More and more people today feel that keeping dogs chained to a stake outside all day is a cruel thing to do. I completely agree. I can't stand the idea of tying my dog to one spot outside, even for just one day. It doesn't seem humane to me. Chaining your pet outside all day certainly is not a holistic way of taking care of your pets if you want to keep them healthy and happy.

With that said, I must say that I had been conditioned to think differently about pet care when I was growing up. It didn't occur to me some treatments can be inhumane or even cruel. I didn't experience a change in my conditioning about pet care until I came to live in the United States. Looking back, I can't believe that I used to believe (or, at least, not doubt) certain things about pet care in my native country. I'm a little embarrassed talking about this, but the important experience taught me a lesson that what one believes is right at the time may turn out to be incorrect or inhumane in the future, or at least considered differently in other countries. Keeping an open and yet sensible mind is essential in pet care.

As I grew up in Japan, I didn't doubt dogs being kept chained to stakes outside houses because that's what many Japanese dog owners used to do to their dogs all the time. I assume that there are many years of cultural history involved behind this custom. Dog specialists in Japan may have their own theories about why many dog owners leave their dogs outside tied, but this is what I think:

First, floor cleanliness in typical traditional Japanese houses is very important -- you even have to take off your shoes as soon as you go inside. Instead of carpet, the floors are usually furnished with tatami (special mattresses made of straw). Doors are often made of paper material and slide back and forth instead of opening like a western-style door. Walls are painted with specific material that crumbles easily if scratched. The traditional Japanese house structures are just not built with medium to large sized animals like dogs in mind.

Second, the majority of Japanese houses don't have fenced back yards. The crowded Japanese housing conditions don't allow that much free space. The typical back yard in America is bigger than the average household plot in some Japanese areas!

Third, original purpose of owning dogs in Japan was probably for protecting livestock animals from predators or thieves (Japan was a poor country for centuries). It must've been more convenient for the dog owners to keep the dogs outside and possibly even free to roam in the olden days. It's not hard to imagine Japanese breed dogs such as Shiba Inu or Akita were bred to be very loyal to the owners but somewhat indifferent or reserved to strangers. Plus, their thick coats help them survive cold winter days outside. Dogs were probably considered outside animals for a long time in Japan.

I believe that such cultural concepts still remain in Japanese people's psyches even now -- but things have been changing. The lifestyle of the Japanese has drastically changed over the past decade. More people are starting to live in western-styled houses. Small breed dogs are getting more popular. These fit in Japanese housing conditions better, allowing them to be kept inside the house, close to the dog owners all the time! More and more people are aware what owning pets means to them. I have a feeling that fewer dog owners may tie their dogs to a stake outside in the future.

Although I said many dogs are left outside tied to a stake, it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't love their dogs or don't give their dogs enough attention. It's just how the culture often conditions dog owners' way of thinking. (I remember my boss always told me how cute, funny and smart his dog was and how much his entire family loved the dog, yet the dog was kept outside all day every day, chained to a stake. I bet my boss had no clue that tying his dog to a stake was a cruel thing. He just didn't think of it in this way.)

In his book Kindred Spirits, Allen M. Schoen D.V.M. describes his experience of castrating a bull. The bull's owner hadn't known that there was a more humane way of doing it without the animal going through a lot of pain. (Basically the owner had believed that the only way of castrating the bull was to tie a bull to a tree and just cut off the testicles.) Dr. Schoen suggested the use of a mild sedative to alleviate the bull's pain, which made the owner feel guilty of not considering it before. He simply didn't know an alternative existed. Dr. Schoen says, "It wasn't that people didn't care if their animals suffered. Most of them had simply never been offered another - painless - option."

Many books and articles on pets recently talk about how cruelly some cultures treat dogs by keeping them chained to a stake. I agree. It is cruel. I just wanted to add more to the stories about why people (in this case, pet owners) do what they do. It takes time for things to change - especially for the better. It took me many years to learn such things and re-condition my thinking.