Doghouses Are Evil, And Crating Your Dog Has Become A Crime
Alex Ballingall writes for Macleans about the shift from dogs being working animals to surrogate children, and how societal attitudes have changed to where previously accepted practices like crating and using doghouses are now considered pet abuse.
Ballingall opens his piece with the story of Nova Scotia man, Robbie Fowler, who lives out in the country. He has two golden retriever mixed breeds living on chains in the yard. They have a doghouse, but "don't even go in...half the time," says Fowler. "What they are is hunting dogs":
That's why Fowler keeps Buddy and Magnum on chains about 15 feet long. These are attached to "big long-run ropes" that Fowler says allow Buddy and Magnum to move up and down the yard while preventing them from straying out to the road and getting hit by a car. "They run around and get plenty of exercise," says Fowler.One day in February, a cruelty investigator from the SPCA turned up at Fowler's door. Animal rights activists in the area have been filing complaints against Fowler for more than a year, telling authorities that the way he keeps his dogs is causing them to suffer social isolation and confinement. The investigator surveyed Fowler's yard, taking note of the run ropes and the insulated doghouse with a shingle roof that Fowler built for Buddy and Magnum. "He said: 'Your dogs cannot get tangled up, they have a good long run, they have a nice house. I don't know what they're calling for,' " Fowler recalls. The investigator left after concluding Buddy and Magnum were well-fed and cared for.
Over the years, the boundary between animal cruelty and kindness has moved, and some of us didn't even notice. The days when dogs were sentries first and pets second are long gone. Even the junkyard dog has largely disappeared, replaced by video surveillance technology. Now we buy them organic food, seatbelts for the car, orthopaedic beds for the house, and take them to physiotherapists when they get arthritis. And the age-old practice of tying a dog up in the backyard or leaving it in a crate to housebreak it are as morally abhorrent to some as putting a child on a halter or keeping it in a playpen all day.
Dogs are pack animals. They are instinctively wired to be members of a group that possesses an alpha leader. Alpha leaders and their omega followers adhere to certain behaviors that lets everyone know who they are in the social structure. Many of these signals are different from human behavior and meaning. For example, when a dog jumps up on us and licks us, we may interpret this as "giving us hugs and kisses." Dogs interpret this as invasion of space. Only a higher ranking dog may invade the space of a lower ranking dog.
Therefore, when humans treat their dogs like children they often inadvertently tell the dog that it is the alpha. However, because the dog cannot possibly be in the position of controlling its human owners (such as telling the human when they may or may not leave the house) this creates tremendous confusion and anxiety on the part of the animal. Because these kind of situations happen more often to small dogs, it is called "small dog syndrome." Lots of info and books about it.
Robbie Fowler was actually giving his dogs clear signals about who was alpha - him. Dogs who know their place in the family (as one of the pack, not the leader) are secure, contented dogs.
RationalReader at March 20, 2012 1:24 PM
You cannot get any animal at all from any shelter or rescue group if you dare to say the animal will be outside except for walks on a leash here. Unless it's a feral cat that they adopt out as barn cats. Insane.
momof4 at March 20, 2012 1:43 PM
I used to put my son in a playpen to keep him from eating cat food every time I turned my back.
My friend used to keep her kid on a leash when they went shopping to keep her from getting lost.
I thought we were both being responsible.
nonegiven at March 20, 2012 2:25 PM
Said it before to my two sisters (both of whom are crazy for their pets, especially dogs), and I'll say it again: Most American dogs eat better and healthier than an awful lot of third-world humans do.
Also apologies for dragging politics into it, but I just gotta get something off my chest: for those here who still watch The Late Show, has anyone noticed how obsessed Letterman is about the 1980s-era "Romney tied the dog to the car roof" story? Granted it wasn't Mitt's greatest moment. OTOH, Dave's been screaming about it, every single night he's on, for so long that I wish someone would get into Letterman's face about how many more female co-workers he's harassed (or worse) in the past year.
qdpsteve at March 20, 2012 4:34 PM
"You cannot get any animal at all from any shelter or rescue group if you dare to say the animal will be outside except for walks on a leash here."
