Advice on dog pens ?

Hello All,

I am just looking for some advice on dog pens.

I have 2 small mongrel 1 year old terrier breeds. At the moment they have full use of the back garden when I am in work. When I am at home they are inside.

Currently the back garden is destroyed with holes and muck patches everywhere. Alot of the grass is turning into patches.


I was thinking of buying or building a dog pen that would run along the back garden fence. This will just give them the length of the garden to run but not the width. Can anyone tell me if this is cruel ?

I don't know if they are only meant to be in confined pens for a short period of time or not. I know one guy who has one and keeps his dog in it all day and the thing is so small that the poor animal has to sit down and cannot stretch it's legs.

I have looked online but I don't see any recommendations as to how long the dog should be kept in it for.

Sample image http://guarddogss.com/2011/06/24/large-dog-runs/
Thanks in advance

alexandra123 said:

I have looked online but I don't see any recommendations as to how long the dog should be kept in it for.

Sample image http://guarddogss.com/2011/06/24/large-dog-runs/
Thanks in advance

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The general rule is that animals should not be left alone for more than 4 hours as they get stressed so I would be inclined to use this as a guide.

alexandra123 said:

I know one guy who has one and keeps his dog in it all day and the thing is so small that the poor animal has to sit down and cannot stretch it's legs.

Click to expand...

That is absolutely cruel and he should be reported. How can the dog go to the toilet properly and surely it will have growth/mobility problems at some stage.

I know how frustrating it is to have dogs and to want to have a decent garden. The photo that you referred to seems to offer only a small space. I think something like that could lead to frustrated barking dogs but as a short term solution to reseeding and refurbishing the lawned area it might work out. What we ended up doing was to reduce the size of our lawned area which had gotten so beaten up, and increased the patio, deck, flower bed area. This has worked really well - the dogs still have the run of the garden but there is less to destroy and less muddy mess when it rains.

On the matter of the guy you know who keeps his dog in what sounds like in humane conditions, I echo the suggestion to report this to the ISPCA and I believe this can be done anonymously. They can send someone out to inspect a case of suspected cruelty - they might just need to speak to the owner about appropriate care or perhaps the dog needs to be removed and rehomed. I couldnt stop thinking about this when I read your post.

Lsquared said:

I couldnt stop thinking about this when I read your post.

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Me too The DSPCA is another option. As the previous poster says he may not realise how cruel this is and might just need advice.

ISPCA can be contacted at 1890 51 5515

The temptation to ask about super-gifted dogs who can write is overwhelming.

Must paws before posting.