Kennel or live indoors

[ZizouJR]

Hi there!

I know there are some threads on this subject, but couldn't find any that gave answer to my questions.
I’m a student that plans to get my own working cocker as fast as im done with my education. This dog will mainly be used as a working dog. My parents got a springer spaniel that lives in the house with them. This dog spends all his waking hours in the same room as them, and he is allowed to run between the kitchen and livingroom on his own(This is a big house, so it means that he easily can do stuff on his own). In my opinion I feel that since the dog has this great freedom, he gets quite independent. I think the contact between him and my parents not are as good as it should be if he was supposed to be used as a hunting dog, and in my opinion one of the reasons for that is because he knows that he doesn’t need them to have fun. He is for example able to run around on his own when exercising. This means he can chase birds and butterflies on his own. So, because of this I wonder if I should put my future dog in a kennel, or make a “dogroom” out of one of the rooms in my future house where the dog can stay when not training or exercising. I will let the dog stay with me some hours in the evening, but it will be under my control, and I will not let him run around and make bad habits. I also think that if the dog spends time on his own in a kennel or dogroom where he not are able to do things on his own, he will soon learn that all fun stuff comes from me. So, I wonder what you guys think about this topic. Am I totally off track, or do I have a point? For those of you that let your dogs live indoors with you, are you letting them stay with you all the time, or do you have any rules?

[Naj]

Hi, you'll get varying views on this, I'm sure, but I've kennelled dogs & I've kept them in the house & I've done a mixture of both. I now have them with me in the house as much as possible but kennel them at night & when it's not convenient to have them with me. If I was down to a single dog she would come in the house permanently because, to me, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. Many dogs are obviously successfully kennelled all their lives but you build a closer bond with a dog that spends a lot of time with you around the house & this can't be replicated with one secured in a kennel for the majority of the time. You obviously require house rules & defined boundaries but this will work to your advantage when it comes to training, & dogs are quite capable of differentiating between their different roles - house dog/gundog/family pet etc. - if given the opportunity to develop them. And in any event, I enjoy their company.

Naj

[Bryn]

We do exactly as Naj does, our kennels where they sleep and when we eat or need a break are in one room but generally they have access to most of the house. I found my best (and quickest trained) collies I had were the ones I had in the house with me from pups.

It would be different if we had a lot of dogs but we plan to stick at 2 labs and 2 springers

A work in progress but as of tonight

[Strathcraig]

I think if you have a) no other occupants or b) family who obey the rules then it shouldn't be a problem having them in the house. Having said that, I'm the same as the two posters above, in during the day, kennelled at night and when we're not in (except tonight, where I have a poorly dog lying at the foot of my bed!)

[kent]

Kennel for the very practical fact of that is were they must acclimatise their metabolism and thier coats. In the house for keeping up house training (which can be lost) and family socialisation. Practicalities prevent bringing a filthy dog straight into the house on return from the field. Some dogs don't kennel well, some don't house well due to their individual nature, some are happy either way. A dog that has kennelled well prefers the company in the house but wishes to go to its own space once the attention is over

[trekmoor]

I prefer to have my dogs in the house most of the time. At night, usually after 11p.m. ,they go into the kennels but even then one dog, sometimes two ,remain in the house. I don't think kennelled dogs are any better during training than dogs kept in the house. I'm pretty sure that, to a dog, a house is just a big kennel.
My wife usually insists on having all the dogs in the house at all times during very cold winter weather. This doesn't seem to cause any problems.

Wullie

[kent]

I prefer to have my dogs in the house most of the time. At night, usually after 11p.m. ,they go into the kennels but even then one dog, sometimes two ,remain in the house. I don't think kennelled dogs are any better during training than dogs kept in the house. I'm pretty sure that, to a dog, a house is just a big kennel.
My wife usually insists on having all the dogs in the house at all times during very cold winter weather. This doesn't seem to cause any problems.

Wullie

Do you not generally work them in hard weather? Its a strange one because outside of the UK / USA the outside is the place for dogs even in far harder weather than we get, each to their own I find the responses interesting

[Alice]

Mine are in the house, but I would much prefer to have the option of a kennel for when they're muddy/smelly/getting on my nerves. I'd also like not to spend half my life hoovering rolling balls of springer fluff!!

My other half is opposed to kennelling them though- I suspect this is because he only spends time with them in the evening when they're calm!

[Alice]

Some dogs don't kennel well, some don't house well due to their individual nature, some are happy either way.

very good point. one of my friend's labs gets very stressed out in the house, she can't seem to settle with people around her all the time, and is a ball of energy if you bring her in, she just runs around panting. She's much happier in her kennel.

[Naj]

I think this behaviour is quite typical of a dog that hasn't been given the chance to acclimatise to settling down in the house, especially if the dog has had a long spell in kennels. Older dogs can become 'institutionalised' & will never settle & so get stuck in the kennel after retirement, so for that reason alone I get my younger dogs used to the house so they will settle in when they aren't being taken out as much. For a dog that is used to coming straight out of the kennel & 'doing something' with you it must be quite confusing when you first take them into the house, sit down &, virtually, ignore them. Is it any wonder that they look agitated & unsettled? It takes time for them to learn the behaviour of settling down when you settle down, but given time they usually learn. If you simply assume that such behaviour confirms your suspicions (possibly a preconceived idea) that they are happier in kennel & take them back out then they will never learn, but given time such dogs easily become couch potatoes & you have a hard time getting them back out into the kennel at bedtime.

My dogs work daily in weather that can be as bad as any in the country but I've never found that even living in-house full time caused them to suffer because of the weather, as compared with one that is permanently kennelled. A dog gets cold & wet in the field whether it lives in or out & indoor dogs still grow their winter coats. My dog boxes are as warm as toast so my dogs aren't cold when in the kennel, & I'm sure that nobody is suggesting we keep our dogs in cold, draughty conditions on the presumption that it will 'harden' them up. All this will do is produce a sick dog.

Naj