Monday 17 August 2009
Crates
Seems there is nothing more guaranteed to set feminists against each other than the subject of animal rights - in whatever form.
For no particular reason, I want to say, for possibly the millionth time, that I do not agree with sticking dogs in crates.
Having been brought up with four dogs and to date had four of my own, all totally crate free, I quite frankly do not see the necessity to stick a dog in a small cell for my convenience.
Shit, I forgot to say. I don't have a dog because it is a gadget, or a trinket, or a little cutesiepie. I have a dog (s) because I like and respect animals and want to try and save some from being put down. Killed. Because someone has bred them and can't sell them/home them, or has bought a fluffy puppy for Christmas, and then it got big and peed on the floor.
Or worse still, it shit. And ate shoes. Scratched furniture. Ate cushions.
Ms Perfect Dog Owner here can confess to:
One puppy who crapped on the floor and we didn't notice it for some time. :(
One dog in a new house who was excited and we didn't take him out soon enough. (a pee)
Another dog in the same new house, similar reason who peed against a plant pot.
A dog with a bad guts who couldn't get out of the house fast enough.
A teddy bear and a couple of flip flops eaten over 20+ years.
In no instances were the dogs at fault. Would a crate have helped? Yeah. It would have saved ME moving my shoes and teddy bear which I should have moved anyway.
Let's have a look at lineage. Mmm, first dog, black lab puppy. Very sweet. Came from Blue Cross, we could have had the papers if we wanted as apparently he was pedigree. Who cared. He was up for rescue and we took him. A darling, and totally well behaved unless he smelled water five miles away in which case he was gone.
Second dog. Cross lab/setter or spaniel. A great dog apparently, no problems with children just the owners felt he didn't 'fit' in the family any more after a grand total of six months. I wonder why. The little shit hated children. I don't blame him, I don't like them either. A dog after my own heart. Came from a rather grotty looking rescue place and barked like hell to get out of there. Around six months old.
Third dog. Probably pedigree, but runt of the GSD pack by the look of him. Only in size though. I never missed a single night's sleep when I was on my own when I had him by my bedside. Obedient, intelligent, and very self-opinionated. He had been on the streets in the winters of the north of England before we rehomed him. Three or four years old maybe when we got him.
Fourth dog. Looks like a husky/GSD cross. Came off the street. Beautiful temperament (unless there are cats around of course). A year old - more or less - when he found us? Who knows? Thrown out dogs don't wear labels around their necks.
We didn't 'buy' any of these dogs. As the first three came from rescue homes we 'paid' a donation. The street dog was homeless, we just cut out the middle part and took him in anyway.
The point is that none of these dogs were a) perfect or b) wanted. In fact they were very unwanted and could have ended up dead when their time was up. Make no mistake, going around rescue shelters is not a nice experience to read how many months (years) some dogs have been in without finding a home, and realising that if no-one takes them, at some point, they will be killed.
And in case anyone thinks I have had only one dog at once, no. We have had one, two and three. If we had more space we would still have three or more.
But I have two main points to make.
1) Is that you don't need a pedigree dog from a 'reputable' breeder to find a superb companion. You may end up with a pedigree dog by default from a rescue shelter. But a pedigree dog is not necessarily better or worse in character than any other dog. And if you want and like designer dogs as part of your lifestyle you shouldn't be reading this blog. Unless you want to learn of course that maybe looks aren't everything. Would someone buy you because of your looks and pedigree?
2) My crappy life's reject dogs didn't need crates. So why does everyone else's?
Oh nearly forgot point 3). To justify buying a pedigree dog because it needs a home is not like taking a dog from a rescue shelter. Supporting someone profiteering from breeding animals ie dogs, is just unsound. You are not saving a life, you are lining someone's pocket, don't kid yourself, and you are justifying the perpetuation of the 'pet' industry. And because I know some people reading this have pedigree dogs/pups - this is not a dig at you. ~ Any of you ~
But next time, maybe rescue one?
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8 comments:
We do have crates BUT Eva loves her crate. It's her little cave where she likes to nap and the door is never closed. There have been 2 or 3 times that Brice was put in his crate for a 5 minute time out if he was playing too rough with Eva.
Our dogs have never been blamed or punished for chewing something or having an accident in the house. We know that it is always our fault.
