Are dogs meant or supposed to be caged?

By Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM | September 2nd, 2016




I was once received an emergency call on a dog that collapsed in one hot afternoon and on getting there looking at the dog’s cage I started to cry. I refused to raise my head so that they won’t see my eyes. I went straight to my car and stayed a while to get myself in order before returning to the scene.  

The first question I asked is: “How long has this dog been living in this cage?” I had to tell the owner of the dog that his dog stays in a dog prison and not dog cage let alone kennel. 90% OF THE CAGE WAS METAL AND ONLY 10% WAS OPEN FOR VENTILATION. GOD!!! I wish I had the picture to show here but try to imagine it please. This cage was under the sun for a very long time leading to the collapse of the dog inside it after struggling to come out repeatedly. The dog was very weak, breathing fast and panting hard with serious salivation.

The reason why they discovered that the dog was in distress is when they suddenly stopped hearing sounds from the cage by the struggling dog. Someone called the dog’s name and there was no response so he went towards the cage and saw the dog lying there breathing heavily and couldn’t move.

The commonest thing everywhere in Nigeria is that people do is to build cages because they want to buy dogs. This is so common that we all believe that dogs are meant to spend all their lives in the cage or kennels. I don’t want to use the word kennel to designate cages here.

I don’t want to believe that when dogs were initially domesticated that they were caged or even chained because many of them were companions rather than mere property of our fore fathers. Many of these dogs are used to herd sheep and cattle and they never attacked or killed the owner’s cattle or sheep for food.

Dogs were called man’s best friend not because man loved dogs but because dogs can die for his owner even when maltreated so why do we build walls between us and our dogs?

Someone once told me that he caged his dogs most times in the day so that they will become very vicious and aggressive to strangers and merciless to intruders. I have not been able to verify this notion because some dogs that were kept in similar condition didn’t show that attribute and which made me to question that philosophy. Yes, if the dog doesn’t know someone he views him as a stranger and that is the only reason why I might give this notion some credibility.

I will not speak on how dogs are kept by others in their countries but here in Nigeria, dogs stay in mostly what I will call terrible conditions just because they are animals and this has to change.

There are very enlightened Nigerians that keep dogs nicely and some of them even allow their dogs to go indoors at will and without restriction. Many of these dog owners receive “insults” from family and friends who do not see the dogs through their eyes.

I believe that dogs and animals have feelings. They know when they are in an uncomfortable place just like we do. They want to be around their owners desperately and that is why they are very excited when they come in contact with their owners after a brief separation and are even more excited when the separation extends longer. They will miss you like you were all that ever mattered.

It is unfortunate that many don’t care that much about their dogs and this sometimes leads to unimaginable disturbance by these dogs for a “change”.

What I’m trying to emphasize here is that dogs are not supposed to live all their lives in the cage but kept there in temporarily. The dog should know that his environment is actually the whole compound and not that small enclosure. Cages should be a place the dog enjoys staying in especially when he wants to stay in a peaceful place not a place he dreads a lot.

I hear so many reasons for caging dogs but these reasons negate the original intention for domesticating these dogs. The dogs are supposed to be free members of the family and not a slave of the family or a collection of caged beasts in a zoo.

1 Comments
  1. Ginika September 14th, 2016

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Kodichukwu Okonkwo, DVM

Founder of Fairvet Animal Clinic Ltd since 2011, studied at the University of Nigeria Nsukka. He is well experienced in small animal, large animal & poultry medicine, and also skilled at zoo medicine. He loves animals and builds both professional and personal relationship with pet owners in order to sustain a good interaction with pet and animal owners, coupled with His great skills in programming; he brought about www.fairvet.com which he personally built from scratch.



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