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When you were growing up, did your friends have dogs? Were these dogs housebroken and generally well-behaved? Odds are the answer is, “Yes”. Then I ask you, were these dogs kept in cages? Odds are your answer is “Never!”.

Several Years ago a new phenomenon emerged among dog trainers called “crate-training”. As far as I am concerned, “crate-training” is simply a euphemism of keeping a dog in a cage.

Crate-training (I’m going to refer to it as “caging” from here on), was touted as the perfect solution to the problem of housebreaking. And it was. After all, dogs kept in cages didn’t have access to their owner’s homes and carpets.

Caging relies on the fact that our dogs are clean by nature and won’t soil where they have to sleep or stay. But caging never teaches a dog how to be housebroken. In essence, it’s an avoidance technique which doesn’t address the task of housebreaking.

You don’t know how many calls I get from people who have caged their dogs fro housebreaking purposes but don’t know when they can trust Fido enough to let him out of the cage.

For years, responsible professional breeders have cage-trained their dogs successfully. The operative words here are “responsible professional breeders”.

First of all, these people know how to use cages effectively.

Secondly, good professional breeders devote their time to their dogs.

Being a professional breeder is a full-time job and breeders are generally there with their dogs for most of the day. Since they are there to supervise their dogs, breeders don’t need to cage their dogs for hours on end.

This does not hold true for the average family. In the average household, both spouses work outside the home at least 8 hours a day. They also sleep approximately 8 hours. So far that’s 16 hours that Fido will be in a cage. Add a couple of hours for shopping, errands and dinner out and you’re up to 18 hours a day that the dog is confined.

Three-quarters of a day is too much time for any dog to be confined. If you say that your busy life won’t permit you to devote more time to a dog, you’re probably better off with a pet that requires less maintenance – like a fish!

In my over quarter-century of working with over 40,000 dogs, I’ve never used a cage. You won’t find the use of cages for housebreaking in my dog training book How To Get Your Dog To Do What You Want: A loving approach to unleashing your dog’s astonishing potential.

Instead, housebreaking is achieved by regulating your puppy’s food and water intake, putting him on a regular walking schedule, watching your puppy for the tell-tale signs that he has to “go”, and confining him in a small gated area (the kitchen is ideal) when you cannot watch him with a hawk eye.

By using gates, you can start off with a small area (sat 3′ by 3′) and when the puppy has shown he can keep that area unsoiled, you can gradually increase the area of his confinement. As housebreaking proceeds, you’ll be giving your puppy more and more space. Your ultimate goal is to give your dog the entire run of your house. Gates afford you the flexibility of increasing the area of confinement – cages do not.

Don’t get me wrong, crates (carriers) are important and every dog owner should have one – for transporting your dog. They afford your dog protection when he’s in your car and you come to a sudden stop or, heaven forbid, if there’s an accident.

And you’ll definitely need a crate or carrier for Fido if you plan to do any air travel together. If Fido spends the vast majority of his day in a cage, he’ll never have free run of the house.

Underscoring my belief is a recent study published in 1996 by the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association: Risk factors for relinquishment of dogs to an animal shelter:

“Dogs who spend most of the day in the yard or in a crate were at an increased risk for surrender to the shelter.
The study was not able to determine whether these dogs had been relegated to the yard or a crate as a result of behavioral problems or whether keeping dogs in these situations resulted in isolation from the family, with less attachment and less training, thereby increasing the risk of relinquishment.”

I am seeing an increasing number of dogs who are under-socialized and, in some cases, actually aggressive. Kept in cages, these dogs don’t have the opportunity to interact with people and other pets.

Another problem that’s on the increase is coprophagy – stool-eating. Many a dog confined to a cage would rather eat his or her stool, than have to lie with it in a cage.

I’ve heard a few misguided dog owners say that Fido likes to sit in his cage. ” He feels secure.” What they are really telling me is that their dog is not secure in the home environment. The dog feels threatened unless he’s caged!

