Do you ever leave your dog outside?

[lakotasong]

Unless it's supposed to downpour all day, the house dogs get put out in the front kennels (separate from the sled dogs' kennels) before everyone goes to work. I'm home a lot, but on days where everyone is gone, we check the weather and go from there. If our house dogs stay inside, they're in their crates.

My retired sled dogs (except my 16 year old Alaskan, Nika) live outside full time and have access to the barn and their indoor kennels, or they can go outside in their yards (8 foot fence, with buried fencing to prevent digging). So they pretty much do whatever they please.

Archie, Nika and the 11 year old Wolfhound mix I've been baby-sitting for my buddy (he's in the process of moving to the next county) tend to have free run of the entire barn during the day, and can can go in my end of the house if they wish (we're in a ranch house that was subdivided for boarders that used to live here when we ran a horse stable). So they can either wander around the barn or snooze on the dog beds that litter my floor, LOL.

Our property is set back from the road, we own a large farm. There is almost always someone home (I am not the only one who lives here and we have more than one house) and this is why I feel safe in leaving them outside unattended. I don't think I could do it if I lived in the city, I don't trust the general public enough. I also have the property covered in Private Property signs. Got a couple of those "Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again" signs too

Very rare have I done it. When I let them out to go to the bathroom I stay and watch them until they come in. I have a kennel and sometimes I leave them in that but not for long. I can't let them have the whole yard in case the neighbor kids bug them. There was a time when everytime I let the dogs out the little brats would instantly run over to the fence and call the dogs names yelling at them. They throw things at them and my dog snapped on one of them when he poked him with a stick. I'm not getting sued and my dog put to death because these brats can't leave them alone so I stand there the whole time they are outside.

I would never leave my dog out overnight either. Also when I was a kid(I found this out years later.) The nighbor would shoot my dad's dobermans from his bedroom window with a bb gun. ya some time later I ran into the dude's brother and he was laughing about the past when we were kids and he told me that his brother always did that. He said they would be huddled against my house yelping. To this day and that was many years ago I have been waiting to run into this guy. It's a small world.

Originally Posted by cowgurl6254

I wish I could let Andy out by himself, but I never do. If he's outside, I have to be right there beside him. Our neighbors run an in-home daycare and the kids would always come over and let our old dog out. Plus, most of these kids love to yell and hit things, so I don't want Andy getting hurt while I'm gone.

Nice um. Horse.

[Doberluv]

"Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again" signs too

ROFLOL!!! I need to get one of those. Tee hee hee. It sounds like you live in a great place and soooo many dogs. They're beautiful. Nice photo Summitview.

I live in the wilderness of north Idaho and have acreage and forest service land...thousands of acres around me. There are a couple neighbors, but not close. I am well off the dirt road and my dogs stick around my yard area and occasionally run up the bank behind my house into the woods. But they stay on my property, in fact mainly in the yard part, sometimes the pasture a little bit. So, yes...I leave the big dogs out unattended if I'm home. My dogs are never left outside if I'm gone, even to the little corner store 1/2 mile away. My Chihuahuas, I have to be careful with on account of birds of prey but my two big dogs romp and run around out in the yard and come in and out as they wish. I'm the door man. LOL. My hinges need WD-40 all the time from over use. LOL.

Originally Posted by Doberluv

ROFLOL!!! I need to get one of those. Tee hee hee. It sounds like you live in a great place and soooo many dogs. They're beautiful. Nice photo Summitview.

I live in the wilderness of north Idaho and have acreage and forest service land...thousands of acres around me. There are a couple neighbors, but not close. I am well off the dirt road and my dogs stick around my yard area and occasionally run up the bank behind my house into the woods. But they stay on my property, in fact mainly in the yard part, sometimes the pasture a little bit. So, yes...I leave the big dogs out unattended if I'm home. My dogs are never left outside if I'm gone, even to the little corner store 1/2 mile away. My Chihuahuas, I have to be careful with on account of birds of prey but my two big dogs romp and run around out in the yard and come in and out as they wish. I'm the door man. LOL. My hinges need WD-40 all the time from over use. LOL.

If I lived in the country I would let them outside unattended when I was home. But in the city I won't take the chance. Maybe some day I can buy a house out a ways, but for now I'm stuck where I'm at.

[girlbuffalo1]

I was just reading through this thread again and I must say I am rather suprised by the number of folks who are afraid/leary of letting their dogs be in a good fenced in area alone for a short amount of time....

Most people in our subdivision let their 5 year olds run around in the street with no supervision.....just shows the difference in people eh?

[Amstaffer]

Depends where I am. I live in Milwaukee and Pit Bulls or dogs that even remotely look like Pit Bulls would be stolen in a heartbeat* if you left them outside unattended. In Milwaukee my dogs never leave my direct eye sight.

However when I go to visit my family way out in the country I will leave them out alone for short periods of time. These areas are all very well fenced yards and they run with either my mom's cockapoo or my sister's aussie sheps. All of their "cousins" are big barkers so even if a Woodchuck comes by, I and anyone in a half mile will know.


*You think I exaggerate? http://www.todaystmj4.com/_content/n...story_3672.asp

Originally Posted by girlbuffalo1

I was just reading through this thread again and I must say I am rather suprised by the number of folks who are afraid/leary of letting their dogs be in a good fenced in area alone for a short amount of time....

Most people in our subdivision let their 5 year olds run around in the street with no supervision.....just shows the difference in people eh?

For me like I said it's the neighbor kids and bb guns why I don't. If not for that I would. I won't take a chance. Not to mention people feeding them. Also there's a difference between a poodle and a rottweiler. If a rottweiler nipped someone who is teasing it. What would happen to the rott?

Originally Posted by Amstaffer

Depends where I am. I live in Milwaukee and Pit Bulls or dogs that even remotely look like Pit Bulls would be stolen in a heartbeat* if you left them outside unattended. In Milwaukee my dogs never leave my direct eye sight.

However when I go to visit my family way out in the country I will leave them out alone for short periods of time. These areas are all very well fenced yards and they run with either my mom's cockapoo or my sister's aussie sheps. All of their "cousins" are big barkers so even if a Woodchuck comes by, I and anyone in a half mile will know.


*You think I exaggerate? http://www.todaystmj4.com/_content/n...story_3672.asp

They take people's dogs here too.

[PWCorgi]

Nope, I live right in town and I don't trust people not to snatch up the corgis. We put Mollie out just hoping that someone will take her...JUST KIDDING! We only have a little white picket fence, so someone could easily just reach over it and take one of them. There is also a neighborhood boy who is 6 and runs all over town by himself. He will come in our yard without asking and when the the dogs bark he'll get in their face and go "What you barkin at? Ya wanna FIGHT!" . Mollie dislikes him, but Izzy and Frodo love him and always give him kisses, they're great guard dogs . So no, they are never outside w/o someone being with them.