There you go again with your generalizations.

EVERY dog is outside there ENTIRE life? [img]graemlins/bs.gif[/img]

A DOG IS A SOCIAL ANIMAL IT REQUIRES DAILY ATTENTION AND AFFECTION.

If you do not understand that you do not deserve to raise a dog.

If I seem to be getting a little upset about this it is because I feel very strongly about it. No dog deserves a life alone outside on a chain.

And yes, I keep my two dogs in the house. They are never outside when I am gone (I live beside an elementary school - kids are mean).

Please do yourself a favour and reconsider WHY you want a dog. </font>[/QUOTE]Ditto

 

ok take it easy there animal rights activist. i never said dog would be neglected. it would have propwer care and attention. and i dont know what u mean 'my generalizations' but i've seen many, many dogs live outside their whole life and they were just fine. yes ofcourse u take it inside to be with the family and kids and all the other social stuff, u play with it, train it, walk it, etc. but as far as keeping the dog indoors permenatly i think that would do more damage to it than keepin it outside.
if i was to get a full time indoor dog I wouldnt be looking for something like a german sheppard or any other guard dog, i'd just get a cat.
oh and btw, my cat lives outside, not b/c thats where i keep but b/c it choose to, are u gonna call animals rights on me now?

i want a dog for all the same reasons why u got two.

[ September 16, 2004, 08:28 AM: Message edited by: Father Yuli ]

 

and that and more it shall receive

yes my friend, it is true. in europe it works like this (or atleast where im from) if u live in a house u have a front yard with the main entrace to your property. between the gate and the house door is where u keep your dog (or two) OUTSIDE. every guard type dog there is kept outside for most of it's life to do it's task of guarding. i guess u could keep your dogs inside and they could guard as well (like u do) but thats just how it's done in some other places in the world.

Jared please dont be upset with me, im not a dog hater. i love dogs as much as u do, i guess we look at it from a diff stand point. I've had always had a dog as much as i can recall and I know whats involved. I would do my best to accomodate and love it if i end up getting another one.

[ September 16, 2004, 08:40 AM: Message edited by: Father Yuli ]

 

i bet his rottie woudlnt just run away if someome was to attack its owner, would he? thats what i want. i dont need a dog that will go around killing ppl. killer instinct is something a dog is born with, and it is something that is contained by a good owner.

 

The 1940's called they want their old school regard for pets back.

Wow.....I have not heard such rubbish in regards to a social canine creature for a long time. Even worse you want to chain it? (((
How terribly sad for some poor dog to live a life of misery in your back yard. I am sickened to the point of tears at the thought of your faithful GSD at 15 years old, a senior with old bones out in the cold chained and alone. Cases like that are I think the reason bolt cutters were invented. Once seniors my dogs will lay on the couch by the fireplace resting their old bones in warmth and watching Animal Planet on TV LOL!

We have Alaskan Malamutes ( sled dogs, a double coated breed who can sleep out in the most extreme Arctic weather) they sleep ON OUR BED if they like but prefer the coolness of the floor. One is here at my feet as I type and I wouldn't have it any other way, my faithful companion, my protector, my dog. We have them because they are our companions not our tools. If you have issues about protection get a home alarm installed, won't cost nearly as much as a well taken care of dog and you will spare some poor dog many years of longing to be indoors with his family where it deserves to be.

How do you expect to bond with your protector when it's chained to a dog house? Our dogs are very large and although they as a breed are universally friendly I have no doubts that given our care for them and bond with us that they would protect me in a second. I don't know anyone who would come into our yard when the dogs are loose in it (we have built a yard that will safely and properly contain our dogs while they play, dig proofed and about 7 foot because we take our reponsibility for their safety and the safety of others very seriously)We would never ever chain them, we want them to live as comfortably as we do. They are NEVER outside unattended, they have their own rooms in which to play if we are out or most of the time we take them with us. They are our family....yes they are dogs but I would never know the happiness of a warm slurp up the cheek wakeing me in the morning, a fuzzy warm foot stool while a watch TV, a warm cuddle in front of the fire, an instant alarm to answer the door, a head poking through the shower curtain to find me, the happy dance I get to see when I come home like I am the best thing since Flexi-leads, a head on my lap asking to play if I am sad or the hundreds of other wonderful things I experience with my dogs on a daily basis.

