Dogs - how do you make it work?

[Mark Bolam]

We always agree my friend, the problem is too many idiots using the cage as a prison.

[dumper]

1 hour ago, SussexHarry said:

Is yours on site every day then?

I leave my bigger boys and girls at home you can’t fit 10 or 14 stone dogs in the front of a transit they have run of the house and garden the mrs is retired

i take my spaniel most days very good van alarm 

[SussexHarry]

7 minutes ago, Sviatoslav Tulin said:

That’s absolutely correct 👍 

In my research before getting a dog I’ve found lots of similar advice about having a cage as a safe place for the dog. How’d you go about training that when they’re puppies? Any tips?

[Doug Tait]

I've never agreed with cages. They're usually used as a prison and people excuse this behaviour by using the 'safe place' claim they've heard about. A safe place is somewhere, anywhere, the dog associates with safety, not necessarily a cage. There are countless dogs in kennels that would really disagree that a cage is a safe place!

I'm not sure why a nice comfy bed where the cage is situated wouldn't be just as safe a place for the dog. I suspect it's more about someone controlling the dog without having any ability to teach it how to behave.

 

Igor (Mick Dempsey's) dog clearly considers the front seat of the pickup his safe place, as do others mentioned in the thread. I've had many dogs at work with me before as I fostered problem dogs for years, took the back seat out the pickup to make a dog area, every one I've known considered that a safe place, also their bed in the corner of the workshop was popular.

 

To my mind very few dogs thrive in an environment they spend 8 or 9hrs alone, but going everywhere with me, spending a few hours in their pickup safe place then getting a walk somewhere new, somewhere different, they enjoy that, and a pack is meant to live life together.

 

This thread has brought up some good memories of the arbdogs I've had. Some might remember old Santi, my ultimate arbdog, he accompanied me around the south of Scotland, parts of England, and a couple of times to France for work. His safe place was anywhere he could see me, either lying under the pickup watching me chipping or next to my bag when I climbed, or in the machine I was operating, and he appreciated most of all being rewarded for his patience by exploring in a different place after work every day. A cage on his own would've been so detrimental to him, not a safe place whatsoever.

[Mick Dempsey]

100% in agreement Doug.

[Rich Rule]

We cage trained Kira from a pup.  We were always aware of not making it her punishment area.  Even when she was being a little snot we would try and keep calm and put her in there for a time out.

 

As she grew older we expanded the area from cage to a pen with a child gate under the stairs.  The cage it still in there but the gate is open.  She can go in if she wants but when you have a choice between a 4 metre square space with a bed and a smaller cage.  Pretty obvious what she chooses.

 

However, she isn’t bothered in the slightest when we go away in the car or I take her to work.  We have a cage in both the family motor and the work truck.

 

Seems to work for us.

 

 

[Big J]

Dogs are a funny thing here in Sweden. 

The law is incredibly strict, in terms of the amount of time that they can be left alone, and they have to have access to the ourdoors if they are. Much stricter than the UK.

 

But the dogs that are here are terribly socialised. Most are kept on leads when walked and are defensively aggressive. 

 

Also, dogs fall broadly into two distinct camps. Those that are used for hunting (working dogs and usually not very pleasant) and stupid little toy dogs that are yappy and pointless. There are exceptions, but those two camps cover 90% of dogs. 

 

Responsible ownership of pleasant dogs is something that I will say I miss from the UK. That you can walk through a public woodland in the knowledge that if you see a dog off-lead that it's 99% certain to be a loveable idiot. 

 

After losing our collie Katie 2.5 years ago, we've not had a dog. We looked after a friends pointless and stubborn Jack Russell for 5 months whilst they were away and it galvanised us into thinking that it's better to have no dog than a shit dog. 

 

Also, the way that our lives work now, it wouldn't be fair to a dog to have one. I cycle more than anyone reasonably needs to do, which isn't something I can do with a dog. I also no longer work in the forest.

 

I'll leave you with my favourite photo of Katie. Working in Wiltshire, a few months before she died of heart failure, I was extracting timber to roadside in my forwarder. She was off-lead and doing her usual 'orbiting' of me and the machine. She would always make friends with any passing walkers and their dogs, if they had them. 