Almost all of our dogs were "outside dogs". They spent most of their time outdoors, with free roam of the yard. I don't understand why that's bad. When it was too hot, they had a shaded, screened porch with a fan running to hide under (and, later, for our water-loving Rottweiler, a baby pool filled with water to lounge it at will). They had food. When it was storming or too cold, they came inside. Depending on their personality, they could come in more often, on occasion (the Rotty regarded being indoors as absolute torture. He hated it and would whine to be let back out). They're outside animals, aren't they? I mean, in the wild, that's where they would live.
Then we had our stereotypical small dog. Mom crated her. Rarely was it for punishment; it was just where she spent the night. When she was older, and got to be more "crotchety old lady" than "cutesy princess puppy", you could tell her to go to her room, and she'd go off to her crate with a treat or her toy and sit quietly in there. When the house was chaotic, you didn't have to close the door, she'd sit there all by herself without fuss. It was her quiet spot. As long as you aren't crating the dog for obscene amounts of time, why is it wrong to give them a quiet, confined space to sleep?
cornerdemon at March 20, 2012 4:48 PM
The problem is most people are city/suburb people and have no idea how nature really works.
The watch the discovery channel once every 4yrs when the BBC comes out with a new documentery.
Even these days most of the people in the sticks arent really rural type people.
Had a freind visiting once damn near shit a brick once she realaized the chicken she was eating for dinner had been one of the ones she petted and fed that afternoon(a neighbors dog had gotten a couple of them while she was out shopping)
People have no idea of what reality is like outside of their comfort zone. And nor do they really want to know, they just want everyone else to do as they say so they dont have to face the fact that the world isnt a pretty shiney place where all you cares and worries disappear once you pass the right law
lujlp at March 20, 2012 6:34 PM
In PETA tradition, those dogs should be taken away and put to death.
Joe at March 20, 2012 6:34 PM
I just burned the carcass off when a neighbor dog killed our chicken. I didn't know how long the the chicken had been dead in 90 degree weather.
Jim P. at March 20, 2012 7:20 PM
I was in the yard, didnt kill em but crushed ones neck and broke anothers leg before i was able to beat it off down the driveway.
If it had been out there for an indeterminate amount of time I'd have chopped it up and burried in a line from several ant hills twords the chicken coop, more feed I wouldnt have to buy
lujlp at March 20, 2012 8:27 PM
When I tried to adopt a dog from Maxfund, they turned me down because I'm away from home about 11 hours a day. And I believe in big, furry dogs living outside (and being brought in at night or when the weather is very cold). Some of the animals at Maxfund have been there for years.
The Colorado Humane Society was glad to let me take one off their hands. Yes, my dog is free to go in and out of the house unsupervised during the day--but fresh air, sunshine and a place to putter around and see the outside world are good for dogs. At least, my dogs have liked it.
I wouldn't keep a dog on a chain, though. Years ago, I built a six-foot board fence so my dog at the time would have more room. It wasn't that hard.
Lori at March 21, 2012 3:35 PM
On a chain is no problem if it's set up right; something like Fowler did is good.
Firehand at March 21, 2012 6:43 PM
Actually the Fowler guy lied to Maclean's. People in the community can't even look in his yard anymore. I drove by and yes, the earth is beat down and there isn't a blade of grass left where these dogs live day in and day out. Locals say that the only time they get off the lead is when they just about pull their necks off for freedom. 365 days of the year these dogs spend their life with no social interaction left in solitary. Why have a dog? Other dogs nearby are bit by bugs, shiver violently in the cold, are dehydrated in the summer's scorching sun. If people think this is the humane treatment of a companion animal, they need to self examine.
Shell at April 10, 2012 5:59 PM
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