I've seen pictures of forgotten, chained back yard dogs FROZEN to the ground. Once the prized fun family puppy, turned adult nobody seems to remember. Most times owners of chained dogs do not even notice their dog is ill until it's too late or needs their ears cleaned because they merely throw a bowl of food at them once a day, they do not know them they are merely a yard ornament. Terribly unfortunate for both canine and human.

Many of the dog attacks and fatalities in Canada are these chained dogs who after living many years in a back yard break out and due to lack of social skills and people skills lash out. No this is not a canine problem, not in their genes or nature...people do this to them.

 

ok i really do appreciate your love for the dogs. i truelly do.

i think u are missunderstanding me. if i was to get a dog it wont be alone chained to the fence with a 2 foot long chain. HOWEVER it would not be in the house all the time, i simply dont see a point of an indoor dog. i have a cat for that.
I have had many dogs before and i know whats involved. if u think keeping dogs outside itscrule then u could call animalr rights acitivists on the entire eastern europe.

when my gf had her german sheppard the dog was outside most of the time. everytime they tried to keep it in the house it would get resteless and and just bark at the door to go back out. the dog was taken care of the best way possible, medical, loving, carring and attending ways. BUT it hated being indoors for more than couple hours.

neglected back yard dogs is a horrible thing, i agree. but if u have a dog which gets all the attention and care it needs, u can keep it outside and everything will be fine. i've done it with every dog i had and they all lived healthy lives of upto 15 years.

i see u reffer to the back yard dogs as 'back yard ornament'. i guess i could understand that. I myself would reffer to the house dog as a home ornament, especially if the dog is ment for life outside, such as your dogs.

i once again appreciate your input.

[ September 16, 2004, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Father Yuli ]

 

You have to know how bad that sounds???

How many dogs have you owned, and how old are you?

I think that if people want to own a dog of ANY BREED, that they should have to pass some sort of well thought out test. 98% of people should not own a dog period IMO.

 

why does that sound bad?

im 25 and had my family has had 5 dogs, sometimes it was more than one at a time.

im sorry to have caused this misunderstanding.

my question to all the dog lovers then: if u keep all your dogs inside and think keeping them outside is cruelty then what do u do when u need to protect a big property where some guard dogs would be the best choice? and do u think all the dogs that are kept outside to do their duties are being treated in a cruel way?

 

Yuli,

I do not think that dogs who spend most of their time or heck even all the time outdoors by their own choice are treated badly. Some dogs are just like that while others are like that because they have never been given a choice.

As you assume that I am somehow doing wrong by my dogs because they were ment to be outdoors? Do you know this for certain? Malamutes were bred not only as working dogs but as village babysitters and used for warmth for inuit children INDOORS while they slept. I laughed when I read that as I had just cleaned up a poop off the basement floor from our "ment for life outside" sled dog because it's too wet for the princess to do her duty outdoors so she snuck back inside where it was warm and dry to do her business lol. Then I watched our 110 pound macho male go out and get under the edge of the house, pee as fast as he could on the house and run back inside again. They have free access to the outdoors when we are home but choose to be inside where we are.

Even though hundreds of years ago any breed of dog had an intended purpose but that isn't necessarily the same case now. If I threw one of my dogs ouside in the kennel for the night they would totally freak even in the warmer climate we have. Having been raised and bred for many many years in a climate different then their ancestors they are not the same. Would I take a working dog born & raised from the Arctic into my home? Not a chance it would not adjust well to the environment at all.

Even tho they are a little woosier than their arctic relatives and live indoors with us we do facilitate their need for weight pull, sledding, agility, obedience and running. The difference is that our dogs have a choice. They can be in or out whatever THEY choose.

I would be very concerned about putting ANY breed never mind a short hair breed outside during winter. What you need protected makes a difference in choice of breed. Do you have livestock? If so there are many breeds bred with that purpose in mind, many of them prefer the outdoors. As for lenghth of coat there are many long coated / double coated breeds that shed very little. Our dogs for example you would think that they shed lots and caused lots of mess but really they shed very little aside from twice a year all of their undercoat comes out and it is a couple weeks of mess but they shed less than my sisters short coated Lab.

Do you need to chain your dog because you have no fence? If so perhaps you would consider a breed that doesn't wander and building a small run so that it can be safely contained when it isn't supervised.

The problem with chaining is not only the chaining itself but that dogs get tangled up in them and are at the mercy of any attacking animal or person. Many chained dogs bark bothering the surrounding homes which in turn can led to some nutbar poisoning your dog.