The month of July has been HOT and WET. We had numerous Thunderstorms in which brought tremendous heavy rainfall. Many neighboring towns had flooded streets and basements. We are very fortunate that no flooding occurred in our street and basement.
Our heart sank when we watched the news this week …
“Dogs Drown In Flooded Basement.”
Click Here to read the news article and comments.
We certainly do have our own strong opinion and
concerns about their actions of being pet owners.
Definitely, most of you feel the same way.
Let this be an awareness and lesson for every pet owner …
on where do you keep your pet during the day and at night.
I was crate trained when I was a puppy. Now that I am older, my crate still exist and its located in the family room downstairs (7 steps from upstairs). My crate is left OPEN at all times. I can go in n out of my crate anytime of the day/night at my own choice. I’m also very fortunate to quickly learn at a young age the Golden FUN to roam around my home freely. I can hang out anywhere in my house. At night, if I’m not on my bed (which is located in main floor family room), I’ll be upstairs in the hallway or in one of the bedrooms. I enjoy finding small tight space where I can curl up. Lately, due to the evening Thunderstorms, I’ve been sleeping in my peeps bedroom. Where mom is reachable at all times and can pet me when I woof woof from the loud rain n thunder.
My safety is very important to my family. It’s one of their top priorities.
I would like to end this post with 2 questions:
How long is too long to crate your dog?
Where does your dog(pet) sleep during the day and at night?
Lots of Golden Woofs
We just read the article. It breaks our hearts. But the people seemed to really love their dogs. :[ As I type this its pouring outside, both of us are safe inside.
That was such a sad story I don't know where to begin. I hate sleeping where I cannot hear the dogs. I always leave my bedroom door open for that reason (even when we have guests). I bet the basement was a safe dog cave and the dogs were all together so they didn't mind. Who would ever have imagined that much water that fast?
If our house were bigger, both dogs would still have crates (door open of course). They both loved their crates for as long as they were available.
Mango Momma
What a sad story. We crate our dogs during the day when we are not home. I had thought about moving them to the basement during this heatwave, (some times the air conditioning doesn't seem enough). We didn't do it because what if our sump pump failed and the basement flooded?
Thought I was being over protective. Gosh you just never know.
So sad! Finn can sleep wherever she'd like – in the winter she slept with us upstairs in our bedroom, now she sleeps where it is cooler on the first floor, but our door is always open. I hear her moving from place to place during the night too – never find her where she started sleeping the night before!
wow. too painful for me to read on but sure glad you brought it to our attention. you will save lives with this post.
Duncan's crate is open at all times so he can come and go as he pleases. It's a place of shelter for him, where we keeps his special blanket and the quilt my mother made him. Sometimes he even manages to sneak our socks inside where I find them licked to death and hidden among the folds of the big pillow he sleeps on.
We thought it was very important that his crate be *his* space, a place to rest and be on his own. We never used it for punishment. It is a positive place where he can go during rainstorms or when people come over and he needs to get away from all the noise.
It saddens me to learn that dogs have drowned in their crates. I can't imagine the terror and the regret their family is now suffering. Thankfully the article and your blog have helped draw attention to the issue and hopefully many lives will be saved.
Thank you!
Like most of your comments My Vickie helped me learn as a puppy that the crate can be good. I never had to sleep in it but she would put me in often for 10 or 15 minutes to a couple of hours.
Her goal was to help me understand and trust her in whatever place she puts me.
This came in handy when I had to go to the vet to get my boy parts separated from my body. But that was only for one day.
Then when I ate the rocks I had to spend a lot longer in a crate at the vets and at home. That was a scary time for me but I wasn't scared of my crate. I actually rested better in it.
Crates can be good and should be a safe place for us to go when the outside world becomes too much.
It is very sad for this family to loose their loved ones in that way. My Vickie appreciates your reminder to all of us that we need to be cautious with all things.
OK….stop talking Bert…..
Just heart breaking to read that article.
Each of us pups has our own crate of which the doors are always open so we can come and go as we please. Our crates are on the second floor with the bedrooms.
Our dad works from home so we are rarely home alone which lets us always have the run of the house 🙂
Big Hugs & Kisses
Addie, Lucie and Hailey
So sad! And this post WILL save lives!
Oh, you just made our day! We just found you via "My Tail Hurts from Wagging" & we LOVE your blog and the way you see beautiful! We're now happy followers. Thanks for seeing beautiful (P.S., Fred the Chipmunk is really cute too).