Other advocates of caging say it gives the dog a place of his own. My dog Rio has his own bed in my bedroom, but nine times out of ten times he’d rather curl up and snooze on the living room floor – if that’s the room I’m in. My home and my presence is all Rio needs to feel secure!

The so-called “experts” rationalize that cages are okay because dogs evolved from wolves and wolves have denning instincts.

To that I say dogs have been removed from their lupine ancestors for millions of years.

Dogs have been living with man for tens of thousands of years. Even the earliest cave paintings depict dogs as man’s companions! We cannot take a dog into our human environment, treat him like a wolf, and expect him to respond like a human.

Our dogs are beloved family members and need to be treated as such. You wouldn’t keep your child confined to his room for his entire youth and adolescence, would you? You’d have one maladjusted young person!

You want your child to be an active, full participant in your household and your life. The same goes for our dogs. And cages will never permit this to happen.

Sally and John obtained their Doberman pup, Jessie, from a breeder at the age of six months. The dog was the smallest of the litter and had previously been purchased by another couple who decided to bring her back to the breeder. Sally and John had owned another Doberman previously, but their first dog had run out into traffic and been killed at the age of five months. The couple wanted this new pet to be a good guard dog of course, but they also wanted her to be affectionate and playful.

Over the next few months, they successfully housetrained Jessie by crating her. Actually, the dog was crated every time the couple left the house. They taught her obedience commands on a sporadic basis. She was very good with “sit” and “stay,”not so good with “come” and “heel.” They often had visitors who Jessie seemed to like with the exception of one person, John’s accountant, who arrived to do the books once a month. On each subsequent visit, the puppy became more aggressive with this woman, until finally the accountant could not set foot on the premises because of the dog’s hostile reaction to her. The dog didn’t react this way to any other visitors.

The Analysis

1. Was the accountant ever alone with the dog? Could she have done something that mad the dog dislike her?
2. Is she fearful of Dobermans in general and showing it so clearly that the dog can sense it? What kind of body language is she using around this dog?
3. How do the owners react to the visitor? Are they nervous and tense about money, so that the presence of this particular person adds to an already stressful environment? Pets will pick up on these emotions.
4. Is there anything in the dog’s background that would set her against this one person? Did the former owner (the woman who eventually gave her back to the breeder) or the breeder look like the accountant or perhaps even wear the same perfume? Were there any other similarities?
5. Does the accountant use any machinery that might frighten the dog? A noisy adding machine? A beeper to summon her to the office.
6. If all of the above reasons have been explored, we may have to dig deeper, since there is always a cause for behavior. Although the possibility may seem farfetched, maybe something is going on that one spouse doesn’t know about, such as an affair between the husband and the accountant. The dog may be jealous and protective of her mistress if she knows something the woman doesn’t.

The Cure

Jessie is clearly an undersocialized dog. The fact that she is always crated whenever the owners leave the house indicates that she’s not trusted, and this attitude carries over to her behavior with other people.

The accountant is not a family friend – she only comes to conduct business. Therefore the couple’s attitude toward her is undoubtedly cooler, and they don’t waste time on chitchat or sitting down for coffee with her, as they would with a friend. It certainly would be helpful for the family to spend some time with the accountant while Jessie is present and act friendly toward her. If they treat her like a pal, the dog might eventually do the same.

It may also be a good idea for the accountant to meet the dog on neutral territory. The couple has encouraged Jessie to protect the house; therefore, it may be more difficult for her to react well on her own territory to an acquaintance who performs only a business function. The couple could bring a favorite ball or toy for this meeting in a local park or schoolyard and have the accountant and dog play together.

If the problem is the accountant’s equipment, the cure might be to accustom the dog to the sound of the machinery. Sally and John could make a tape recording of these sounds, which they could play to Jessie, gradually increasing the volume every few days, or they could use the equipment themselves in front of her.

