I totally agree that the placement and size of the cage is incredibly stupid, dangerous and cruel. I can't believe it's not illegal simply due to the fact there is a random cage stuck on the back of a sedan.
However, I am not against dogs in cages and here is why. To the uneducated eye, it looks cruel to keep a dog in a cage. I thought so too until my own dog had an injury that meant she had to be kept as still and quiet as possible for six weeks. I bought a crate on vets orders. I felt awful putting her in there, but as the weeks went on it became obvious that she liked being in there and wanted to be in there.
After the six weeks were up and I got the ok from the vet to start easing her back into full movement, I planned to pack the crate up and either sell it or store it. But my dog started to go in their voluntarily when the door was open. She even started sleeping in there (it was full of bedding of course).
I started researching crate training on the internet and learnt that in the wild, dogs live in caves or dens, and being in a small enclosed space is comforting to them. It's 'their' safe space they just go to chill. So I kept the crate and now it just sits with the door open. My dog sleeps in there sometimes and whenever I give her a treat she runs with it to her crate to sit in there and eat/chew it.
When I give her the command 'in' she runs in there happily. I rarely close the door but occassionally if I am doing something that I dont want her to get into I will close her in there for a few minutes, and she is perfectly happy, just curls up and goes to sleep or just chills. Half the time when I open the door again she just blinks at me and stays in there.
So as long as the cage is an appropriate size for the dog, not used to contain a dog for exessive amounts of time and is kept somewhere safe, it can actually be a positive thing for dogs.
Yeah my dogs have crates, they love it and its easier on trips. But they're still in the car, not tied to the back and can move around. This poor dog couldn't even turn. I feel so sorry for him/her, I hope their atleast taken from the owners.
This is wrong and I believe dogs in utes etc is also unsafe.
Last year my partner and I were first on the scene for an early morning single ute rollover that had a pigging dog cage on the back with 3 big dogs in it.
It was not a good outcome. I sat on the side of the road with one of the dogs who had one of his legs hanging on just by the skin and his tail was severed also, I just wrapped him in my doona & sat with him until the owners friends turned up to take him home to shoot him. Wish there was something I could have done but there was no talking to these blokes.
One of the other dogs was crushed under the car and the other had bruising and a few grazes.
All the three young blokes in the cab were OK. They were coming back from a 'pigging' trip and fell asleep. They were so lucky to be alive.
This is wrong and I believe dogs in utes etc is also unsafe.
Last year my partner and I were first on the scene for an early morning single ute rollover that had a pigging dog cage on the back with 3 big dogs in it.
It was not a good outcome. I sat on the side of the road with one of the dogs who had one of his legs hanging on just by the skin and his tail was severed also, I just wrapped him in my doona & sat with him until the owners friends turned up to take him home to shoot him. Wish there was something I could have done but there was no talking to these blokes.
One of the other dogs was crushed under the car and the other had bruising and a few grazes.
All the three young blokes in the cab were OK. They were coming back from a 'pigging' trip and fell asleep. They were so lucky to be alive.
I completely agree, there's no protection in the back of a ute and when the ute turns a corner the dog slips and slides. Im always worried that the ute will take a corner too fast and the dog will hang himself on his lead when he's forced to the side. Those cages aren't much better either, they're small and as you said- they usually put more than one in. The sounds of the cars around them must be scary, even if they've done it for a long time it can't be fun. My friends who live in the country only put their dogs in the back of the ute when they're driving to the paddocks, otherwise the dogs are in the car. I'm still nervous about this because of all the bumps but atleast its a shorter trip and they're not surrounded by other cars.
