Why are you trying to trap dogs?

 

I am designing an animal trap for them for a project

 

I am designing an animal trap for THEM for a project

Who?

 

I am designing an animal trap for stray dogs for a project.

 

They like meat and cheese a lot
They like the smell of meat
Clicking sounds work well to get my dogs attention

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oh thank you
can I ask what type of cage do you use to shelter your dogs?
plastic or metal cages

 

Metal, but plastic is also used

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A lot of times wet food is used since its actual meal and is more appealing then just dry food. And it helps establish a positive association with the area/object.

As for what crates/cages I use, I use metal. But keep in mind not every ferel/loose/homeless (because I cant think of the word) ect, will feel comfortable going into a plain old crate even with the temptation of food.

 

A real trap - one that is made of plywood or metal wiring, meant to catch an animal on the loose, and has a door that closes once the animal is inside and springs the locking mechanism - I'd use food, the smellier the better. Maybe canned dog/cat food, tuna, or boiled meat. Make the trap look less scary ie. covering it with twigs. Sometimes the animal is fed near/into the trap for some time before setting the locking mechanism to capture the animal.

A space used to store dogs in a shelter - a crate/cage is way too small for that purpose. The dog is likely walked inside on a leash or released from a crate/trap. Food can be used as a lure or means to familiarize the dog with the kennel.

A crate - a cage used for transport, short-time storing, for veterinary purposes (restricting movement while healing of an injury), or safe haven during events. If you have time, you can train the dog enter and stay there properly. I've done that once for a dog who needed a crate during car drives.

I removed the door of the plastic crate and placed the crate on the floor. Every time the dog looked at it or moved in the direction of it, I clicked and treated. I kept reinforcing any action towards the crate and then shaped the behavior towards entering the crate by choosing to click for actions that were directed towards the door of the crate. Eventually the dog stuck his nose inside the crate. Jackpot. This learning process was cut into several shorter training sessions. Once I had shaped the dog to go completely inside the crate, I started to feed him there and reinforced staying there. I added door. I added closing the door and feeding through it. I walked around the crate while the dog was inside. I added cue for entering and exiting. I even simulated lifting the dog into and out of a crate that was off the ground (as if in a car but since I don't have one I placed it onto my sofa).

Only later was I told this dog used to hate his crate. I noticed nothing during the training. I heard he used his crate without problems when he moved to his new owners.

I use food rewards from different sources. Ready treats bought from a store, meatballs, dog's own kibble, or dried whatever pieces of whatever animal (like dried fish, dried chicken, dried liver and so).

 

Hi! thank you for your reply!
Can I ask if when a stray dog is trapped and you plan to trap another stray dog will others stray dogs be smart enough to avoid the trap in the same location. since there used to be a dog trapped there before?

 

Are you attempting to trap one specific dog or more than one?

 

I am going to trap 3-5 dogs,

the trap that i will design is connected to a cage where trapped dogs will be transferred and stored for about 3-5 days.

My current idea is to connect a cage (capacity of 3-5 dogs) to the trap. This is supposed to be a stand alone product meaning there will be no human supervision or human intervention during the catching.

do you have any suggestions or comments on the idea?

 

So....the dogs are going to be together...? How is that supposed to work?

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I have seen dogs trapped together in cages before. I just used that idea to put them together. An i have joined an animal catching team to observe, they place stray animals together in one cage (capacity of 6-8 dogs).

 

So what happens when the 3 to 5 dogs you catch and contain in one cage unattended for 3 to 5 days get into a fight and rip themselves to bits?

I still do not understand WHY you need to do this. Please explain and I am sure the forum members will help you.

Do you live in a rural area with many problem strays? Why do YOU need to catch them. What happens after 3 to 5 days?

Help us help you.

 

Oh sorry if I'm confusing the forum members.

I'm trying to help the animal catchers here in our area. the cage should help them catch stray animals easier, since they also have to catch stray animals in other places. so i will test this in one area and see if it will work. after the 3-5 days of catching, animal catchers to take the caught dogs and transport them to the pound.

I am catching stray dogs because i want to lessen rabies in our area. for now there are only small number of rabid dogs, but it could spread. Because there are a lot of animal bite cases here. and stray animals are not vaccinated nor fed well.

So the trap plus cage will be a shelter for them for a few days. Where there will be enough water and food.

 

I don't think it is a good idea to have more than 1 dog in 1 cage, as TWadeJ mentioned they might get into a fight. There is an even bigger chanche of a fight when there is food (the dogs are probably very hungry).
Another problem is if you catch one dog that doesn't have rabies and then another that does. Than you will have 2 dogs with rabies.