This behavior problem has to be stopped before it goes any further. In a case such as this, where a dog is developing aggressive tendencies, the symptoms are likely to magnify over time. First, she’s aggressive toward certain people in the house; next, she might snap at anyone who comes near the cat. It’s very important that Jessie be socialized now, with the couple and with anyone who comes in with them. The crate in which she has been confined should be removed (preferably when she is out of the room), and from then on, Jessie should be included in all of the family activities.

Finally, if all else fails, and if the accountant herself has difficulty acting at ease around the dog, the solution may be to keep her off the premises and let her work with the couple in her own office. To avoid allowing the situation to repeat itself, with every other newcomer in the household, Sally and John should make it a point to include Jessie and make her understand that the visitor is completely welcome.

Tige was Warren’s American Staffordshire Terrier. Retired from his role as “Buster Brown’s Dog” he toured as the company’s mascot. Tige is no longer with us but with his great wealth of knowledge, his column will continue.

• Stress is a major cause of feather plucking and illness in our feathered friends. “Triggers” include moving, moving the cage, new additions to the family (human or animal), noise, sudden changes in routine and temperature, illness, etc. When changes are necessary, try to avoid stressing the bird by gradually making changes.

• When puppy proofing your home, be aware that the following items could contain lead and take steps to prevent your puppy from chewing on or ingesting paint, linoleum, lead weights or shots, insecticides, foil, batteries, solder, putty, roofing ot plumbing supplies and golf balls.

• It’s important not only to clean up your dog’s waste when out in the community, but also in your yard. Feces can contain intestinal worms, other parasites, germs, etc. that can spread health problems to dogs through their sniffing, eating or walking on contaminated feces.

• To ensure your caged bird is eating every day, it’s vital to check the bird’s food and water dishes twice a day and remove leftover cooked or fresh food before it spoils. Be sure to remove the empty seed hulls that could give the false impression that the dish is full of seeds while the bird is actually starving.

• Kittens and cats just love to play with yarn, string, rope or anything else that dangles. Too often owners encourage this and leave playthings around for a pet to play with even when he’s unsupervised. Be aware that in an instant a playing cat could become hopelessly entangled in a long strand of fabric, or in the case of kittens on a swing, could be trapped and strangled within moments. It sounds grim but accidents like these are a reality, and they happen more than people realize each and every year. Don’t let a cat’s frustration with yarn, hanging rope or the like bring him to an untimely death. He deserves better.

• Cats are carnivores, but often develop a taste for grass. Grass is a good source of fiber, so provide your indoor cat with some grass blades to munch. Many pet shops have kitty grass kits, or make your own indoor lawn! All you need is a stable pot with some clean (preferably sterilized) soil. Sprinkle some seeds of grass, parsley or thyme (try catnip for a true kitty high!). Water daily, without drenching the soil, and keep in a well-lit place.

• Dogs that are fed a regular diet of dried dog food are often thirstier than those fed canned or moist foods. This is not because dry food is saltier, but because there is less liquid in the dry vittles than in other forms of nourishment. So make sure that your dog has plenty of clean water.

• Trauma can cause serious injury to a puppy’s bones and joints. Take certain precautions so this won’t happen. Don’t allow your puppy to romp or be kenneled on a slick surface. Don’t encourage your pup to walk on it’s hind legs or to pull a heavy load. Obesity can also place stress on both puppies’ and dogs’ bones and joints.

• Over-feeding tropical fish is the biggest cause of fish dying. Only feed the amount that your fish will eat in a five minute span!

• Keep your birds away from drafts during the cold winter months.

• Did you know that stress affects pets as well as people; so “get off our backs!”

• Rebellious periods in a puppy often crop up by around six months of age and again around one year of age. In order to have a well-adjusted dog, during these periods it is beneficial to revert back quickly and reinforce your puppy’s basic training.

• If you would like to grow CATNIP for your cat, buy some seeds – fill several 4-inch pots with potting soil – plant 10 to 15 seeds in each pot, and water the soil. Place the pots in a warm, dark area for a few days until the seeds begin to sprout. Then move them to a sunny spot and let the palnts grow until there’s enough for your cat to start nibbling.

