Kennel or live indoors

[Strathcraig]

Interestingly, I have an acquaintance who's spaniel is never in because he believes that keeping him in the kennel prevents him from getting 'soft' physically... but that's clearly nonsense given some of the sofa surfers you see on here who are still capable of a hard days work in the toughest of cover!

[Alice]

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

come to think of it, my friend's dog who couldn't settle in the house was bought in, the rest of hers she bred. It may well have been that she (the dog, that is! ) started her life in a kennel, whereas the others didn't. She is a bit of an 'intense' dog anyway though.

[allan450]

i have mine in the house from 6 until bed time around 12.id let one stay on the couch with me every nite.i like to think of it bonding in away.iv 3 gsp and a cocker.gsp ar fine no drying involed but the cocker a different story ha ha.once the fire is on they just lie in front of it.seen as the pointers are shorted haired and get cold easy and suffer with arthritis i like to think with letting them in in front of the fire it might add a few extra years with them been treated so well.maybe thats just me been daft.but the rule is iv to hoover and mop everyday if i want them.

[Stacia]

I always wonder what happens when a dog is taken from a nice warm fire late evening and put out into a cold, or relatively cold kennel!

Mine live in and sleep in a utility room which is off the dining room.

[trekmoor]

My cocker Billy was a full time kennel dog until he was 4 1/2 years old and I got him. He settled in right away and greatly prefers the house to the kennel . My sons cocker was 6 years when he got him . The dog had never been in a house in his life. He settled in so well in my son's house that he now has to be dragged out to the kennel. I can swap my dogs back and forth between kennel and house with no trouble but they all prefer the house.

Like Naj I do not find that house dogs feel the cold or wet more when out at shoots.

Wullie

[pontbeck]

And nor do I
A couple of years ago on a shoot, when it was snowing a blizzard , a gun said to me 'under these conditions you can soon tell the knenneled dogs, yours just shrugs off the weather' I informed him that my dogs spent most of their life indoors with me in my centrally heated house

Bill

[kent]

Give me a centrally heated home housed dog and a winter marsh for a day and I will show you a very unhappy hound. All dogs might prefer the house coz that's were all the peoples is oh and all the food smells The exception is the first little cottage I owned that place was hardly as warm as the darn Kennel

[Louise]

my dogs are kenneled during the day but come in for the evening/night. I have had my cocker since a pup, my springer came here at 2 years old having lived outside until then. She would much prefer to be outside all the time and if the back door is open then you will find her curled up in her kennel. The cocker can be found snuggled up nicely on the sofa! I would like to have my dogs kenneled during the night but live in a very built up area (even though we are opposite the forest) and think the neighbours would complain if they barked during the night.

[crackerd]

Give me a centrally heated home housed dog and a winter marsh for a day and I will show you a very unhappy hound.

Not necessarily so, Kent - especially if their work makes them une happy chien





but I must admit, they are outside at the moment, whilst I clean house for them. Got me pretty damned well trained, ain't they?

MG

[rubyred]

How does a dog show it prefers to be in the house rather than in a kennel?.