Wolfie: What's your opinion on keeping your dog outside?
I personally don't have any problems with it as long as the dog is properly fed, exercised, sheltered, and given enough attention. Many dogs live outside fairly happily, for example, many working dogs live outside such as livestock guarding dogs. If you were a dog such as an Anatolian Shepherd or Caucasian Ovcharka would you care if you were inside or outside?
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Answers and Views:
Answer by More Bored Collie
I also don't have a problem with it as long as the dogs are properly cared for.
I fail to see the point in getting a dog if you're going to keep it outside all of the time – unless for reasons such as guarding, herding, working, etc. but as long as the dog is cared for, then I see no problems.
Personally, I prefer my dogs to be indoor dogs. They are companions to me and do a better job of being companions indoors than they do outdoors.
Answer by Phyllis
Dogs have been living outdoors since the beginning of creation. That’s why they have fur. They are dogs, not people. They need room to run free instead of being trapped inside a house or apartment. Would you keep a horse in your house? Of course not! I’m an animal lover but honestly, some people are more concerned about their pets than other human beings. There are millions of people (including children) who don’t have adequate food or housing yet based on peoples’ actions they would rather pamper their dogs than donate money or do something constructive to help less fortunate people. Get a grip people…. dogs are not a substitute for people.
Answer by New Year's Bass
There is a difference between dogs that live and work outside and dogs that are simply kept in the backyard.
Working dogs have something to do, they use their bodies and minds and have full lives.
Yard dogs *as a rule,* simply sit there all day, with nothing to do. It is extremely rare that the owners give them sufficient attention, so they are bored and lonely. Since they don't get as much interaction, it also takes longer for the owners to notice if they have health issues.
And there is the fact that living outside IS harder on the system. I once took in an 11-year-old foster who was an outside dog. I didn't bother to place her, due to her age, the fact that she wasn't housebroken, and the fact that she looked like she was on her last legs. I didn't figure she'd last more than a few months. But once she started living indoors, she started to improve healthwise, her joints felt better, her mobility increased and her attitude improved. I ended up having her a year and a half. Who knows how long she might have lived if she'd been cared for properly in the first place?
Answer by lovinghomeandaway
We have a labrador and he is fully grown and outside is the right place for dogs!! they are dogs! yes, I love them, but it's their place!! but I KINDA at a pinch understand if they are little dogs but I just think that we are living in 2 different worlds and should have 2 different environments!
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Answer by Sarah
A working dog, to me that means a dog that is out with its owner every day doing what it's been trained to do. I'm so fed up with people saying that its ok to leave a working dog outside! But their dog may be exercised as a working dog at the weekend. This is cruel. Yes, it is also cruel to do the same to an indoor dog. Exercise and stimulation is the key to a happy, healthy content dog. These are pack animals and need a pack leader.
I understand that some dogs need to protect the farm animals. My grandparents' dogs did just this but they were out as much as they were in! Get over it you people that say your dog is a working dog. All dogs are in a way, just depends on what you want them to do. My dog lives as part of my family, he's loved and cherished, sleeps in my bed sometimes and he still manages to do his job, which is to keep me company, protect our home and keep me smiling. My dog's sister works as a gun dog on a daily basis and she is treated the same as my dog. Indoors, spoilt and loved :)
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Answer by Katie
I don't like it in the wintertime or when it's too hot in the middle of summer. Basically I think that if I'd be comfortable out there for an extended amount of time the dogs will be ok. I never leave them out overnight, only for a few hours. They have a large pen with walls, a roof, and a carpeted wooden floor, with a dog house inside it and a place to go potty. As long as a dog is protected from the elements and not just ignored outside I guess it's ok.
Answer by ceejay24
My answer to this question depends entirely on the circumstances.
Dogs that are kept as pets should be kept inside, "yard dogs" are bored out of their minds sitting in someone's backyard, usually barking on and off all day annoying the neighbors. These dogs are often neglected by their owners.
Some types of working dogs however, that receive proper exercise and attention do much better outdoors than indoors. For example, a good friend of mine owns a German Shorthaired Pointer who hunts nearly year-round with him and gets about 4 hours of exercise a day. In the warm weather she sleeps outside in her run and in the colder months she sleeps in the basement. If he tries to keep her in the house she whines at the door to get out. She obviously knows what she prefers!
Answer by Ava Girl * has pure
I have no problem with it, working dog or otherwise, as long as the dog gets the proper exercise & care.
I've known "pet dogs" who live outdoors & have wonderful lives & owners who give them upstanding care.
Outside dogs can get just as much attention as dogs kept indoors, they can still be trained, played with, taken for walks or runs, socialized, etc.
