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In reply to the discussion: This winter, my wife and I got a shelter dog. [View all]Donald Ian Rankin
(13,598 posts)4. I'm not sure how much freedom per se matters to dogs.
I suspect there are some things associated with it - like "being able to run" that clearly do make dogs a lot happier, but from what I've read dogs are naturally pack animals and most of them are happier when someone else is clearly dominant and in charge.
I should stress that I'm very much an amateur, but my impression is that it's generally unwise to interpret from "this would make my dog happy or unhappy" to "this will make this animal happy or unhappy".
It's striking that in zoos, the great apes - animals a lot like humans, that you might expect to hate being "imprisoned" - generally seem to do quite well, both mentally and physically*, whereas I have never yet seen a bear in a cage that didn't make me feel sick.
Anthropomorphisation is tempting, but it's better to try to canomorph yourself - have you ever come across tricks like making sure that you eat before the dog does?
*with the obvious proviso of "if kept in good conditions - my local zoo when I was a kid had a rather horrific chimpanzee house, where they just huddled in corners. But I think great apes *can* be - and often are - ethically and humanely kept in captivity if you have the money and expertise, whereas I'm not sure some large predators can be unless you can translate money and expertise into space.
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I suspect that gorillas care about interesting, whereas lions care about large.
Donald Ian Rankin
Apr 2013
#12
Please, please, please do a search on Google images for "chained dog photos"
justiceischeap
Apr 2013
#42
Probably not typical, but tethering dogs is illegal where I live (Chapel Hill, NC)
mnhtnbb
Apr 2013
#10
Unattended here means not outside WITH the dog...or basically...having the dog on a long leash.
mnhtnbb
Apr 2013
#13