Long Time First Time:
Just putting it out there that there is more than one school of thought about this. The students where I work roll their eyes at the “dog’s don’t get bored” assertion too - but the behaviorist sticks to it.
In that case, not any of these dog-reading behaviorists can ever have owned a dog, or studied one for long. I’m a dog owner. I also grew up on a farm with many different animals. If they had said that about a cow, a hen or a bunny I could agree, but not dogs. There’s absolutely no way you can convince me that a dog is incapable of getting bored, when I’ve seen the opposite in real life so many times. And I do know a bit about how dogs signal.
… but I just can’t get my mind around this belief. Is a dog is really better off DEAD than being kept with a loving owner who happens to work?
Reading comprehension. I said “they’d rather”, not “they do”. Most dog shelters here, AFAIK, have a self-imposed policy that people living alone in an apartment in the city, who would have to leave the dog alone during the day, does not get a dog. Period. Yes, that means there are some beautiful loving people out there, who would have given a homeless dog a wonderful life, who have to get a dog elsewhere. But the reason for this policy is that those people return their dog more often (especially come vacation time), and additionally, these dogs more often show signs of being neglected.
Many folks crate their dogs when they are not home. It prevents their houses from being soiled and chewed up.
There are a few golden rules for dealing with dogs. One of them are: Don’t take away a dogs freedom to move around. This is why dogs hate it when you deal with their paws, as opposed to cows for instance. It’s why two dogs sniffing each other shouldn’t be leashed. A dog that makes a mess in a house when left alone is, as I said, either poorly trained in relation to how easily they get bored (which is breed-dependent), neglected or mistreated. The “vandalism” is just the visible end result when a dog isn’t feeling happy or secure (though it sometimes may be the fond memory of the dog “in bloom” next door). Unlike house cats, dogs are group animals, and they get restless when left out of their group or when their leader (you) leaves them.
Interestingly, the experiment I referred to above also concluded that dogs that were allowed to stay on the couch all of the time or some of the time when around humans, also stayed on the couch when left alone. But dogs who were always forbidden to stay on the couch by their owners, didn’t use the couch when they were left alone during the day. It’s about having simple rules and routines.
They stay happy with the dog, thus the dog gets to stay happy as well.
Wrong. A happy owner does not equalize a happy dog.
I know of show dogs that are kept in crates 23 hours out of 24 most of the time. They have the muscle tone of a baked apple and one could certainly make a case that they aren’t happy.
[sadness] makes me wonder why these people wont set up a dog yard and keep at least two dogs there.
{What’s really ironic is that these folks will sell their puppies to another show person who will also keep the dog crated most of its life without blinking an eye- but insist on the fenced in back yard, etc. etc. care when selling them as pets}
I agree. The ones who care the least about dogs are often those who breed them or train them for shows, though there are some good ones out there as well.
Dogs have become the most successful domestic animal on earth because their way of life pretty much coincides with human.
Absolutely. But dogs are still an entirely different species. Why do you think most dogs prefer a daily walk (or three), while humans are happy to go without?
She may be pretty laid back, but a collie does still need regular exercize. Since you want a running companion, as I recall, that’ll be good, but she also needs some challenges; fetch or catching a frisbee or something. Also, a Kong ball is a good puzzle for her while you’re away during the day.