Would You Call This Cruel?

[conztruct]

Agree with the other posters about destruction of bedding.

I proudly and stupidly got all my dogs new soft beds and pillows when I first got them and the longest one lasted was 2 hours into the night - needless to say - the whole place looked like a blizzard had gone through it.

Now - my guys all have carpet to sleep on which takes them a lot longer to wreck (I just have a big stack and can replace when a piece gets too tatty). Do I feel mean and cruel and would I prefer to give them a lovely doona and pillows - absolutely, but realistically - even that towel folded in half would end up looking like it's been through a blender if I gave it to my guys.

You try and be nice to them and look what they do........

[corvus]

My northern breed would rather sleep on the concrete than a bed. He's got one, and he only lies on it to sulk if I've done something horrible to him, like bath him. He has a mat in the bedroom to sleep on and usually sleeps on the carpet next to it. I honestly think he's never felt cold in his life. He used to sleep in the rain as a puppy despite having a kennel. I gave up. I provide him with a bed just in case he ever wants it, but mostly I just get a big one for Erik so that they can share if he Kivi does want a bed. And I continually ask myself why I bother providing my dog with bedding when he doesn't use it.

[whiskedaway]

My northern breed would rather sleep on the concrete than a bed.

My Sibe is the same. She has a dog bed in her kennel, which she has torn to oblivion so that she's just sleeping on the wood of the kennel and a towel. More often than not, she's pulled her towel out of the kennel and is sleeping on the cement, or she's on the grass in the rain.

Huskies like the cool, so a lot of them will sleep on the cement - a friend of ours said that his does the same thing. I wouldn't be too worried.

[Ashanali]

My pointers rip up bedding unless I'm watching them...

actually, they will rip it while I'm watching them, I just have the ability to tell them to stop. I gave them an old mattress last week - it lasted two days.

At night, they sleep on blankets but during the day, they sleep on a big carpet square.

[lanabanana]

I don't think it is cruel. But then for the past couple of months I have made my dogs put up with their scrap of a bed. They used to have a very heavy proper camping sleeping bag in their outside bed and slowly they have been killing it. It is now in two pieces, of ohhh maybe a metre square each with no stuffing, just the outside fabric.

I just replaced it with a duvet I got from the Salvos specifically for their outside bed, and they had it maybe 3 days before starting to wreck it.

Inside they have a nice thick foam matrress, and they also sleep on this overnight in their room (if not in our bed) but even that they have chewed one cover off and ripped massive holes in the foam. I replace the cover same time as their new outside bed and this morning for up and they had ripped a hole in it and started pulling the blimmin foam out.

My OH told me "no more beds for them if they are going to keep wrecking them", but I think they are gettign th ehint with the outside one because I left the old "scrap" out there in the hope they would continue to kill that instead of the new bed and even thjough they have attacked the new bed, for the last two days it hasnt budged from the crate lol

Edited July 9, 2010 by lanabanana

[KumaAkita]

I don't think it's cruel... perhaps there's a part of the yard you can't see that has a kennel or more protection for the dog?

Our Akita has a kennel, he doesn't use it. He prefers to sleep on the corner of the concrete in a spot where he can see the entire yard. He is sleeping inside at the moment, but we're thinking he can graduate to nights outside. He gets too hot inside. When we get home from his walk he automatically stands at the back door kinda saying "hot... hot... hot..." and heads straight outside onto the coldest piece of concrete!

[WoofnHoof]

My sibe has a lovely kennel but given the choice he'll sleep on my bed

Depends on the dog I suppose you could always suggest to the owner that concrete is a very cold surface in winter and have they tried a trampoline bed or something they will tell you soon enough if he is a bed destroyer

[Gayle.]

My Aussie Shepherd boy gets choices.....inside on a couch, inside in front of the fire, inside in our bedroom....or outside. Unless it's absolutely freezing....and even then sometimes....he chooses outside.

He has a pergola, a wood shed, a garage to choose from outside. In the pergola he has a plastic tub bed and two wooden platforms....no blankets cos he rips them up. In the wood shed he has an insulated kennel.

His preferred sleeping spot is stretched out on the grass, the gravel or the concrete outside under the stars. If that's cruel, then so be it. It's his choice.

