Should We Keep Our Dogs Outdoors?

Note from Con Slobodchikoff: This is a post by guest author Nancy Frensley, CPDT, CAP2, who is Manager of Behavior and Training at the Berkeley-East Bay Humane Society in Berkeley, California. She writes periodic posts about the behavioral challenges and joys of shelter dogs.

Our dogs have a rich history of surviving harsh landscapes and difficult conditions. They trekked across a vast wilderness with the pioneers, settling a wild land and serving as workmates, companions, and protectors on long, lonely, boring, and dangerous nights.

For centuries, they have accompanied mankind, sharing his space through thick and thin. With this history, and being biologically equipped to survive the vagaries of climate, why should we not keep our dogs outdoors? This might appear to solve a number of problems: guests can arrive without being jumped on and slurped.

People who are considering getting a dog for the first time often think it might be a good idea to keep their dog outdoors, Sometimes one family member doesn’t like the idea of getting a dog but agrees to it provided that the dog is not allowed in the house.

People can be unwilling to give a new dog or puppy enough time to learn the house rules, and when the dog messes up once too often (for instance, urinating on the carpet), he is banished to the backyard. Though his owners may give him a cushy doghouse and generous amounts of food and water, the result is usually a lonely dog that waits at the door day and night, trying with all his heart to get inside with the family.

Animal shelters and humane societies like Berkeley East-Bay Humane Society, generally avoid adopting dogs to people who want to keep them strictly outdoors. Responsible breeders are also wary of people with this idea.

Because today we know a lot more about the dog as a companion than we used to, and because our lifestyles have changed drastically, animal welfare organizations advocate for truly including dogs as family members.

Dogs are a highly social species. They thrive on the company of humans, as well as each other. They recognize the important groups in their lives and are constantly seeking their own place in those groups. Dogs left in isolation have little chance of becoming part of a group and often get into all kinds of trouble.

To understand why being outdoors alone is a problem for dogs, let’s look at what dogs do when left to themselves: They sleep, chew, bark, dig holes, chase anything that moves, and experiment with escape strategies.

Along with practicing these instinctive behaviors, dogs experience constant stimulation from birds, squirrels, dogs on the other side of the fence, passersby coming and going, and even teasing and overt cruelty on the part of mischievous people and angry neighbors.

This combination can have disastrous behavioral consequences, the most frequent of which is barking constantly and the development of aggression, both of which can be the direct result of constant stimulation and frustration.

Indoors, we can control the environment much better and see to it that our dog is not overstimulated.

Dogs also face a number of health hazards when they are left outdoors. Extremes of temperature can cause heatstroke and hypothermia. Constant exposure to parasites, such as fleas, ticks, and fungi, can cause a variety of health problems.

In addition, dogs can get badly injured by hanging themselves on fences during escape attempts and once they succeed, getting hit by cars.

Overall, dogs are much harder to train and live with when they are left outdoors. It is the everyday routine of living together that turns our dogs into companions. Going back to our pioneer ancestors, we should note that even though their dogs lived outdoors, it was alongside the people.

Dogs should spend time outdoors with us as well as indoors. Spending time in your yard with your dog gives you opportunities to set boundaries on behavior and teach your dog to play games with you.

Overall, dogs that share both environments and are an active part of the family are better adjusted, they are pleasant to live with, and they stay in one home all their lives.