I sugest 1 cage for 1 dog

And I like the fact that you are planning on helping the poor dogs [emoji3]

Sorry for all my grammar/spelling mistakes

 

thank you for your replies! I'll try to come up with a better solution for this cage issue

 

So are you looking as this as a potential business opportunity? For profit? Regardless, you will have to ensure the animals' safety for any periods in captivity.

 

For trapping you should be checking the traps daily, while there simply transport any caught dogs to the dog shelter.

Dogs need to be fed, watered, and the kennel cleaned out daily. Your idea of leaving the dogs in a small cage at the capture sight is going to be highly unsanitary as the dog will be forced to live in there own urine, and feces for the duration of their stay in the cage.

If you go with the cage idea for that many dogs the cage would have to be HUGE, it would have to be large enough for the dogs to be able to avoid stepping in their feces and urine, along with being large enough to have shelter for the dogs. You would also have to fit containers in it that would be large enough to hold the necessary amount of water for them to drink. The cage will have to be a secure one, most likely have welded shut corners and a welded on top, along with a wire bottom. Dogs are very strong and very smart, they will climb out, and they will dig out, and they are capable of taking any loose seam and pushing at it till it is bowed out enough for them to slip though.

Even if you manage to accomplish having an appropriate cage, you still have to worry about fights breaking out, some dogs will fight to the death, and you have to worry about disease transfer from dog to dog, things like rabies, parvo, distemper, and kennel cough are highly contagious.

The other thing about trapping is that dogs are smart, once you catch one or two dogs the rest of them usually learn to avoid the trap unless they are starving and hunger wins out over caution.

 

I agree with others. I would set separate traps which each catch one dog at a time. The traps must be checked daily!

If there is already one dog in a trap, it has likely eaten all of the bait already or guarding its loot so no other dogs are interested in entering the trap any more.

I'd also worry about ignorant people sabotaging the traps or releasing already caught dogs.

And even if you put, say, three dogs into the smallest box they fit without suffocating, the cage will still be too big to transport in most cars, if the dogs aren't tiny like chis or yorkies and I guess most strays would be around collie or GSD size. My Alva alone is a bit too big for a crate which is 90 x 69 x 69 cm (as the dog should be able to stand and turn around inside) and it would take two men (or a machine designed to lift such containers) and a van to transport the whole package. Of course you could put two collies into a such crate but it would mean putting one of them there by force while avoiding the escape of the one already trapped there and risking fights if they don't like each other or that narrow space.

Where are you? Are there campaigns to stop spreading stray dogs? Educating people, sterilization and vaccination clinics, low-cost vet appointments for poor people, vaccination baits, and so on. Just catching the dogs might not be the only way to help.

I read about Pro Animals Romania's work (they work with an association which delivers homeless dogs to Finland where I live and which is why I've heard of them, and much of their work is fighting stray dog problems in Romania) and it's scary. Like fighting a giant. More dogs from every hole and hide, uncooperating authorities, problematic finances, killing and inhumane handling of animals... I wouldn't have gut to do that job. But beside rescuing the dogs they try to educate people and arrange sterilisation projects so that there would be less dogs capable of having puppies. They collect money for their shelter and lobby in the EU to gain awareness.

 

hi! i want to thank you for all the suggestions and ideas, it really helped me in designing the dog trap

I made my design for individual trapping (1 dog= 1 cage) since rabies could really spread if i were to make it for more than 1 dog

as for the luring of stray dogs... i wanted to ask other than food, i need to have a luring scent (spray type i will place this in a automated timed spray dispenser) cause food scent after a few hours the scent will be gone unlike if people wear perfumes the smell lasts longer. so i wanted to put the scent in the air so it will reach dogs who are more far away

does anyone know a specific scented product for luring?

 

I am concerned for the dogs themselves. Why would they have to wait in a cage for multiple days? Would anyone be checking in on them? Feeding them or giving them water? Trapping them and then withholding food and water for multiple days is cruel.

I would really not suggest caging multiple dogs in one, as others have said if one has rabies and there are three dogs in a cage together and they fight, now three dogs have rabies.

Putting multiple random hungry scared stressed animals in a cage together is asking for them to fight with each other, especially if they're stuck there for 48-72 hours.

What will become of the dogs that are trapped? Where will they go? And if you dont mind me asking what country are you in? I assume not America as we don't have a rabies outbreak and they are quite rare here. I imagine if there were rabid stray dogs running around it would be quite the news story.

EDIT: I hadn't read to page two, however I'm still unclear on whether the animals will be checked in on? I've never heard of a luring scent before or a product of any sorts. That's quite a complex trap you're attempting to build!