We don't have trouble with too much water around here (usually not enough!) but every year it seems you hear about people who leave their dogs in cars "just for a moment" in the heat. 🙁
The boys sleep wherever they want to – usually on the sofas or cool tiles during the day on the Big Bed with us at night. 🙂
We have OPEN crates here too
Kari
https://dogisgodinreverse.com
I love my crates too and have one in the kitchen and one in the peeps bedroom. I can go in and out anytime too. But at night time, I do have to stay in the one in the bedroom until morning. But it there was any a problem they are right in the same room and would let me out in a moments notice. Other than that, I sleep any and everywhere I want 🙂 Thanks fur sharing the important info.
wags
Jazzi and Addy
That is a very heartbreaking story. What a terrible loss.
Holly was crate trained as a puppy. Her crate still sits in the middle of the room that is "her" room. She sleeps on the couch or floor at night but has the option of going wherever she wants. She is so used to "her" couch which is next to her crate, she usually sleeps either next to the crate or on the couch though. She can go into her crate if she wants but usually only goes in there now if I have company that she is unsure of. It's her safe spot. My computer and desk along with the dining room table are all in "her" room so she has plenty of space. She rarely goes upstairs even though she can if she wants to. I think she just likes it in this room because it's the room she was trained in as a puppy. She loves to go into the kitchen and lay on the floor because it's cool in the summer. Lots of love, Debbie & Holly
Little Bit here. My mom and dad never put me in a crate so I don't know anything about crates. I sleep wherever I want at home or on our boat. When we ride in our truck I have to wear a seat belt just like mom and dad. Safety first.
Have a terrific day Sugar. 🙂
Excellent post, Sugar! It made my PU resolve to try harder to train me to be left alone without being in my closed crate. I do love my crate and often sleep there, when it's open and PU is at home-but mostly I'm near her-and I sleep in her bed at night!. My crate is in the kitchen on the first floor, and PU never leaves me in my crate longer than 3-ish hours at any one time.
What do you think about this arrangement? Problem: if I'm not "crated", I tend to go a bit crazy and tear up the living room couch and blinds!
That's such a heartbreaking story. I had a crate as a baby and I stayed in it only at night until I was potty trained. Actually, I didn't stay in it very long because I started sleeping between my mommy and daddy so could tell them when I needed to go out. Now I sleep on my pillow in my pawrent's room or wherever I feel like sleeping. The only crate around here is a little one for my kitty sisfurs when they have to go to the v-e-t.
Now that we are housebroken, we no longer sleep in our crates!! WOOHOO… go us, go us… We do sometimes go in when Mom is going to be gone for a couple of hours, but that's our only crate time these days.
AROOOOF!
Boondocks & The Love Shack Pack
How sad for the dogs and family 🙁 We don't get crated. We are fortunate enough to roam the house and we sleep on doggie beds in Mommy and Daddy's bedroom (of course we have dog beds in other areas of the house too).
Wags,
Maddy and Owen
What a very nice post Sugar….you are a very lucky puppy but you know that right? Mom says I'm like the proveriabl 500 lb gorrilla I sleep whereever I want!!
I was in my kitty caddy yesterday to/from the vet which is about a total of 16 minutes and that was too long!!
MOL Madi
That story is just so very sad and unthinkable. We all have crates but only go in with the door open if we want to be left alone. For the most part we sleep on the sofa….every corner of the sofa. (Mom and Dad have to sit on the floor so they don't disturb the pack. At night me, brudder Max (DaOdderWeenie) and April sleep in bed with Mom and Dad. The rest of the pack sleep wherever they want. Sometimes they're on the bed too. Rusty and Holly run to hide in their crates when there's a storm. The crates are all in the family room.
I left my thoughts on FB, but will add that we also have 2 crates set up for the dogs. The doors are also left open, and lots of times the dogs just go in and lay down in there–It's 'their space' and we never bother them once they're inside. The dogs also sleep at night wherever they'd like. Our house is all on one level, so they are usually in our room and lately a couple sleep in the hallway where it's cooler.
That was a very sad story. We all have crates here and like yours, the doors are always open, unless Mom decides to give us a bone and then we each go to our crates and the doors are closed. At night we stay on the first floor in the kitchen. We do love our crates but it is nice that the doors are open.
Happy Saturday.
Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara
What a horribly sad story.
Our crates live in the attic. We are free to sleep upstairs or downstairs on our own beds – not on the furniture.
Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch
None us us were ever even crate trained (the momma says this is NOT something to be proud of). Butter freaked out every time they tried to put him in a crate so they gave up. The daddy held me (the Who) while he worked for like the first 6 months, Fred felt he should save his peepin for when he got IN the crate, and they just never even tried with Hannibal.
Me, Hannibal, and Butter sleep right on the bed with out parents, although Butter usually thinks snugglin is gross so he sleeps on his snoopy bed or in the Bean Cave. Fred doesn't like to sleep inside so he has his 'cottage' outside which is filled with cedar chips and has a cooling pad in summer and a heater in the winter.
