On keeping dogs outside

peasant

I might have created some confusion and/or the impression that it is cruel to keep dogs outside.

That is not the case, it is perfectly alright to keep a dog outside ...under the following provisions:

- The dog can come inside if it wants to, it is not excluded / locked out
- The dog has access to a proper shelter ...not a hutch ...but a small shed or outbuilding where it is protected from sun, cold and rain
- The dog has plenty of interaction with its family (all members of it, including other dogs if around)
- The dog is not left on its own for longer than say 4-5 hours and trained to do so gradually
- The outside area is sufficiently fenced in to prevent the dog from wandering of
- The outside area is sufficiently secure to prevent other dogs from entering (and possible thieves as well, if feasible)
- Fresh water (and food, depending on the routine) are provided outside as well
- and most importantly ...the dog is ok with it. Some dogs love being outside ...other just are so clingy, they will never stay on their own and will only panik when forced to do so.

Sigma Force

Off topic a bit, people keep rabbits and guinea pigs outside and noone seems to have anything to say about that. Usually with inadequate shelter too.

Hagar

Our neighbours fecked off for the week-end and left their boxer in the back garden. They left plenty of food and water but I still think it was a bit much. The poor thing barked every time anyone went out the back. We would have walked it etc if they had asked. A few of the other neighbours were getting annoyed about it too. The poor dog got upset when it got dark and it realised it wasn't being brought in for the night. I'm going to go down to them when they come in this evening. It's just not right.

peasant

Hagar

What did your neighbours have to say about it?

Hagar

They're not home yet and it's almost 9:30pm. (Here in France)

peasant

Hmmm ...

I bet by now you must be sorly tempted to just give that poor thing a lift over the wall / fence into your own living room ...

Hagar

He's a bit of a handful to lift but we did throw him in a few tid-bits after dinner. I want him to get used to us anyway. At least that way he won't keep barking everytime we go outside.

legend99

Our next door neighbour keeps 2 dogs in the back all the time. if we open a window theres 20 min of barking, if we open the sliding door they bounce off the fence. Our back garden is basically unusable. Anything we can do about it?

SuzyS1972

Yes you can - barking is covered under noise nuisance and you can complain to your local council

See
www.oasis.gov.ie

there is all the info there about the procedure and your rights

peasant

...or ...in case your neighbours are basically nice people and you'd like to have good relations with them and avoid aggro from the dog warden ..you could:

- talk to them and ask them to keep the dogs inside more

- or even better, co-operate with them and help them train their dogs better.
Basically what's happening is that all that the dogs can see (whether they can actually get there or not) they regard as "their" territory. So any "intrusion" into their terrritory has to be suitably announced and "defended".

This mustn't necessarily be the case. With a bit of coordinated effort, you and your neighbours could train the dogs to accept that you are part of their territory and not to be "defended" against. To achieve that, the dogs have to be introduced to you and get used to you. Their owner has to make it clear to them that you and yours "belong there" and then train them not to bark at you every time they see you ...the have to accept you as normal.
Can be done ...but needs a few days / weeks of concentrated effort.

Another thing that would help is to block their view a bit more (plants / railings) but they still might go mad at the sounds.

legend99

They are behind a 6 foot wall/fence so they can't see. they bark at the slightest sound....hence they bark at the noise of a window opening. They have meet me a good fewe times out the front, in fact they tend to run in our front door if I am on my way out and they are in the front. I have also I'd say thrown in about 20 euros of ham slices ot them at this stage standing up on a chair so they can see my face over the wall. All to no avail. They are by themselves all days, some nights and my guess is that they are going insane because of boredom, they are alone for at least half the hours of the week, they have to sleep in a dog house outside, and they get brought out from the back maybe once a week or fortnight.....would that cause a trigger in them to be barking all the time??

peasant

It most certainly would.

Basically they're bored out of their tree, untrained and unsupervised.

So what else can they do but find their own distractions / amusement ...in your case barking at everything.

In that situation the training / good neighbour approch won't work, because nobody is actually there to train / control / supervise the dogs (or even give a ****, for that matter)

That is totally inadequate dog care and your neighbour needs a stern talking to ...either by you or the dog warden.

Hopefully they will re-arrange things to take better care of the dogs, but more likely nothing will change or the dogs will suddenly "dissapear" to God knows where (most likely the pound and then Nirvana :mad: )

So, as you seem to quite like those dogs (apart from their barking) you're damned if you do and damned if you don't do something about the situation.

****ty situation to be in ...but unfortunately quite common in Irelands estates of today.

Keep us informed of developments.

Hagar

Had a chat with the neighbour today. I kept it nice and friendly, I had to be careful not to cause offence as my French is not fluent and he speaks no English. We have to live together after all. He was a bit embarassed by the whole incident but I think he was more thoughtless than cruel. We have offered to look after his dog if he's stuck and he offered to do the same. All in all that's about as good as I could have expected in the circumstances.

peasant

We have offered to look after his dog if he's stuck and he offered to do the same. All in all that's about as good as I could have expected in the circumstances

Hagar, that sounds positive. And the dogs might even become to be buddies

Irish-Lass

Hagar sounds great, we have someone who lives around the corner from us and we came back from our holidays yesterday and they had our dog for the week and when they were getting married, honeymoond etc we took there 2 dogs.....the 3 dogs get on great together and they keep each other entertained and works our great......so well in fact think our one is a little depressed today withour her boyfriend :rolleyes:

the_syco

legend99 wrote:

They are by themselves all days, some nights and my guess is that they are going insane because of boredom

Thow them a big sqeaky ball. Squeak it a few times (when they can see it), and throw it in. When my dog (Holly) gets bored (small westhighland terrier), she ammuses herself with one of the sqeaky toys, or tries to kill one of the garden gloves (westhighland terrier are ratters, so I think she thinks the glove is a rat). This should keep them amused. Holly barks when she wants to go outside tho.