Opinion on dog sleeping outside.

bionic.laura

First post here. Me and my other half have a new dog. We'd been hoping to adopt a dog for a long time and the perfect guy came up in the Meath pound. He's called Westley and he's a lovely terrier cross with some collie. He's a nice quiet dog but he has his spots of madness when playing in the garden!

He's currently sleeping on a dog bed in the corner of the kitchen. There isn't really another room in the house that he can sleep in at the moment. My Dad is building an insulated dog house with felt so it'll be dry and warm. This will be great for him to shelter in if we have to go away and leave him outside. The question I have is can he sleep there too? I've read all sorts of bad things about keeping your dog outside. I know the rescue places aren't keen on it at all. The thing is he'll be in and out with me all day. He'll just be sleeping outside. At the moment he seems to get disturbed by us walking into the kitchen when he's asleep cos he gets up to check out what we're doing.

Thanks for any replies guys.

hadook

bionic.laura wrote: »

At the moment he seems to get disturbed by us walking into the kitchen when he's asleep cos he gets up to check out what we're doing.

Settling into a routine will fix that so I wouldn't choose that as a reason to have him sleep outside.

When I first started working from home some days my dogs would be up and down like a yoyo if I even looked like I might be stirring. Since they've gotten used to the idea it'd take a bomb going off to move them. Today alone I've stepped over them about 8 times on the way from the sitting room to the kitchen (more trouble than it sounds - one of them is a Dane) and they haven't stirred once.

~Thalia~

My dog sleeps in her crate in my bedroom and I wouldn;t have it any other way but it doesn't suit everybody to have dogs sleep indoors.
If he is happy in the kitchen and you don't have a big problem leaving him there then I'd say leave him in. But once he has warm dry shelter outside this should be fine for him too.

Prisoner6409

It really depends on your situation but if your back garden is big enough a dog should really be kept outside especially if there is nobody at home during the day. A dog will get used to the situation and when he is settled in wherever you have settled him, in the shed or in a kenel he will be just as happy as long as he gets plenty of interaction with the family, including excerise.

bionic.laura

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to have him sleep outside at night. He sometimes seems too warm in the kitchen, lying on the tiles instead of the dog bed.
He gets loads of exercise as we're both into our walking. Two walks a day at least. I'm there during the day so he certainly won't be outside or on his own all the time.

January

My dog sleeps in the kitchen, the only time he gets up off his bed is it it's morning or to get a drink!

He used to get up and follow me everywhere if I went into the kitchen at night, but not anymore!

Killme00

bionic.laura wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to have him sleep outside at night. He sometimes seems too warm in the kitchen, lying on the tiles instead of the dog bed.
He gets loads of exercise as we're both into our walking. Two walks a day at least. I'm there during the day so he certainly won't be outside or on his own all the time.

My two sleep out the back and i have never had any problems. I do however take them in and let them sleep in the utility room on night which i deem to be too cold for them although im not sure they mind the cold too much. I took them in on saturday night because it was suppoed to hit -4 that night.

SuzyS1972

I think it's too cold and dont understand putting them out the back at night-time. Kennell sounds great for during the day though - I'd leave him be in the kitchen.
Collie terrier x sounds like a live wire alright .

kraggy

bionic.laura wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to have him sleep outside at night. He sometimes seems too warm in the kitchen, lying on the tiles instead of the dog bed.
He gets loads of exercise as we're both into our walking. Two walks a day at least. I'm there during the day so he certainly won't be outside or on his own all the time.

Personally, there's NO WAY I'd put my dog outside in winter. Sometimes we get sub-zero temperatures in this country. It's just wrong.

Killme00

kraggy wrote: »

Personally, there's NO WAY I'd put my dog outside in winter. Sometimes we get sub-zero temperatures in this country. It's just wrong.

Its not they are being left to fend for themselves against the cold winter. They have a large insulated kennel with their bed and warm dry blankets inside. The entrance to the kennel is also facing the house and not exposed to the elements.

bionic.laura

Personally, there's NO WAY I'd put my dog outside in winter. Sometimes we get sub-zero temperatures in this country. It's just wrong.

It's not like I'd be leaving him out to sleep on the concrete!
Of course if it's very cold he'll be inside though our kitchen is probably not as warm as the super dog house my Dad is building It's some special wood which will then be insulated with felt and with a carpet on the floor. There will also be a dog bed and shredded paper or hay. The house will be put at the very high wall which blocks the wind into the garden.
He is a very very wooly dog as well so he doesn't seem to mind cold. I'll see where he prefers to hang out when we get the kennel. I think you're right, when he settles in more he won't get up every time we come in the kitchen.

lg123

the dog house will be perfect, when i was younger our dogs slept in the shed at night and it never done them a bit of harm.

KatCookie

Our farm dogs sleep indoors and our trained house dog is put into her shed (its like a garden shed type thing) and she doesnt seem to mind going outside, the odd time we'd let her in to the utility room if we thought she was sick or we were too cold to bring her out

iguana

My parents' dogs always sleep outside. I initially planned to have my dogs sleep outside and they did for the first few months. But we had horrible neighbours whose kids used to torment the dogs, so we decided to sleep them in the house. We've now moved, but I think putting the dogs out to sleep after over a year sleeping inside would confuse them too much. But if we'd never had problems with out neighbours mine would sleep outside.

Unless you have specific breeds which aren't suited to outdoor living, like a KC spaniel, there is no problem with bedding them outside in a warm dry kennel/outbuilding.

doctor evil

OP make sure the dog house is at least three inches off the ground to avoid damp/frost.

helimachoptor

My dog, GSD sleeps outside most of the time in a nice heated shed :D
but I do bring him in when I know its cold, he's been in the house since friday night but was out last night.

ecaf

Dogs are animals, and have fur coats, besides the exceptions that someone has already mentioned (KC Spaniel, Yorkshire Terrier, etc), all dogs should be able to sleep outside - given proper shelter and bedding.
Our two dogs sleep outside all the time, they are warm and cosy in their kennel, and some mornings you'd have to call them to come out for breakfast, which is unusual because they are hungry pigs (eat everything around them).

If you want to keep them in, I don't have a problem with that, but there is no reason that they cannot stay outside if there is a lovely cosy kennel and bed as you have described.

IvySlayer

My dog was spoiled and slept on the end of my bed!

I didn't like having the thought of her being outside.

BanzaiBk

We have 4 westies and a cairn who sleep both outside and inside. During the summer months or hotter nights one or more of them simply refuse to sleep inside and will cry to go outside into their kennel. Heat wise, they are probably too hot in the house. We have an insulated kennel raised up 6 inches with blankets etc. They haven't wanted to sleep outside though in a long long time

kazza23

It depends on the dog and what they're used to I guess. My 2 sleep indoors. Both were sick or injured when I got them so I never even considered the option of them sleeping outside. There's no reason why a dog couldn't sleep outside, providing they have somewhere warm and sheltered to sleep. I've heard of rescues refusing to rehome big dogs such as German Shepherds to people who are thinking of letting them sleep outside. As long as the home is otherwise great, and the dog gets plenty of interaction and exercise during the day, and is happy to sleep outside, then personally I don't see the problem with it. And surely a home where the dog is well fed, well exercised, pottering in and out of the house during the day and receiving lots of interaction, but the dog sleeps outside at night, is preferable to no home at all?

From a security point of view, as well as comfort point of view, I prefer to have my 2 dogs indoors though.

ShoulderChip

Know that I have your attention,
is it true that Dog's are not just for Christmas,

I keep hearing that, what does it mean, is there any truth in it?
Or is it a religious thing?