Like this 1989 class snuggling produced frontierswoman who fought never and shops, etc. Petco gets boring after a while! I live London Ontario Canada. There is a pit-bull ban place here. When I purchased the license for lab mix, I have to physically bring him they could assess him for pit bullness. I would say this city is very conservative and people react with fear when it comes to dogs. They always assume the worst. I also think there are a lot of people this city who 't exercise their dogs, physically or mentally, enough, and there are a lot of dogs who are crazy bored. It's too bad. I way too prong collars for liking. Regarding crates and housebreaking yes, of course it's easy enough to when a puppy's going to when you are able to supervise 24, but the US at least most people are gone 8 to 9 hours a day for work during the weekdays usually even both parents a couple if it's a family and they run home at lunch or have a dogsitter drop by to let the pup out until it's old enough to hold it all day. People also like to sleep at night, and the crate encourages the pup to make a little noise that you'll wake up rather than using out of the way corner of the bedroom to Yes, you can set alarm clock when housebreaking, but that's not perfect either and eventually you do need to transition the dog to sleeping through the night without a potty break. Crates make this process much easier. Personally I 't like to a dog crated for more than is absolutely necessary, but careful management of the crate keeps a pup safe when you can't be right there to supervise. I had one dog that was trustworthy the house alone at 8 months old and another that was almost two years old; it varies a lot by dog. That said, yes, some people do abuse crates and it's wrong to keep a dog there for 23 hours a day or something like that… doesn't mean a blanket ban on all crating is the right answer. Go after the problem behavior and problem people, not the specific tool older dog is never crated anymore, but younger dog routinely spends time his crate when we are at agility trials, as the dog has to wait somewhere when you're walking the competition course and doing other things. He goes there voluntarily and sleeps most of the time when it. It gives him a quite refuge to rest between our competition runs otherwise extremely distracting, loud environment. Just read the comments. Some very interesting thoughts from the other readers. There were a number of comments about people wanting to keep their dogs off leash and how much better they behaved when they did I completely understand that because shepherd mix loves to be off line the preserves BUT we often forget to keep the other side of the equation our heads. people hiking the preserves are not at easy around dogs yet they deserve to feel at ease there also. I can't tell you how often I have had to deal with other peoples no really, he's friendly! dogs that come charging at us. After I get heart out of throat, I have to deal with a dog that hopefully backs off and runs away but usually is too nervous to run off and holds his and barks and lunges at us until the owner realizes what is going on and finally collars his her dog and usually commenting on how aggressive dog seems to be! We all our dogs, and although we think the rises and sets on them, the rest of the world is not convinced of this. I letting dog off line but I finally got it through head that I needed to keep her farther away from not just other dogs but everyone I make sure I recall her far sooner then I used to do. If we are within 50 feet of someone its too close. Interestingly enough, I find this has made her calmer by being near me when we pass someone. She seem to take her cues from me on the emotional level of the encounter. It surely has helped her be calmer around other dogs even though she does not want to socialize with them. It also reminds me to work on her recall all the time. Working for that PhD recall seem boring but it is sooooo rewarding! Thank you to all. I'm Portland, OR, which I think is generally held to be a pretty dog-friendly city. We 't have BSL, which is the important thing to me, as I have Staffordshire Bull Terriers.