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Making an inside dog an outside dog *can be locked*
ChillyWilly
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I know I posted something about a dog a few weeks ago and it didn't go well, but I have learned my lesson. I would appreciate any help on the following situation.
My wife and I recently moved into a new house with a big backyard. We have an Australian Shepherd puppy who is roughly 4 1/2 months old. We got him when he was 8 weeks old and he was living on a farm before that, so he's actually much more comfortable outside.
We've had him as an inside dog for the past two months, but we know that he would be happier outside and running around than cooped up inside our house, which has a lot of linoleum and hardwood floors. We neither want him scratching those up or trying to run around and play, only to slide all over the place and fall down. Seems a bit mean. Every time I take him outside to use the bathroom, he runs all over the place and generally has a much better time.
Background: We will be getting a 6 foot privacy fence around the yard pretty soon, so I'm not worried about strays or other animals bothering him. We wouldn't have him on a line of any kind. We would get him a dry place to sleep and would obviously keep him well fed.
Considering that he will be protected by a fence, have plenty of room to run around and will have a good place to lay his head, are there any safety concerns to putting what amounts to a puppy outside? I want him to be happy because I know he doesn't like it in the house very much, but I also don't want him to hurt himself. And since I didn't know any of the safety concerns with ropes and run lines the last time I posted, I figured I would ask you fine folks for your opinion on how to handle this.
EDIT: We'd probably bring him back inside during the night and/or during bad weather.
EDIT 2: Also, what are your view on kennels? These seem pretty nice.
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wQSqM5IsLfo
My wife and I recently moved into a new house with a big backyard. We have an Australian Shepherd puppy who is roughly 4 1/2 months old. We got him when he was 8 weeks old and he was living on a farm before that, so he's actually much more comfortable outside.
We've had him as an inside dog for the past two months, but we know that he would be happier outside and running around than cooped up inside our house, which has a lot of linoleum and hardwood floors. We neither want him scratching those up or trying to run around and play, only to slide all over the place and fall down. Seems a bit mean. Every time I take him outside to use the bathroom, he runs all over the place and generally has a much better time.
Background: We will be getting a 6 foot privacy fence around the yard pretty soon, so I'm not worried about strays or other animals bothering him. We wouldn't have him on a line of any kind. We would get him a dry place to sleep and would obviously keep him well fed.
Considering that he will be protected by a fence, have plenty of room to run around and will have a good place to lay his head, are there any safety concerns to putting what amounts to a puppy outside? I want him to be happy because I know he doesn't like it in the house very much, but I also don't want him to hurt himself. And since I didn't know any of the safety concerns with ropes and run lines the last time I posted, I figured I would ask you fine folks for your opinion on how to handle this.
EDIT: We'd probably bring him back inside during the night and/or during bad weather.
EDIT 2: Also, what are your view on kennels? These seem pretty nice.
www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wQSqM5IsLfo
PAFC Top 10 Finisher in Seasons 1 and 3. 2nd in Seasons 4 and 5. Final 4 in Season 6.
ChillyWilly on
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Depending on where you live, you may have certain animals to worry about - raccoons, possums, etc. They can get in yards even if they have large fences. Given the size that Shepherds get to, they don't really have to worry about physical danger from the small animals, but more disease if he gets bitten or scratched. You should be keeping up with his vaccines anyway, but if he becomes a mostly outside dog, you'll have to pay attention to him even more, as it's a much less controlled environment, even if it's just your back yard.
He'll need sturdy toys out there to play with, preferably stuff that can stand the weather. Try to keep him away from digging. If he's a digger, you'll need to line the fence with something. I lined my fence with cement blocks after digging attempts and it was fine.
Rope lines and etc are no good. You really don't want to keep your dog chained up outside, unless you have company or something and specifically need him to stay in one place for a short period of time. A kennel would be a better option. The one you posted a link of looks fine. Kennels are also fine, dogs enjoy making small spaces their "den" (part of the reason crate training is so effective) but it's not a place he should stay constantly.
I'm not a fan of leaving my dogs outside overnight. I do baby them a bit, but I want to do what's safest for them. When he's fully grown it's probably pretty safe. Right now, I probably wouldn't do it. General outside living is okay, though, as long as you keep in mind the things I've said.
Right now he's probably around 30 pounds. He's a Shepherd, but we think he might be mixed with Lab or something else rather large...his paws aren't much smaller than my wife's full grown Boxers right now. We estimate his max healthy weight should be around 60-70 pounds, but we're not experts by any means.