Our dogs -
Tasha- collie/huskyX. from the humane society. Great dog - almost perfect except for liking snacks from the cat's litter box.
Tia - collie/shepX. We refer to her as our "prevention of a rescue" very few would have put up with her issues. Absolutely loathed children and dogs other than Tasha.
Eva - purebred but we did not pay the extra fee to have her registered. Later research tracks her back to a commercial breeder. Many lessons learned. Darling Eva has issues that are the result of her puppy mill background.
Brice - registered. Obtained from the breeder as a rehome. Our cost - $0. Just had to be approved and go get him. It is a true statement to say that he would never have been homeless. I'm still in regular contact with his breeder and previous home.
My point - Even though our current dogs are not rescues, there are other ways to help dogs in need. We donate $ and supplies to rescues, help with rescue transports from high-kill shelters to no-kill shelters and notify breed specific rescue groups of dogs in shelters. Starting next year, we plan to foster dogs. Can't do it yet until we can put in a new fence and have been approved for the special license. None of this is done to justify having Eva and Brice as part of my family. I think of it as being able to help more dogs than the 2 that my city would "allow" me to have.
p.s. we've also had 3 cats that were all rescues.
I think there is a huge difference between a dog that goes to a crate as a safe place or a den, and a dog that is put in one for punishment, or because people find it a convenient place to put a dog 'out of the way' because they don't want to watch it/spend time with it/haven't house-trained it. I would be the last to say that Eva and Brice have an unfortunate life - I think they are incredibly lucky to have found you two.
I would refer to all your animals as rescues/rehomes of some type or other, and I didn't realise about Eva's history. Poor princess, but as I said, at least she has a good home now.
I admire you (and all the other people that I read about) for wanting to foster, transport, and every other way that you try and help animals less fortunate than Eva and Brice. I couldn't foster or get involved with rescue animals apart from rehoming them.
Nor am I saying that people shouldn't choose a particular type of dog - I especially like huskies, GSDs, ridgebacks, rotties. But when we went round the rescue centre (and ended up with Prince) there was certainly no shortage of GSDs in there, or rotties either - both are strong and intelligent dogs, that people get fed up with very quickly because they can be too demanding. For us, we didn't have to look far to find a dog that we were happy to home.
My point here is that I agree with you, that we all help differently. And thank you for pointing that out.
Tia, by the way, sounds an absolute darling and v similar to Paddy.
K
Ummm....no, Tia was a pain in the ass. Could never be trusted out of our sight and we lived with the fear that she was going to bite someone. Loved us, hated everyone else.
Brice does consider his timeouts to be punishments. He loves his people and being separated from them is one of the worst things that you could do to him. But he gets the point, behave nicely or go sit in the corner for a few minutes and think about it. :-)
We did get Eva as a pup but later research into her pedigree shows a known puppy-mill where there was a lot of in-breeding. Her poor mom was dumped at a shelter because the breeder was "done with her".
Like many of the breeds that you listed, belgians are not for everyone. Too intense for many and need a lot of mental exercise along with physical exercise.
Speaking of which, they're telling me that it's time to go to the dog park.
Later!
Until I had M. I had never even heard of crates.
So to be perfectly honest, as I always am, I do not agree with them.
M. as you know is a rescue boy, and I have had my joy, fun, love, life and laffter since we rescued him, than I ever would have imagined possible.
A Dog Warden, a Council Dog Warden, who I knew from previous employment with the local council, actually told me the worst thing I could do was to adopt a rescue pup. He said I would not know what I was letting myself in for.
But, you don't know with a pedigree what is to come, via the breeding, and the inter breeding which goes on. Plus the ridiculous rules about "finesse" with certain breeds, as per the British Bulldog which has breathing problems through K.C. restrictions, and purebred Dalmations, who now have a genetic problem which is causing them endless grief. I need to google this for more details, but I read about it in one of the broadsheets two weeks ago.
Letty
yes, rescue, so many needing loving homes.
I wonder what inspired you to write about buying pedigree dogs in relation to feminists.... :P very cheeky missy
Lots inspired me. Equally cheeky missy. Lots.
To be serious, I have seen the odd disagreement between feminists over animals. Feminists seem to be able to agree or agree to disagree regarding politics, religion, men, sex, most things really - but get onto animals............
As you well know :D
I hate dogs
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