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The Outdoor Dog Myth

I get really tired of people telling me there dog is an "outside" dog. Why have a dog if you have it outside all the time? Our lives now rotate around work, computers and television. I can drive through my neighborhood on a beautiful day and see few kids or adults outside. We mow and take care of the yard because we have to, not want to. So the outside dog, yard dog, sees humans at feeding time and then the other 23 1/2 hours it's alone and bored. Bored dogs are destructive, noisy and can become territorial.

The normal excuse is that their parents had an outdoor dog on the farm. I'm 42 years old and I am the first generation of my family to never live on a farm. I highly doubt all these other people are directly off the farm. This is where the myth kicks in. Farmers had dogs that were pets. Yes, they spend most of there time outside, but so did the farmer. My Uncle Roger had a little dog named Spot. Spot was a Jack Russell terrier with scars and chewed up ears from years of living on the farm. Everyday for 10 years my Uncle and Spotty would start the day early and end in the evening. Spot was the constant companion to Roger and at the end of the day Spotty would retire to the hog barn and snuggle down in the hay with the pigs. Then Roger retired from farming and guess what happened? Spotty was allowed inside when he wanted and remained my Uncle's companion until Spotty died.

The myth is, dog belong outside. Dog's were domesticated to be a companion animal, and we have now become primarily an indoor species. I have had up to four dogs and have used a dog door for over 12 years. I can tell you that dogs quickly learn that inside is pretty good and are a lot easier to live with when you make them part of your life. The most common description I here of an outside dog? "He stupid and won't listen". If your only interaction with a dog is feeding, there is no relationship. The biggest problem I see with dog owners is there is absolutely no relationship between them and their dog. It takes more than treats or a hard yank of a leash to create a relationship. Unfortunately, that is whole other blog.

KC Dog Guy
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scoobydew58 said…
I grew up on the farm and my parents always had outdoor dogs. However, it was because they didn't know how to housetrain a dog. I was the first in my family to get an indoor dog. She went with us everywhere. She spent the night with us at my parents' home. Now they understand how important it is to let the dog in your house. Just because your parents had "outdoor" dogs, doesn't mean you can't housetrain your dog and keep it in the house. My parents don't have any dogs now. If they did, I'd have to help them housetrain it so it could live in the house with them!
Amen to no more "outside" only dogs.
February 21, 2009 at 2:44 PM
Anonymous said…
Most of people don't learn anything about dogs, maybe they would read one book in their life, maybe teach the dog to sit, and this is it... It's not like they feel responsible for the pet, this is "just a dog".
Some people want a good dog, with a good behavior, a house-trained dog. So they go to a club, where they would learn how to teach basics skills to their pet, and this is it, the dog is a good dog. Not the best dog or the smarter dog, but he is better than those retarded dogs we can see too frequently.
Few people in these club would find something different with their dog. Something the other cannot understand, because the other don't have this feeling of a link between them and the dog. And this is the start of a new relationship, which can be developped by a lot of bonding time with the four-legged buddy. These few people will learn as much as they can through books or internet, and try to do things by themselves, anywhere, and the dog would be a really good dog, maybe he could win some contest. This, demand sacrifice, the least thing most people won't do for their dog, because it's "just a dog"... they can't understand, they don't have material to. And rarely... "in an unknown school, a great master"
People are just people, we are used to them. Dogs are not these animals from our childhood books...
Please forgive my bad english. Cheers.
August 1, 2012 at 2:26 PM
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