re: Does your dog stay outside?

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he ruined 2 carpeted rooms and the wood floor in the master bathroom upstairs, all of the sills on the bay window, and the hallway and stairs on the first floor. He ruined things with his teeth and nails.

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Man, my mom and I always talk about how we hear stories like this from people.. but my family just lucked out when it comes to dogs. Got my first dog when I was ~6-7 and she was an angel. A few years later, we got a 2nd dog. Same thing - perfectly well behaved. She mimicked the one we already had. When they died, my parents got the one they have now and he's very good too.

I got my dog when I was 20 and I've never gone out of my way to "train" her .. but she has never used the bathroom in the house beyond very young puppyhood and she always comes when called, sleeps until ~11am with us when we do that, etc.

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In bad weather, I'd let them stay in the laundry room.

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We used to do this.

Until I built a dog house that probably could with stand weather as well as a house.

Thing has 3 "rooms" in it. Back room(s) have a low ceiling and insulation in all walls. One of the rooms is smaller to give the 2 smaller dogs a way to separate from the lab when desired. Front room is large, ceiling goes all the way to the roof (5 feet) and has a completely open front. I have a box fan mounted in the ceiling of the front room for the summer. They can be shaded and have a breeze. In winter I have a couple of lights mounted that provide some warmth an keep the open area covered with 3 layers of burlap to prevent could wind from entering.

The pen they stay in at night and when I am at work is a slab with the dog house attached. Put in 4 drains in the slab that have covers. 2 drains go to a septic system and are used to wash the pen. Other 2 drains are for rain drain and stay open until I am washing the pen.

Dogs have a lixit for water. They also have a large pool for playing and cooling off.

I have actually spent time in the dog house with them during rainy weather because I wanted to be outside.

I skinned the outside of the house with treated landscaping timbers. The thing looks like a log cabin that could be on an episode of "tiny house"

Almost forgot. I also have part of the slab covered with a padded astro turf.


My dogs are outside dogs...but they live pretty well.

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Pics?

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Let me look. I think I still have some from the build on my laptop.

They shite in your house?

Not completely finished yet in this pic.

1. Can see the opening to back room behind my Lab.
2. Can see a small part of astro turf.
3. The floor they are laying on has been completed now. (astro turf) Has a slight slope to the opening.
4. Keeping cedar shavings and/or pine straw in the house is difficult. The lab loves to rearrange.
5. The brick is a retaining wall. I kept a gap between dog house and retaining wall for air flow to help prevent rotting.
6. Built on 4x treated posts. Used posts left from previous project. 4 rows of posts run the length of the dog house.
7. Can see the extension cord I use for electricity fan fan or light currently. (It is better protected now and one of my summer projects is to replace the cord by running a line to the house)


You can see a small burlap sack I used to stuff with cedar chips hoping it would work. The Lab viewed them as large chew toys so...

Taking a summer swim in their pool.

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Anyone who thinks there is one correct answer for every dog, dog breed or all people is just silly, stubborn, ignorant or just likes to argue.

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I'd agree with this mostly. I just don't want my dogs smelling like shite all the time, all full of mud when I want to play with them, eating all kids of nasty shite that can make them sick, etc etc etc. Also the fleas are so bad in the summer it's a lot easier to maintain a dog that stays inside.

Our pup stays mostly indoors unless we are with him. He is small and uniquely cute so we worry someone would take him. He is a bit of a celeb in our neighborhood and our dog park. He has been known to escape our house and he takes himself to the dog park on his own, lol.

So we just built him his own balcony deck so he can go out safely. Our adult daughter saw us building the balcony for the dog yesterday and freaked out.

Daughter: So wait, you are building a balcony just for the dog?

Us: Yes, he likes going outside so we want him to have his own place to chill outdoors.

Daughter: So you are putting in a doggy door?

Us: Naw, we will just leave the door open so he can wander in and out

Daughter (freaking out) : WTH? As a kid i got yelled at for leaving the door open and now the door is open all day for a dog??

Us: (egging it on bcuz it is funny) Yep. He needs the exercise because he eats with us at Sonic (his favorite) and we buy him food and ice cream at the drive thru. They love him at Sonic and know he wants his own cup of vanilla or a plain cheeseburger.

Daughter: I am dying here. This is ridiculous. This dog is more spoiled than we ever were.

The Dog:(silently listening with interest)

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gingerkittie

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My family has expressed similar disbelief with the things I built for our dogs.

How is that trash to have huskies outside?

FYI he has an air conditioned room for the summer.
A lot of pussies in this thread.