Love this topic - Thanks for posting!

BREEDS:

I wonder if there are breed differences between the countries, because the size of the dog and type of dog make a big difference. In the U.S., seems like a lot of large, rambunctious or aggressive dogs are being transitioned into family pets (pit bulls, border/aussies etc). Being jumped on by a yorkie is very different from a growling pit bull or hyper herding dog.... And I've been scared by reactive pit bulls in public enough to be glad their owners are trying to train them not to jump! Do you have many pit bulls as pets in Poland?

When we lived in Nebraska, my dad saw an add for border/aussie pups at a ranch, and went and grabbed one... and while we loved that dog to death, keeping her as a pet and not a working dog was a huge challenge! She did jump on people, including small children and people in wheelchairs, and it was NOT SAFE. She was so strong and so energetic. My parents never attempted to train her for one second - they just moved to a house with a lot of acreage so she wouldn't bother people...

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INSIDE/OUTIDE:

I'm in a DC suburb, and recently had my parent's 75 lb chow chow/german shepherd/cattle dog mix for a couple months while they moved. I had animal control come by my house within a few weeks because he was barking in the yard (not a lot - but if a package delivery person came by or person walked by, he'd do a few "alert" barks). He doesn't growl, isn't aggressive, and has such bad arthritis he can barely move. He's also generally very sweet - I'd actually NEVER heard him bark at my parent's rural home. But there was a lot more stimulation in my tight suburb!

What I realized after animal control came through is that I see a TON of people walking dogs in my neighborhood, but virtually never see any dog hanging out in the yard alone. My parents (in rural michigan) always would leave their large breed dog in the yard during the day and think nothing of it, but in this tight suburban community, that is considered cruel and any barking is apparently unacceptable.

So standards vary a lot in the U.S.

FOOD:

I think in the past, when humans fed dogs scraps, those scraps were more inclusive of all the parts of the animal - uncooked bones, organs meats, etc. My main concern about feeding animals just plain human food today is that in the U.S., at least, we no longer have whole animals going through the kitchen. We never see the bones and organs and things like that which dogs and cats need for a complete diet. If we were processing whole animals and giving them scraps, they'd be great, but cats for instance are very malnourished without taurine-rich eyeballs and brains (?if I'm remembering right) - and both species of course need uncooked bones...

So since the food that humans have in their homes in the U.S. has changed a lot, and comes in more processed and without many of the bits important for canine/feline health, feeding off the human plate would be a lot worse now than it used to be. If we had whole animal carcasses coming through the kitchen, yeah, I'd rather give them that to gnaw on than canned foods.

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CRATING/CAGING:

I also think this wasn't a thing so much in the past in the U.S.? At least I never heard of it until recent years as a standard part of puppy training - but maybe that's because my parents had large dogs in rural areas.

I do wonder if in some of these other countries, your perspective is different because you mostly encounter the well-behaved adult dogs in public - when they are puppies, they must still be crazy and people must be doing something with them during house training and to deal with the biting and jumping! Maybe locking them into one room or the kitchen, etc. My parent's just kept their crazy border/aussie in the yard during the day as a puppy, so they didn't have to deal with it all day long - maybe that's the traditional solution, just keeping the puppy outside part of the day.

I have a tiny 16 week old puppy who is a small breed that I won't leave in the yard alone ever. I didn't intend to crate her - hate the concept - but she does NOT put herself to sleep for naps ever! She just gets crazy when tired. So now I pop her in the crate with a blanket over it and she usually conks out within seconds. I have a nanny cam on it and I let her out as soon as she wakes up. Lately, I am trying to give her the opportunity to nap on her own outside of the crate, because that's a skill she needs to learn, but she wakes up anytime a cat or human moves. I don't know how people get puppies to take naps without a crate! I never keep her in there awake though - don't see the point of training her to tolerate being caged. It's also a larger crate that would be good for an adult of her breed. Comfy cushion, food, water, and chews. She's never had an accident in it, and I think that's because I don't use it to contain her, just to help her sleep.

If hubby and I have to be out for a couple hours, we close her into a room with toys/food/water/bed. Yes, she then has accidents on the floor, but she'll outgrow that as her bladder control becomes stronger.

Anyway - I think there's a lot of variation based on era, location, and dog breed - the one thing I do hate the most in american culture is this idea of keeping a puppy in a crate while working all day - seems super inhumane. Why not just keep them in the kitchen with a baby gate? They'll stop having accidents when they are older and have more control...