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 :)
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.
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