PETAs Chained Dog Crusade

It might not be as inconsistent as you seem to think it is. Cable runs, chains and 'invisible fences' do expose dogs to extra risks because they do not keep out other animals (or children, ...). I don't know if this is what they were thinking though.

I was just looking at the PETA info on the local ordanances they have helped get passed. They outlaw any type of cable run but require a pen size of only 10'x15' = 150 square feet. Uh, my dogs each have 1800 square feet.

Now isn't that just freaking insane to sticking a dog in a 150 sq foot pen.

When I lived up on the mountain Brandy loved to stay outside during the day and I would often put her on the trolley line while I was at work. She had a 75 foot cable run through the middle of my yard with a 15 foot cable and stops at the end to keep her from getting wrapped up around the trees. The side yard that this trolley ran through was huge and she loved it. At one end was grass and sunny spots to lay in and sun herself and on the other end was a huge tree that provided shade all day along with a row of trees at the edge of the woods for even more shade. She had a dog box to go into if she wanted under the tree along with a 5 gallon bucket of water and food left out for her.

The only time she thought life was even better were the few times she'd take off into the woods trying to catch turkeys and wouldn't come out. I just used to leave her be since I knew she'd stay put for hours waiting for them and would be right there behind the house when I got home. I'd come back 4 or 5 hours later and pull in and she'd come out of the woods all played out but happy as could be.

Once I moved to town I had to stop letting her out without supervision. It wasn't that she barked or anything or that the yard wasn't fenced but due to the fact that I caught some asshole trying to take her one day. She was the type of dog who was friendly with everyone, more than once she jumped up into the meter readers truck and thought she was going with him for a ride. After that I never left her outside again unless we were with her.

Celeste

Yes this is indeed part of their rationale, but I think they are being too simple-minded. It seems they want to have an 'emotional campaign' and not a reasoned set of guidelines. If they are truly concerned about the dogs they should also be against small cages, and not be promoting

please define 'small cages' and explain why their usage should be stopped?

while i'm not a fan of leaving *any* dog outdoors unsupervised, my own personal feelings are that there are inherent problems with tying a dog out unsupervised that are not present when leaving the dog in a 'small cage'

i'm not a huge PETA fan, but... how do you feel about crating a dog indoors? my dogs live in 'small cages' when unsupervised, because i don't want to come home and find one of them has killed or injured the other. yes, they get along fine when i'm home, but i'm not going to trust them to ignore their instincts when i'm not home to stop them.

a lot of people with my breed (pit bulls) chain their dogs out in a yard on short chains, so that they can't kill each other. they spend all day lunging at each other and hitting the end of their chains hard enough to damage their necks and terrifying their neighbors. is that any better than a crate inside a warm home? i seriously doubt it.

personally i wouldn't ban chaining, as i'm against the government forcing personal responsibility on people. but i also think it's simple minded to bash cages if you don't know the circumstance.

I'm talking about outdoor cages and saying the PETA campaign is more emotional than rational. As you say some people cage their dogs for long periods indoors. PETA wants to promote the idea that a 150 sq-ft. outdoor cage is better than any outdoor chain, wire or tether and that these should be

I'm not saying it should be. PETA is the one pushing for laws.

well, PETA are a bunch of terrorist nut cases. what do you expect?

you stated that PeTA (remember kids, small 'e' for 'ethical'!) should be against 'small cages.' not that i give a rat's behindermost parts what flavor of idiocy PeTA is disseminating this week, but i fail to see the point of your argument that because PeTA is against chaining dogs they should also be against confining them to 'small cages.' what do the two methods of confinement have to do with each other?

Short chain = small cage