Why make your dog uncomfortable with a cage?

There is a myth in Nigeria that when you cage your dog or restrict your dog from seeing  people the dog becomes aggressive and eventually becomes a good security dog. This notion makes people to cage their dogs perpetually even when it’s unnecessary.

The other reason is because the owner is mostly unavailable to control the dog therefore cages the dog all day & maybe release them at night.

The major problem is the fact that they usually choose the wrong cages for this purpose. Some of them will look for a road side welder to construct a cage and many of these artisans will simply build a prison box for these pets and these dogs will start another stage of their lives in agony.

I visited a client’s house to care for his dogs and to my disdain these dogs were sleeping on wire meshed floured metal cage. The saving grace is that the cage is fairly ventilated so these dogs will survive but when you imagine yourself sleeping in that cage, it will make you mad.

These dogs sleep and wake up with wire marks on their skin. Sometimes they can’t sleep because of the burning heat from the sun directly on the cage. The owner, when I asked the reason why he opted for that type of cage, said that the urine and feaces will pass through and will not stain their bodies or smell unnecessarily.

This showed how people misunderstand dogs and conclude that they are dirty creatures. I have almost 8 dogs at the moment and they will never poop in their cages until you are able to release them. They quickly rush out to urinate and poop. They will scream on top of their voices when pressed to be released.

Many dog owners are very insensitive to this gesture. Many are confused about the cry because they have concluded in their minds that dogs always mess up their cages. Yes! They will mess the cage up because no one was able to unlock them to be able to do their thing at the appropriate place.

It’s important to build a comfortable cage for your dogs with insulated flour made with nice wood or tiles so that they will not be busy thinking about their suffering and leave the real intension behind their acquisition.

There was an incident where the dog refused to sleep inside the cage after two days and when forced, he gave the handler a good bite in the hand and ran away. When I came and saw the cage, I didn’t know if the cage should be called dog prison or dog cage. I am sorry, I don’t have a picture but the metal cage was totally sealed and some holes were made with chisel through the metal plates. I didn’t blame the dog for acting the way he did.

I am writing this article in anger because I see people advertising cages of that nature on the internet especially on Facebook and other platforms.

It’s not wrong to cage your dogs. Many times our dogs understand why they are caged but when nature calls for them to poop and pee and nothing is done to let them out to release these wastes they can start to disobey us when they have to go back to the cage. Many times dogs love owners that are sensitive to their needs and will always be willing to run back to the cage when it is time.

Let us give them comfort in the cage to prolong their lifespan and also give the best mental health to them. Thank you!