Some Questions About Dog Ownership

[persephone]

Our working dogs are all outside.

House dogs are inside mostly.

No real 'walks' here- ...

I have had dogs in the city..and done the 2X daily walks rain hail or shine ..up at 5 am to walk etc before work.... never again.I enjoyed it then ..but ....

Now,I much prefer to have the dogs happy to interact as a 'pack'...with me as overseer I like that the dogs aren't fussed when I go anywhere...that their routine is solid without me!

I will never again have a dog to whom I am centre of the universe (unless I have need of an assistance dog one day)

I love having dogs around...and enjoy their company,but do not love being their world

[~Anne~]

Mine would report me to Docs if I tried to walk them in inclement weather...............

[minxy]

Because Kyojin's only a little pup at the moment and we've only had him since Tuesday, he's fully inside at the moment. We need to block off under the house and finish building his kennel before he can go outside for too long. He'll eventually be outside when we're out, but when we're home I'd much rather have him inside spending time with us.

[Rysup]

All our current dogs are outside during the daylight hours, and in kennels after dark. I simply cannot have 8 or 9 dogs in the house with a fussy OH and a kid who does not like dogs to touch him.

When I have a Lhasa in show coat, they are inside all the time except for toilet breaks, but they are confined to a room or a pen.

Only one of the dogs gets walked regularly, the rest are more than happy to self exercise.

[spottychick]

One of my dogs wont walk in the rain otherwise they get walked in all weather unless it's really fierce.

[noisymina]

Just some general questions about doggy things.

I personally do not understand the point of having an outside only dog.

I've also never had a dog that didn't need to be walked at least once a day (inc a SWF)

I couldn't get away with not walking my dog due to bad weather. This morning we were the only ones out (it was raining) but we both had a great time!

edited to add more options

Aussielover

My dog does NOT need to be "walked" at all.

She has five acres to zoomies on whenever we are out there - and when we are not.

She is predominently an outside dog. What sort of deterrant is she if she is locked inside? Defeats her purpose.

Good on you for asking. I cannot complete your survey because there are no options to fit the situation here. Hopefully you will realise there are lots of different roles played by dogs, different reasons people own them and the way the dogs "needs" are met, and dogs that have different needs to be met!. These all can be quite different to what you yourself have experienced.

If I answered your survey and said my dog was outside all the time (whcih she is not, but that would be the closest match) and that I never walked her, I would, according to your judgement, be a very bad owner. Which, of cousre. I am not.

[Parkeyre]

Where does my dog live?

- my dogs live inside full time, only being let outside for wees and zoomies.

How often do I walk my dog?

- Once every few days. Walking (as in on leash) isn't a daily thing

but they are physically and mentally stimulated off leash.

Do I walk my dog Rain, Hail or Shine?

- No. They can be stimulated inside, or can use the treadmill if needed.

[Cosmolo]

I have 5 dogs and they are all inside dogs for the most part, particularly 2 of them who can't be outside for periods when we aren't home as one has allergies that go nuts if she is on the grass too long and the other has HD and ED which means he shouldn't play and run for too long!

They don't get many formal walks as such but they come to lots of places, do lots of little training sessions etc. They are all a bit different with what they like so we cater to that too. They hate going out in awful weather and so do i so we might do something else or they might just spend the day with us lying on the couch.

[aussielover]

Just some general questions about doggy things.

I personally do not understand the point of having an outside only dog.

I've also never had a dog that didn't need to be walked at least once a day (inc a SWF)

I couldn't get away with not walking my dog due to bad weather. This morning we were the only ones out (it was raining) but we both had a great time!

edited to add more options

Aussielover

My dog does NOT need to be "walked" at all.

She has five acres to zoomies on whenever we are out there - and when we are not.

She is predominently an outside dog. What sort of deterrant is she if she is locked inside? Defeats her purpose.

Good on you for asking. I cannot complete your survey because there are no options to fit the situation here. Hopefully you will realise there are lots of different roles played by dogs, different reasons people own them and the way the dogs "needs" are met, and dogs that have different needs to be met!. These all can be quite different to what you yourself have experienced.

If I answered your survey and said my dog was outside all the time (whcih she is not, but that would be the closest match) and that I never walked her, I would, according to your judgement, be a very bad owner. Which, of cousre. I am not.

Is she a working dog?

The poll relates to companion dogs only, I should have clarified sorry.

I also didn't say what I thought would make a good or bad owner.

I am jst interested to see what other responsible dog owners do (I do take the liberty of assuming most people on DOL are responsible)

[OSoSwift]

MIne are generally inside with me, but every now and again I put them in the dog runs when I am home for a little bit so they don't carry on.

