A Dog Crate Is a Cage Is a Prison

What if, at your local pet-supply store, you could purchase a dog-training tool that would make your dog weaker, klutzier, and less intelligent? And what if this tool increased your dog's frustration and fearfulness about the world and made him or her less likely to bond with you? Would you buy it? Of course not! Yet, millions of these "tools" are sold every year to unsuspecting American dog lovers who want the absolute best for their dogs. The tool is a "crate," which is just a euphemism for a cage. In fact, dog crates are substantially smaller than the cages that are used to house dogs in laboratories.

Dogs Hate Crates: How Abusive Crate Training Hurts Dogs, Families & Society is a new book by Ray and Emma Lincoln in which they discuss in detail the detrimental effects of crating on dogs' well-being as well as on American society. They explain how the crating trend got started, what continues to fuel it, why it's so harmful, what can be done about it, and what the alternatives to crating are. The authors are experienced dog trainers and behavior specialists who found that they were spending much of their training time trying to undo hundreds of psychological and behavioral symptoms caused by crating. These specific symptoms and their connection to classic studies on the effects of isolation and excessive confinement are thoroughly analyzed. To read the full story Click Here. (Peta, August 2012)