Puppy Learning To Sleep Outside

[Bracken]

Nushi, yea, i'm going to be trying moving her more slowly now. Once again, this is the very first pup I've ever owned. So I guess I'm taking a week or two to adjust as well as her!

The barking is in no way a problem yet, she has never barked during the day, and only for an hour or so at night, (generally a very good little fluff-ball) So I'm not getting too worried about it. Just moving her inside again.

As for keeping her inside permanently, I've never had any of my dogs stay inside and there are a few reasons for that;

The first is that our house is a bit of a warren, large, but made of many small rooms. So we don't really have a space that could be dedicated to the dog.

the second is that I live at home and so must abide by house rules, my mum grew up on a farm and so she views dogs as outdoor creatures. She also doesn't like the build up of dog odour that you get from indoor dogs.

The third is that having the dog used to being and sleeping outside reduces the stress for them when you go on holidays, as they can still stay at the home, outside where they are used to it, and have friends feed them.

And the fourth is that burglars somehow seem to pass over our house and go to the people around us instead when we have a medium sized dog sleeping out the front!

(Not that Ziggy will be a guard dog like Gwyn, I'm hoping to make her a bit more of a 'I love the world' personality!)

Hmm, I probably didn't need to type all of that out. I was just figuring it out in my own head as I went along!

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice people are posting!! :D

[poodlefan]

Bracken:

The third is that having the dog used to being and sleeping outside reduces the stress for them when you go on holidays, as they can still stay at the home, outside where they are used to it, and have friends feed them.

Sleeping outside or not, I would never recommend this. Kennel your dog or take it with you. Dogs left in these circumstances often bark their heads off, go crazy from lack of company and exercise and escape or go missing. It can take some time to notice too.

[Gayle.]

Good on you for starting as you mean to go on. Border Collies are working dogs, they can easily get used to sleeping outside and she will. Pity about the neighbours, they have every right to be annoyed.

Can you possibly put up some sort of soundproofing barrier so her barking doesn't carry? Things like chipboard covered with carpet or some other soft, thick fabric will muffle the noise.

My young fellow got turfed outside to sleep about a month ago, after 5 months of sleeping in our room. He learned to open the wardrobe door and raided it while I was asleep and ate a couple of pairs of brand new shoes. We locked him in the rumpus room the next night and he ate my husbands new headphones (husbands fault, he was told to put them eslewhere). So baby boy now gets put outside before I go to bed, he gets a handful of kibble which I scatter for him to find and then he settles in his bed. He is fine.

Sleeping outside or not, I would never recommend this. Kennel your dog or take it with you. Dogs left in these circumstances often bark their heads off, go crazy from lack of company and exercise and escape or go missing. It can take some time to notice too.

Lots of dogs are left at home like this and they cope just fine as long as someone looks in on them daily and takes them for a walk. That's what pet minders such as Teebs get paid to do.

[Bracken]

Thanks GayleK, I'm not sure I'll be able to construct a soundproof area for her, but I might try crating her out the front, where my other border is tethered at night. That might sooth her a little when she does go outside again.

OMG!! New shoes and headphones!! ;) Your dog has expensive tastes... at least you can tell people he's all refined like that!

Poodlefan, I understand that dogs don't like it when you go away, but often it isn't possible to take them with you and especially in my BC Gwyn's case, putting her into a kennel situation would be significantly more stressful for her than having a friend drop by each day, due to unknown experiences she had as a pup. We don't go away frequently, but we normally ask neighbours how she behaved when we get back and so far we've never had a problem. (except for one time when a slightly funny neighbour reported her to the council for continuous barking over a few days, which was odd because the days she named as the barking days Gwyn was on the holiday with us!! Turned out to a dog in the yard next to ours)

I do agree that for more than a weeks holiday people should really start looking into housing for their pets.

[Gayle.]

You would be surprised at how much difference a carpet-covered board, or similar will make to the noise levels if it's placed between barking puppy and annoyed neighbour. It doesn't even need to be very high, it just needs to be there. Just a sheet of plywood or chipboard and some old carpet tcked to one side of it.

[Bracken]

hmm, I'll see if I can wall her pen with that next time I try having her outside, Anything to stop the noise getting out! I'm hoping to get her gradually used to being out there, but I think that even just 15 minutes of solid un-muffled barking for a night or two would be too much for the neighbours, so a bit of sound proofing would probably be good.