It seems that many here who oppose this pilot, are fairly uneducated on dogs and how they should be trained and cared for.
No, it's the opposite. At least if you are talking about real science, not "current dog culture narrative". This has been proven over and over in this thread.
Do not put human emotions into canine that do not exist. A crate/kennel is only a negative thing if the HUMAN makes it one. ALL canine species (wolves, dingos, jackals, DOGS, etc) have what is known as "den mentality". They will literally stay in their "den" for anywhere from 6-12 hours at a time and are perfectly fine and comfortable. Just because we domesticated dogs does not mean they are humans and become "sad" when you put them in crate. Most people have no clue how to acclimate a dog to a crate. I have worked with many dogs whose owners said "youll never get him to go into the crate, he hates it". I love the look on their face after ive trained the dog and give the command and the dog HAPPILY runs into its crate with its tail wagging.
LOL, you don't have to lecture me on that. I've been trying to educate dog owners throughout the thread about projecting emotional states on dogs.
Funny, though, how you went straight to assigning "happily" there. The dog is "happy" that he is pleasing someone. Not that he's about to be confined to box barely bigger than they are.
Before you waste your breath - I am well aware of the current cult-ish dog owner culture and literature from supposed "trusted" sources that support this practice. It's supported because to places like the Humane Society, it leads to less neglectful behavior from humans to dogs, not because it benefits the dogs. They would rather have it "safely" kept in a small box than people leave dogs on leads outside, etc. for long periods of time as they used to do because there is less of a chance for them to get loose by preemptively confining them.
I will call BS on the rationale, though. Dog's "den mentality" doesn't have anything to do with it. It's just an excuse. That's like saying "humans spend 6 - 8 hours in a spot the size of a coffin while sleeping, therefore it's natural for them to lay in a coffin locked from the outside to sleep". It's about choice.
It's nothing to do with the welfare of the dog, it's about making their behavior easier for humans to manage by acclimating them to confinement. It's about selfish humans who want to own active dogs but force them to only be active dogs when it is convenient to them, and a current movement to make dogs the least trouble to care for, not improving their quality of life.
In any case, I am not going to get into an extended argument about this as I know there will be no budging on either side, because you aren't going to convince me that it's a scientifically valid thing to desensitize an animal to confinement to prevent inconvenience on behalf of their owners, and I'm not gong to convince you that dogs aren't "happy" being locked in a box.