[sas]

There is a big dog that lives around the corner from me, I don't know what breed he is, he looks like a black Sibe-ish type thing but again, I'm not sure. Anyway, you can see their yard through the fence - it's a fairly decent sized yard. The dog has shelter under the open garage, i.e. shelter from the rain, not so much from wind etc, but I realised this morning that he sleeps on a towel folded in half on the concrete

I know a lot of us can probably be accused of 'spoiling' our dogs, but to me that seems cruel. I'm not sure of his circumstances, i.e. if he is allowed inside, if he gets exercised etc but it just makes me sad seeing that he has a towel for a bed. Does that seem cruel to anyone else?

No, it's not cruel.

Is it how I'd provide my dogs comfort, no, but it's not cruel.

[Miss B]

My youngest Sibe sleeps outside and that's the way she likes it. She will not settle indoors. She has plenty of shelter and a trampoline bed to sleep on, but give her blankets or beds or anything like that and she destroys them within 24 hours.

[julzjc]

Same here. Bonnie wont even sit on anything that is not soft (ie have to take her bed in my backpack for walks with coffee breaks or she will stand for hours on end). Indie the sibe on the other hand refuses to lie on anything soft. Past few nights when I let them out it has been almost impossible to get him back inside the house to sleep. Has been sleeping out on the concrete or grass in the pouring rain despite having alot of undercover areas,kennel,veranda,big comfy beds in laundry,in the house etc. Cant even leave his collar on as he gets so wet his collar will cause hotspots, PITA sometimes. For my neighbours view into my yard they would probably think his only shelter is under the veranda with just a towel too in the rain but thats his choice, daft dog.

[Guest Willow]

Put your mind at ease....buy a cheapy foam dog mat (or similar) take it round to your neighbours & say "I won this in a raffle, but my dog won't have a bar of it....only likes his (insert bed type here). Was wondering if you could make use of it for your dog?"

They will either take it & dog will use it, or they'll say "Nah, he can't have a bed like that because of (insert reason here)".

At least then you'll sleep better

I agree with the others....maybe he likes the towel.....sometimes my elderly Staffy will ignore his soft padded snooza bed and sleep on the bricks outide, and my little SWF prefers to sleep in the dirt behind the wheelie bins......anyone taking a snapshot of this would think I was a dreadful owner!!!

[Flaves]

There is a big dog that lives around the corner from me, I don't know what breed he is, he looks like a black Sibe-ish type thing but again, I'm not sure. Anyway, you can see their yard through the fence - it's a fairly decent sized yard. The dog has shelter under the open garage, i.e. shelter from the rain, not so much from wind etc, but I realised this morning that he sleeps on a towel folded in half on the concrete

I know a lot of us can probably be accused of 'spoiling' our dogs, but to me that seems cruel. I'm not sure of his circumstances, i.e. if he is allowed inside, if he gets exercised etc but it just makes me sad seeing that he has a towel for a bed. Does that seem cruel to anyone else?

I used to have a Malamute, she didnt even get a towel. She refused to sleep on ANY bedding so i stopped giving it to her

So, no i dont think a towel is cruel.

[Gayle.]

On the other hand, Dusty thinks being expected to sleep on anything less than my bed is the utmost in cruelty and every night when I boot her off onto her pile of pillows and quilts on the plushly carpeted floor, she expects phone calls to be made to the RSPCA and the emergency vet clinic with a long list of complaints about how poorly she's being treated. The looks I get, the huffs and sighs, unbelievable.

Dogs will be dogs. Some think they are royalty and expect to be treated as such.....and often are......sigh. Others are happy and proud to be tuff guys.

[Bow Wowy]

My sibe has a choice of 3 beds outside, but chooses to lie in a dirt hole shes dug out near the fence. I spent a lot of money on a kennel and ended up giving it away because it was never used

[wuffles]

Our dogs get no bedding except a trampoline bed as they destroy everything else.

Even when they did have beds, they preferred to lie in the garden beds, in the middle of the yard, on the concrete in the sun...

They do also have a kennel and a pergola for shelter, but they lie in the rain anyway

[PeiPei]

Wait until I tell my dogs about this...They think they have it bad when I forget to turn on their side of my beds electric blanket. lol