 

On this day, she found a tennis ball, and proceeded to entice passing walkers to play with her. This photo is of a mum with her young daughter taking the bait ☺️

 

[Rich Rule]

9 hours ago, SussexHarry said:

In my research before getting a dog I’ve found lots of similar advice about having a cage as a safe place for the dog. How’d you go about training that when they’re puppies? Any tips?

Make the cage a positive space.  Put the pup in there for naps, after their dinner, during your dinner, after play etc.  dogs respond better IMO to routine.

 

The main thing is not to put the dog in there as a punishment.

 

When we used to leave the house, we had one of the Kongs.  We would take some of her food and but it in water for a few seconds to soften, then stuff the Kong and freeze it.  When we went out we would put the Kong in the cage and by the time she had finished it she had forgotten we had left.

 

Build up the time she is alone.

 

The first pic, she looks a bit pissed.  I guess it was baptism of fire as we had to drive back 7 hours from the south of Norway after picking her up.

 

 

 

[Sviatoslav Tulin]

24 minutes ago, Doug Tait said:

I've never agreed with cages. They're usually used as a prison and people excuse this behaviour by using the 'safe place' claim they've heard about. A safe place is somewhere, anywhere, the dog associates with safety, not necessarily a cage. There are countless dogs in kennels that would really disagree that a cage is a safe place!

I'm not sure why a nice comfy bed where the cage is situated wouldn't be just as safe a place for the dog. I suspect it's more about someone controlling the dog without having any ability to teach it how to behave.

 

Igor (Mick Dempsey's) dog clearly considers the front seat of the pickup his safe place, as do others mentioned in the thread. I've had many dogs at work with me before as I fostered problem dogs for years, took the back seat out the pickup to make a dog area, every one I've known considered that a safe place, also their bed in the corner of the workshop was popular.

 

To my mind very few dogs thrive in an environment they spend 8 or 9hrs alone, but going everywhere with me, spending a few hours in their pickup safe place then getting a walk somewhere new, somewhere different, they enjoy that, and a pack is meant to live life together.

 

This thread has brought up some good memories of the arbdogs I've had. Some might remember old Santi, my ultimate arbdog, he accompanied me around the south of Scotland, parts of England, and a couple of times to France for work. His safe place was anywhere he could see me, either lying under the pickup watching me chipping or next to my bag when I climbed, or in the machine I was operating, and he appreciated most of all being rewarded for his patience by exploring in a different place after work every day. A cage on his own would've been so detrimental to him, not a safe place whatsoever.

 

Sadly you never understand what I wrote about or my English is not so good but let it be , main thing in your story is you not a dog that’s the thing no insults there it’s ok , and I absolutely believe your doggy is very happy but if you think well…… you just trained your dog in particular way that suit you! Not many people can work few hours and survive, yes you would say don’t get a dog but they will get it anyway people are selfish, so instead of giving an advice you telling how great you are and bad all others is ! Gladly awaiting for insults😞

[Doug Tait]

5 minutes ago, Sviatoslav Tulin said:

Sadly you never understand what I wrote about or my English is not so good but let it be , main thing in your story is you not a dog that’s the thing no insults there it’s ok , and I absolutely believe your doggy is very happy but if you think well…… you just trained your dog in particular way that suit you! Not many people can work few hours and survive, yes you would say don’t get a dog but they will get it anyway people are selfish, so instead of giving an advice you telling how great you are and bad all others is ! Gladly awaiting for insults😞

 

No insults coming from me Sviatoslav, I wasn't saying you were wrong and I'm happy to have different opinions without being enemies. I know from your previous posts on dogs that we are mostly in agreement on the subject.

 

Many people can make the cage work for them well, as Rich Rule does, quite possibly you do too. I stand by my own experience though, with working dogs, pets and fostering over a dozen problem dogs, many of them had problems created by long periods alone and they just didn't do well in kennels.

 

And I promise you I don't just work a couple of hours a day, I work hard!