• For cats, feathers and bright ribbons are irresistible fun! Tie a feather or ribbon on a string and tie the string to a stick or short, rounded rod. Dangle the object near the cat, or scurry it across the floor and watch what happens.

• Birds should not be given toys that can be pulled apart. Any toys made of yarn, string or cord, are poor choices. Birds can swallow bits of these items and choke or they may become entangled in them or injure themselves. Select well made toys.

• If your dog is drinking abnormally large amounts of water, it could indicate the onset of diabetes. The disease can be diagnosed with a simple blood test by a vet and controlled with insulin shots at home.

• In an average year, cat owners in the United States spend $2.15 billion on cat food – and $295 million on kitty litter.

• In many cultures, dogs are considered powerful good luck charms with the ability to ward off demons. In ancient China, for instance, the sentinels responsible for guarding the imperial court dressed in canine costumes and barked away evil spirits.

• If your dog is small enough, weigh yourself alone and yourself while holding the dog. The difference is your dog’s weight.

• Rabies is on the rise in many types of wild animals in all parts of the country. Frequent wildlife visitors in your yard could expose your pets to rabies – there have been serious outbreaks in skunks, raccoons and bats.

To protect your dog and yourselves from rabies, keep your pet’s rabies immunizations up-to-date. This includes BOTH dogs and cats.

Keep your pets indoors or leashed and supervised when they are allowed to be outdoors.

Be sure to learn the basic signs of rabies so you can protect yourself and your pet from being bitten or know when to seek help promptly if bitten.

• Tropical fish should not be kept near windows. Sunlight can affect water temperatures and increase algae growth within.

• When shampooing your pets make sure you use a product made specifically for your pet. Puppy shampoo for for puppies and kitten shampoo for kittens.

Always brush your pet before bathing to remove dead hair, dander, and eliminate tangling.

One of the most difficult moments for anyone who’s ever been owned by a dog or a cat is saying the final good-bye to your four-footed best friend. I don’t think it ever gets any easier, no matter how many pets you’ve had or how many times you have to go through it.

Knowing when to put sweet Fluffy to sleep is an incredibly hard decision to make. Sometimes the choice is mercifully made for us – Fluffy simply falls asleep one night and doesn’t wake up in the morning. When death comes to a resting pet, we can at least take consolation in knowing that it was painless and that Fluffy died with dignity.

If Fluffy’s been battling illness or the ravages of old age, it’s very hard to know when it’s the right time to take that final trip to the veterinarian. Here again, the key word is dignity. I always let that be my guiding light. I want all my pets to spend their remaining days on earth with their dignity intact, enjoying some quality of life. Once I know that’s no longer possible, it’s easier to come to terms with doing what must be done. It’s what I’d want for myself. It’s the least I can do for them.

Make your own decision when you think the time has come. Don’t let others convince you. You’ll know when the time is right. Base your decision on only one thing – what’s right for her. Don’t extend her time because you just can’t bear to see her go. She lived life as a smart and clever little creature. She doesn’t want her final days to be any less than that.

Please don’t feel foolish if you grieve. You may even need to take off a few days from work. Not everyone will understand your sense of loss over a pet – especially people who have never been owned by one. Their feelings are of no consequence; it’s a pity they’ve never experienced the special type of loving relationship you had with your precious pet. Grieving is a normal, healthy reaction the loss of a beloved family member. And wasn’t Fluffy a member of the family? Realize that you’re not alone with those feelings. Millions of people have grieved over the loss of their four-footed pals.

If you find the pain is too great to bear yourself, contact your local humane society. Almost every area has a support group to help owners through these difficult times. You’ll be able to talk about your feelings and share your stories. You’ll remember all those funny little antics of hers. You’ll remember all the love she gave you, asking nothing in return for herself. And, yes, you’ll even manage a smile or two.

So, “Good-bye, dear Fluffy. No matter how much time passes, I’ll never forget you. You’ll be in my heart always and forever, I love you.”