Of course, common sense is needed. I wouldn't keep an outdoor greyhound in Alaska.
Personally, I think people who keep dogs indoors all day and never exercise them are worse.
Know better? Give your own answer to this question!
Tess is my BC! &hear says
I, personally, don't have a problem with it.
My dad owns his own skip business & had 2 German Shepherd as guard dogs, Sam & Becket. Sadly, though, Becket had to be put to sleep a few weeks ago.
Sam lives in a sheltered kennel with plenty water and gets fed everyday. He gets let out at 5-6pm everynight until the next morning (with his kennel open so he can go inside), there are always a bed in his kennel and, if need be, it can be heated. He is locked in his kennel (with a little run) during the day for his own safety. There is a lot of machinery and a lot of lorries driving around, Sam could easily get ran over during the day there. My dads old guard dog, Skip, got chained (a long chain that came to no harm to Skip physically) during the day so he could run around a little but one of the lorry drivers didn't see Skip one day, ran over the chain and broke Skips neck…
My dad provides everything for Sam. Cruel? i think not. If, Sam was in danger then he would bring him out of that potential danger. Once there were "gypsys" parked next to the business, there are a lot of things that they can steal from the yard, it being a skip business and all. My dad knew they would try and trap/capture/kill the dogs just to get in the yard to steal whatever they wanted, so he hired a security guard for 2 weeks (until they had moved onto their next destination) to make sure no one could get in while the dogs were kept in the kennels (getting as much exercise as possible).
As long as the dog has adequate shelter, gets exercise with human interaction, plenty food and plenty water, what's the problem? Also, i always prefer if there are 2 dogs rather than just one outside.
Cherie says
One of my neighbours has a dog, he is a border collie and he is not a working dog he is a family pet. I asked the owner why he is kept in the garden? his reply is, he's a dog. The dog sleeps in a kennel with a load of hay and a load of toys, the owners are at work all day and never really see the dog. It was snowing here all last week and was sooo cold and it was still in the garden. Border collies are so friendly and love to around people and should be in the house with the family.
However if it is a guard dog or a working one and is being treated with great care, I don't mind.
Althea Rose says
It depends.
I grew up on a farm where all our dogs were outside dogs. They had a warm place to sleep in our heathouse next to the wood burner and never went without fresh water or food. They spent their days watching over my dad's livestock and us kids and didn't like it if we tried to bring them inside.
Then there are people like the guy who was recently arrested in the town nearby. He had a pit bull chained to a poorly insulated doghouse out in his back yard and allowed the dog to freeze to death because he assumed that simply because the dog had fur meant it could withstand freezing temps.
So my opinion varies according to circumstances.
Kitsune Starr ~BSL I says
As long as the dogs have proper shelter, food, water, and a means to prevent escaping, I have no problem with it. Sometimes my dogs prefer to spend hours outside, so I have a doghouse properly built for them to share.
Jeññi says
My opinion is that there is nothing wrong with it.. yes i could get into the whole point about how it is ok if they are getting shelter, attention, food etc but anyone with half a brain and an ounce of common sense should be able to figure that out without it being explained.
The Anatolian that Tessa speaks of.. it would get aggressive towards people, so how in the world did you come up with the conclusion that it would have been happier with people??
Perhaps it saw the people as a source of food or when it ran away, it wasn't possible to go anywhere where there wasn't people! They are sent to live with livestock as young puppies because they are not supposed to bond and imprint on people, but on the herds they are to protect. This alone is a reason why they do not make house pets.
I cannot understand how a working dog (not working breed), an actual dog who has been working the majority of it's life can be shifted into pet status and people think that is ok..
There is a border collie rescue in the UK and whenever they take in a new dog, it is evaluated and tested to see if it would make a good sheepdog. ONLY when it has been proven that they dog is not capable of being a sheepdog is it put up for 'adoption' by pet homes.
Many breeders still go by the saying, 'no sheep, no collie' Not.. 'no warm fire, no dog'.
I have an outside dog who is brought in at night due to the weather and a few other reasons. He had to be kept in during Christmas for the majority of the time for a few days. It was icy outside and he doesn't have the insulation to cope. He was still getting the exercise he always got, however he was not happy at all and sat at the door and whined to get back outside many, many times.
I am curious though.. how is a LGD meant to protect a herd if it is brought inside at night, when the majority of predators are active? He will be laying by the fire while a wolf has its way with your sheep….
Jenner says
i dont have a problem with it so long as they are properly taken care of. it helps them know their place in the family. however i think it also depends on the dog. a big boisterous dog that has been bred for farm wrk etc is probably better outside however a small lap dog like a maltese would probably be happier being allowed inside. i dont know, i dont think there is a right of wrong, so long as the dog is being properly looked after.