The momma knows people who crate their dogs all night (door closed) and then again all day while at work. Just pitiful.
What a very sad story. Luckily I was un-crated when I was fairly young & I sleep in the middle of the bed with my people.
Thanks for the PSA, it could help save someone's pup.
Nubbin wiggles,
Oskar
I agree with everything that you said. Thank you for sharing it.
For Tessa, no crate is safe for here. When she was born she was kept in the locked crate in the living room with her 2 sisters, 1 brother, dam and sire. This was a small crate and they were all kept in for 24 hours a day. Needless to say Tessa is terrified of small spaces.
Lucky for me she is a certified trained service dog and she sleeps beside me.
Crates should not be a place of terror.
Thanks again for the PSA. I can only hope that the people who are not crating their animals correctly will see your wonderful PSA.
Thanks, Blu and Tessa too
SHE didn't read the story because SHE hates sad things like that. Our back door is always open when SHE's away. SHE'd rather have things stolen than us hurt because we couldn't escape from the house.
We're excellent guard dogs though.
XXXOOO Daisy, Kendra & Bella
Guess what, The Marilyn statue was in our local free paper!
That is a very sad story and we didn't go past the first paragraph, too heartbreaking.
I was crate trained up until 8 months then I can sleep wherever my heart desires.
Dear Sugar, I woof real loud and mean at the thunder so it doesn't hurt my family. It seems to be coming from the other side of the fence. I just dare it to jump over, I'll tear it to pieces.
Keep on woofin…..Golden Kisses from Easton
Wof just stopping to say a good day to you and sugar
Hi Sugar, how sad 🙁
We had crates as puppies but the doors were only closed at nightimes so that we would bark to be let out for the toilet in the middle of the night, it seems we were the quickest house trained dogs our peeps have ever had using this method. During the day the crate was open to sleep in as a den. Now we are older the crates are no longer used but we are not allowed upstairs, we sleep anywhere downstairs we like but usually in our own beds, we have a big bed each, if it's cold we get in together and snuggle up and Dad puts a blanket over us before he goes to bed. Dex and Lou xxx
That was a horrible story and my heart breaks for those people. We still crate Monty – but most nights the door is left opened. He tends to like to eat things he shouldn't so we do it for his safety, but he is on our room with us!
Sam
That is a very sad story. I don't know much about crates since I've never been in one. At night I sleep either on the bed next to my mom or the floor next to the her bed. When mom and dad go to work I spend the day in the basement because it's cooler and more comfortable for me there.
miss sugar,
that is such a sad story. i know several doggies who like to hang out in their basements in the summer just cuz it's so much cooler, but they can come upstairs if they want.
me 'n asa don't have a basement, but we were both crate trained. asa's crate is in mama 'n daddy's room, and she can go in 'n out of it whenevarrr she wants. i got too tall for my crate at about 8 months, so when my pawrents need to go to work, i have a nice lounge area set up in the laundry room.
*woof*
the booker man
Just breaks my heart to hear about this. It's my biggest fear that something should happen to the house and the dogs wouldn't be able to get out to save themselves. Really makes me want to put in a doggy door and an invisible fence to allow them to move about as they need to. Thanks for the reminder to think about it!
That was such a sad story to read… I sleep in my parents bedroom in my crate, door open. My foster sisters sleep in the spare bedroom across the hall from my parents (I'll play all night if we're in the same room). I think my momma would have a heartattack if I tried sleeping out of hearing distance! But I'm in my crate, door closed, during the day… otherwise I find anything and everything to chew and destroy…
-Corbin
Oh how heartbreaking! Our 3 dogs are free to roam half of the house (cats are free in other half). We do crate our fosters in the family room until they have proven that they are not destructive & then they graduate to being free in the kitchen while we are gone.
So sad and heartbreaking. The first night that Chewy came home, we tried to crate him when we went to bed. He only lasted about 5 minutes before the Father gave in to his crying and took him to bed with us. And that's where he and Lilibell have slept every night of their lives. During the day they have the kitchen and living room to roam around to their heart's content. I don't believe in crating, but that's my own opinion.
Very sad and very tragic. I am sure the family loved their dogs but my Mommy said she'd NEVER put us in a basement away from her and Daddy. She doesn't even want us in a separate room from them while we are sleeping.
We have crates, and the doors are removed. They are simply there for us to go in and out at our leisure.
A cousin of one of mommy's friends lost 2 of her dogs in a house fire last year……they were locked in crates as the house burnt to the ground. I can only imagine the anguish and guilt the humans must have felt and still feel to this day, knowing their dogs had no chance of escape.