The Benny Chronicles
To Crate or Not to Crate?
How does a person who doesn’t believe in caging non-human animals put the non-human animal they love most into a box?
What is a vegan more opposed to, on a foundational level, than an animal in a cage? Whether a factory farm pumping chickens full of chemicals as they have no room to move, or calves moved to boxes in order to become veal, or any wild creature trapped in a zoo — these are the cornerstones of vegan ethics, non-negotiables that aren’t quibbled over like a drizzle of honey or buying vintage leather. And so how does one put their puppy in a crate?
Now that Benny, who was a moody cabrón in the first installment of this column, is verging on six months old and is slightly less of a moody cabrón, I’ve been going back-and-forth on the Crate Question — and of course, leaning toward no. While some friends with dogs swear by the process as the only way to get dogs to learn limits and not go to the bathroom in the house, others have found it to be cruel and unnecessary. Benny’s own vet does not use a crate, and I’ve had good luck with reading his cues to know when he needs to go outside to use the bathroom. He clearly prefers going outside to using pee-pee pads that I still lay down when he’ll be alone for a few hours to prevent…