We keep up on his vaccines. Both of our dogs got their 7-in-1 less than 2 weeks after we got them. One has been fixed and as soon as the other is mature enough, he will be, too. He'll also get his rabies vaccine before we put him outside and since he's still a puppy, we've been using liquid dewormer on him every 2 weeks. If I'm missing anything here, please let me know.
I strongly suggest you crate train your dog or get an outdoor kennel, and train your dog to use it and like it. Your dog will want some shelter where it can feel safe and secure when outside, so it's not just laying out in the open. You will also want to keep a routine with interacting with your dog, so even though you don't HAVE to walk your dog or take it outside to pee 3 times a day, you should retain that habit so that the dog stays bonded to you as a pack. It will give the dog something to look forward to throughout the day.
The other reason you want to continue training your dog and interacting with it is that if you don't, your dog will develop bad habits like barking at anyone who comes near the fence and running up to it. Dogs do that in order to alert you that something is happening, even if you're not at home.
I will also echo that it's unsafe to leave a dog tethered while unsupervised, because the dog can tangle or otherwise harm itself. I have a corgi that if she has more than 1ft of lead and is left by herself, she ends up all tangled up in it. Also, for both safety and sanity's sake, it's better to have the dog come in during the evening so that it can be around its people. If your dog is loud outside, people will report you, and if your dog is nice outside, your dog may get stolen.
Smart dogs like that can get REALLY destructive when they aren't given stuff to do. inside he may think: ok, master is away: sleepy time. Outside he may be more: ok, this fence is keeping me from the rest of my yard, escape time.
Also, know your neighborhood brats. Children can be cruel when they get bored, and the dog usually gets in trouble for it. Put your ear to the ground and if you have one of these, or think you might, consider taking precautions. Same goes for rat-dog owners who let their aggressive little rodent-devils up to the fence because their little pookieschnookumkins "just wanted to say hi". These things can happen even though a fence, unless it's a fence with no gaps (chain-link, for example, is easy to reach through, shoot BBs through, etc.).
Okay, you may be able to tell that I'm a big-dog person and have been since I was 10. I'm not really against the idea of having your dog outdoors for hours in principle, but one of the things that large-dog owners fail to realize when they take on a bigger dog is that the world is against your animal, and that part of being a responsible pet owner and keeping those dogs safe is knowing both the dog and your environment well enough to know how he will react to whatever comes up. If you know your dog isn't really into kids, you need to vocalize that when some 3-year-old demands to pet the doggie, because your dog can't.
This turned into kind of a rant, and it's heavily biased by the fact that in my years growing up in a (doberman) rescue house I heard just about every story you can imagine where a dog was put to sleep for something that really wasn't its fault. The tl;dr is that if you have a dog who is going to be outside for even a few hours a day unattended, you may need to worry about keeping the dog safe not just from itself, but from the neighborhood. It's just something to be aware of.
Edit: nvm, apparently the distinction is adults over 60lbs are "large" dogs, and the Aussie average is in that neighborhood. I guess I've always been around "smaller" aussies whenever I've seen them and didn't realize their average was higher.
Anyhow, knowing and how your dog will react to others is a huge point that can't be stressed enough. My heeler often gets a bad rap because we don't let him be pet by strangers, so people immediately assume he's mean, and that would be bad in a world where my dog would have to live outside and might bark at passers by.
In addition to this, also watch for the people that don't like dogs. I live off a downtown park with probably close to 400-500 apartment and condo units right next to a leashed park. It's where everyone with dogs takes them for a walk.
One of our friends had a person tease and get in the face of the dog and as a result managed to get it classified as a "risk" and kicked out their apartment. We're also talking about a 35-40 lb dog too, not huge.
That's not everyone but you need to watch out for that 1%. There is also something about a under 5 year old, want to pet our dog for the first time with that goofy nervous but happy smile.
We have a self-closing screen door that we leave open in the summer for the dogs to use. Very handy. In our minds, you think they'd want to be outside all day. In reality, they probably still spend 80% of the time inside where it's more comfortable for them. Of course if WE go outside, that's where they want to be 100% of the time.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
A guy i know's condo complex is taking a vote next week on kicking his dog out of the condo. it's a pit bull, and apparently very well behaved and has never bitten/been aggressive to anyone or anything. since that goddamn court took it upon itself to call all Pit Mixes "inherently dangerous" people are going apeshit.
Also, my dog was also never a digger, except in two spots of my yard, both right by a fence. luckily, she never got through.
And that's still a huge understatement. The people who live above me have one but tell everyone it's a different breed (which it's not) and it's the sweetest dog. They're likely going to get in huge trouble someday when someone calls them on it, which sucks, because it's a great dog and they shouldn't have to lie about it to have it in our apt complex. Blah.
Thanks a ton, everybody.