back and even though he is well exercised and very trained its in his best interest to crate him when not home to avoid him jumping on/off furniture that could injure him again.

: : c) has not secured their garden and installed a "dog door"

: : Again this is not possible for all dogs, some dogs are great escape artist and if allowed outside unattended could very well escape and be lost or killed or even stolen out of their own yard.

: : My dogs are exercised from 6am to 10pm but if for some reason I must leave the home for a few hours or even minutes I crate them because at least I know where they will be when I return.
: : Thanks
: : Shannon

:
:
Response:

: Hi Grant,

: Let me tell you the reasons I crate my terriers when not at home.

: First of all let me say that I have very little in the way of behavior problems with mine. No chewing problems, no fighting problems, no housebreaking issues.

: In fact I can rest assure that most of the people that visit this Q&A board would be in wonderment on how laid back my two JRTs generally are!

: All that being said, I once thought too why should I crate these guys while I am out of the house? They are so good!

: One day I decided not to crate them and just do a small errand to the nearest supermarket. I was not gone 20 minutes. I pulled up to the house and found Brody on the windowsill with the corner of the screen pushed out.

: Apparently the mailman left a package at the back door in my absence and Brody jumped on the window sill and tried to get out to get to the mail man. Had I dallied even 5 more minutes I would have been gone one terrier. We live in a rural area and it's loaded with just the vermin any red-blooded, prey-focused JRT would dream of. We would have lost Brody for good probably down some woodchuck sette.

: That experience alone was enough for me to continue to crate my dogs. Brody has also been obedience trained. Of course I was not home to give him any commands to keep him off the window sill and if you aren't home to give the commands chances are your dog is not going to give them to himself ;)

: I should also mention that my other terrier has epilepsy. He is crated for his protection. I would never be able to live with myself if he was ever at the top of the stairs (our entire house has hardwood flooring) and went into a seizure and fell down those stairs.

: Reason 2 for me to crate my dogs.

: Another reason to crate my dogs...in case of a fire it will be very easy for the firemen to locate my dogs and remove them. Frightened animals do strange things, they normally will not run up to a stranger when frightened out of their minds. Why have the fireman spend precious time trying to locate my dogs?

: A reason why I don't recommend a dog door. Anything that can fit through that door can come visit your home. We recently had an episode near our town where a rabid raccoon came and visited a family. It tangled with their dog and everyone in the family had to go through the series of shots.

: I don't consider myself a "bad owner" Grant, I consider myself one that would prefer to err on the side of caution.

: Regards,
: Marie

Response:

Dear Grant,

You are mistaken to consider a crate as a "prison" for a dog. Like their wolf cousins, the instinct to "den" is about self-preservation and safety. Providing a dog with the means to follow their instincts is the "human" way of understanding and accepting their heritage.