[cigwyllt]

I'm going to make a confession now :-) When we got Toffee (complete mixed breed) she was a couple of years old and had been found running round the farms in the middle of nowhere. Although we do not know where she came from two things were very apparent - she had never been in a house before - she struggled to use the stairs and had no experience of vinyl floors - and she had never been ill treated. Everyone, young or old, male or female, was her best friend.

She was pretty much the perfect dog except for one thing - she hated to be left. We had no money to buy a crate and no money to keep replacing everything she wrecked when she escaped from the kitchen and went on the rampage through the house. In the end my husband bought a length of chain and bolted it to the door and we would chain her when she was left over night or when I went out. The change in her was instant. We can only surmise that she was used to being chained and that in her eyes being chained meant that "her people" would come back to her. The area where she was picked up was in the middle of "traveller" country and it is quite likely that she would have been chained outside a van or whatever.

Within days she was running to her basket when the kitchen door was closed (signifying that she was going to be chained) and she would sit with her head up waiting for the chain to be clipped on.

This carried on for a year or so until one day we realised that the chain had come loose from the wall. It made no difference to Toffee. The clip was on, she knew we were coming back to her! We continued to use the chain for a while - sometimes clipping it, sometimes just touching her collar with it - but it saved our house and our sanity to chain her when she was left.

She is 13 or so now and no longer tears the place apart when she is left but without the chain I doubt if we could have kept her.

[PersistantPuppy]

Dakota,

The original post invited opinions on whether people agreed with chaining up their dogs.

I stated that I personally did not agree with it - but I was speaking from the point of view that a dog is a pet and part of the family within the house.

Having 8 sled dogs isn't quite the same, and if chaining them up works for you, then fine.

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by PersistantPuppy

Dakota,

The original post invited opinions on whether people agreed with chaining up their dogs.

I stated that I personally did not agree with it - but I was speaking from the point of view that a dog is a pet and part of the family within the house.

Having 8 sled dogs isn't quite the same, and if chaining them up works for you, then fine.

I understand. I didn't mean to sound as if I was bashing your opinion or anything. That was my mistake. ops: My point of view is always from the working dog point of view and I sometimes forget to look at things from a pet owners point of view. I was being narrow minded and I apologize.

[PersistantPuppy]

Dakota,

That is very sweet of you, thanks I guess we both need to be a little more open minded when it comes to various ways of owning dogs. Here in the UK, sled dogs are very uncommon, if it all, and the nearest we come to having working dogs is perhaps on a farm, or maybe someone having a couple of dogs as hunting dogs.

I will try and remember that this forum covers the whole world, and has many different kinds of dog ownership.

[Dakota]

I didn't notice that you lived in the UK! Thats really cool!! I have always wanted to live there......

[PersistantPuppy]

Yes, lol, the UK is a great place mostly. I hope you get to visit someday, just for the experience. Its the kind of place where tiny dogs can be carried in a handbag, and many people treat their dogs better than themselves (in terms of buying them better food than they themselves eat!)

On the other hand, you can get really fierce people who like to keep really fierce dogs just to be macho, and who perhaps don't look after the dogs so well.

Other than that its a great animal loving place, with a lot of countryside for dogs and horses. Lots of beaches and sea....oh and rain. It rains a lot here.

At the moment because its winter, its really really cold and that brings so much snow like you wouldn't believe!

(Sorry, gone way off topic here, lol)