Post by Deleted on Jul 24, 2018 9:04:51 GMT -5
haggis , Vince524 and other doggy folks -- can I consult you?
Is it cruel to lock a 9-week old puppy in a crate the entire day while the owner is at work? How about if she has a friend to stop in at lunch to take the dog out for a brief wee-wee before re-crating him for another four hours? What if the dog is barking and crying all day for weeks?
We never crated ours -- when we left her at home, we just let her roam free, and if it meant a few accidents and chewed shoes until she was completely trained, well, that's what happens when you get a puppy.
That being the case, to me, keeping a small puppy locked in a box all day seems totally cruel. But I've only owned one dog and certainly we spoiled her to death, so perhaps my perception is skewed.
The poor dog barks and cries All. Day. while in that crate. I've been working from home on and off for the last month, and the dog is always barking -- starts right up at 8:30 a.m., stops briefly at lunch, then continues until 6 p.m. At first I thought it was coming from that other poor dog that was getting left on the terrace all day (that problem seems to have resolved, btw), but then realized it was coming from my own building. Not knowing the neighbor, the age of the puppy, or that the dog was in a crate, I looked up suggestions for keeping a dog happy when it is home alone, printed them out, and added a very nice note to the neighbor explaining that her dog barked all day, I love dogs and was worried about it, and here were some ways dog experts suggested keeping the dog happier when it was alone -- Kong toys, keeping a TV on, a white noise machine, etc.
That night, she stopped up at my apartment with the tiniest sweet wee puppy, explaining that she'd just gotten him from a shelter a few weeks ago, he wasn't trained yet, and so she was keeping him in the crate while she was at work, but that he had toys and a friend came over to let him out at lunch. She seemed to genuinely love the dog, and he looked well cared for.
But the "locked in a cage all day thing" bothers me. I know you can cage train a dog to be content in a cage for stretches of time, but somehow, taking a new puppy from a shelter and keeping him along locked in a crate all day, every day seems wrong to me. I'd bark and cry all day, too. Clearly pup is unhappy. If it were mine, I'd puppy proof my apartment as best I could and let him have the run of at least one room, and I'd leave the TV or a radio on for company. (My dog liked that. We'd come home and find her watching TV.)
To note, she mentioned that other neighbors were complaining. She added that they weren't all as nice as I was and clearly didn't love dogs as much. (I spent our whole conversation on the floor playing with puppers, as any normal person would.)
But perhaps my perception is skewed. What do you guys think?
(Yes, I'm all Gladys Kravitz again on a neighbor. But honest to god, in NYC it is hard to help it. You have so many neighbors living right on top of you and all around you, and you can't help but hear them when they fight or their dog barks or they have noisy parties. You learn to ignore most of it, unless it gets ridiculous, but, yeah, it can get pretty bad. Until a year or two ago, the building consisted of quiet professionals and families, but this last year or so has added some new neighbors and new situations that are...less quiet.
In this case, however, as with the puppy on a terrace in an adjoining building I mentioned a while ago, I'm far more worried about the dog than the noise. Unlike the poor puppy on the terrace, though, I now know the neighbor in question and can talk to her about ways to make pup happier. Any thoughts are welcome.)
Is it cruel to lock a 9-week old puppy in a crate the entire day while the owner is at work? How about if she has a friend to stop in at lunch to take the dog out for a brief wee-wee before re-crating him for another four hours? What if the dog is barking and crying all day for weeks?
We never crated ours -- when we left her at home, we just let her roam free, and if it meant a few accidents and chewed shoes until she was completely trained, well, that's what happens when you get a puppy.
That being the case, to me, keeping a small puppy locked in a box all day seems totally cruel. But I've only owned one dog and certainly we spoiled her to death, so perhaps my perception is skewed. The poor dog barks and cries All. Day. while in that crate. I've been working from home on and off for the last month, and the dog is always barking -- starts right up at 8:30 a.m., stops briefly at lunch, then continues until 6 p.m. At first I thought it was coming from that other poor dog that was getting left on the terrace all day (that problem seems to have resolved, btw), but then realized it was coming from my own building. Not knowing the neighbor, the age of the puppy, or that the dog was in a crate, I looked up suggestions for keeping a dog happy when it is home alone, printed them out, and added a very nice note to the neighbor explaining that her dog barked all day, I love dogs and was worried about it, and here were some ways dog experts suggested keeping the dog happier when it was alone -- Kong toys, keeping a TV on, a white noise machine, etc.
That night, she stopped up at my apartment with the tiniest sweet wee puppy, explaining that she'd just gotten him from a shelter a few weeks ago, he wasn't trained yet, and so she was keeping him in the crate while she was at work, but that he had toys and a friend came over to let him out at lunch. She seemed to genuinely love the dog, and he looked well cared for.
But the "locked in a cage all day thing" bothers me. I know you can cage train a dog to be content in a cage for stretches of time, but somehow, taking a new puppy from a shelter and keeping him along locked in a crate all day, every day seems wrong to me. I'd bark and cry all day, too. Clearly pup is unhappy. If it were mine, I'd puppy proof my apartment as best I could and let him have the run of at least one room, and I'd leave the TV or a radio on for company. (My dog liked that. We'd come home and find her watching TV.)
To note, she mentioned that other neighbors were complaining. She added that they weren't all as nice as I was and clearly didn't love dogs as much. (I spent our whole conversation on the floor playing with puppers, as any normal person would.)
But perhaps my perception is skewed. What do you guys think?
(Yes, I'm all Gladys Kravitz again on a neighbor. But honest to god, in NYC it is hard to help it. You have so many neighbors living right on top of you and all around you, and you can't help but hear them when they fight or their dog barks or they have noisy parties. You learn to ignore most of it, unless it gets ridiculous, but, yeah, it can get pretty bad. Until a year or two ago, the building consisted of quiet professionals and families, but this last year or so has added some new neighbors and new situations that are...less quiet.
In this case, however, as with the puppy on a terrace in an adjoining building I mentioned a while ago, I'm far more worried about the dog than the noise. Unlike the poor puppy on the terrace, though, I now know the neighbor in question and can talk to her about ways to make pup happier. Any thoughts are welcome.)
It breaks my heart to hear her, or any sad dog. (Though, yeah, some of our other neighbors who are less dog-loving than I am might feel differently about all the barking.)