They are outside with us (never left out by themselves as we have 5 acres with stock fences and a reasonable amount of snakes) inside with us or in their dog runs - which we are building a yard attatched to that will be snake meshed like the runs and nice green grass so they can be out in there when we are not home and they don't have to be confined to the runs.

They are in the dog runs when I am out as I do not like dogs locked inside when I am not around. It can get very hot in the house and I have a fear of them being locked inside and having a fire and they can't get out.

To me they are safer in their dog runs.

Over summer they sleep in their dog runs as it is much nicer with a cool breeze they can lay in if they want to. Winter is in crates.

As I have two entire dogs of the opposite sex, this can change when my bitch is inseason and I am shuffling them around.

I do try to go for a lead walk daily, but having two young kids and a shift working husband some days it just doesn't happen. As we have 5 acres around the house they race around in that, do training and I can throw toy/balls with them. They also chase each other around and do zoomies so get a fair bit of exercise that way.

Edited October 24, 2010 by OSoSwift

[Earthdog]

My dog is outside all the time. He is not a working dog.

I don't walk my dogs. They get plenty of exercise running around the farm.

[cocoa]

My dog is inside when I choose. She spends most of her time outside, and that's largely because that's where we are! We live in a sub-tropical part of the country. For most of the year we eat every meal on our deck, read out there, talk out there, we even have a TV out there! This only really stops for about 2-3 months of the year, and even then, we go out to sun ourselves in the mornings and on the weekends. Why would the dog be inside when we're not?

She does come inside in the evenings it we do, mostly because she likes to chase the toads. She sleeps inside in her crate.

As for walks, she's only a pup at the moment, and is still learning, but I do twice daily "excercise". This could be a short walk, a trip to the nearby park or beach or a session of fetch plus some training. We have an average suburban yard. I work a "regular" day so I fit this in around my schedual. My husband is a shift worker, so depandant on his roster she might get extra play/walks/stimulation from him at

I think that people will work out what suits them and their dog. It's not a one size fits all kind of thing.

[Christina]

Mine would report me to Docs if I tried to walk them in inclement weather...............

:D mine too I reckon. The look they give me when I say out for piddles in the cold & pouring rain.

[TerraNik]

My guys live inside full time but can ask to go out if they want to. They rarely get taken on a 'walk' - they get their exercise and stimulation other ways.

[~*Shell*~]

Zero prefers to be outside - he comes in when he wants to but I also have a cat so have to do a bit of a shuffle when he does. He will not sleep the night indoors and rarely settles down for a nap inside either. If we're at other people's places, he will go and put himself in his crate. He has a crate in the undercover area under our patio for when he wants to sleep (which is about 22 hours a day :D)

He gets walked every couple of days. He gets sore if he walks too much (he has spondylosis) but also gets sore if he doesn't walk enough. He is usually out and doing something everyday though, unless it's wet, in which case he will happily lay around in his crate all day!

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

Mine is inside when I'm out. Don't want to make it easy for bad things to happen to her when I'm out - call me paranoid.

Otherwise she can go in or out mostly when she pleases (or asks nicely) but not always.

Walks - not when the weather is life threatening eg thunderstorms or over 35'C (hot pavement).

And not when I'm too slack to go, but that doesn't happen often. Usually the consequences of not walking the dog make being slack difficult.

[moosepup]

Mine would report me to Docs if I tried to walk them in inclement weather...............

mine too I reckon. The look they give me when I say out for piddles in the cold & pouring rain.

:D I love Moose's early morning wet grass walk. Very tentative, only 3 little chicken legs on the ground at any one time as he tiptoes around finding a wee spot. Wee done, race back inside and under the blanket.

[chichihuahua]

My dog is a chihuahua cross, he gets cold easily and therefore is an inside dog. We do have a dog door so he can come and go as he pleases into a small section of the backyard to sun himself and do his businesses, but he prefers to be inside even when we're not home.

I walk him every day without fail - if I miss a day I feel terribly guilty about it. Thankfully he's small so 30 - 45mins once a day is sufficient. If it's raining he refuses to go move so I'm let off the hook for that one.

[LDR]

Warm water only here. Lest he shrink :D

[jaegertheweim]

She lives inside and only goes outside when we are home (by ringing the bell on the backdoor). When she's older we'll train her to use the doggy dog and have free access in/out but for now inside is fine.

She gets walked at least twice a day, rain hail or shine (ok maybe not hail, especially if it's golf ball sized). Walking in the rain doesnt bother her but we just got her a new Weatherbeeta coat which will be nice to have as the rainy and snowy season arrives