Regular time outside gives your dog exposure to fresh air
Depending on where you live, outdoor air quality is generally better than indoor air quality – except on hot, humid days when smog might be an issue. Otherwise, unless you live a green lifestyle and use mostly natural materials and cleaners in your home, you and your dog may be exposed to a host of indoor air toxins, ranging from household cleaners to the chemicals that off-gas from plastics, carpets, upholstery and so on. Letting your dog spend a good chunk of time outdoors every day helps reduce the amount of time he’s exposed to these toxins.
Which Dog Breeds Should Not Be Left Outside?
Any of the small dog breeds, or even the medium-sized dogs with short coats, should not be left outside. Little dogs like Chihuahuas, Maltese, and Yorkshire Terriers can freeze to death, no matter how good the dog house.
This Caucasian Ovcharka can be left outside.
Shelter should always be provided. A big kennel is a great alternative for times when you cannot be there, and a dog should always have a place he can retreat to in inclement weather. At times, the shelter you provide will not be accepted. During the harshest cold spell, with the wind blowing and snow falling, my Siberian Huskies would prefer to be outside in a snowdrift, their bodies curled up under a drift and their noses protected by their bushy tails.
During rain or thunder, the dogs would take advantage of the shelter.
“Often people think that if they leave the dog in the yard, they’ll be having a really fun time, they’ll be playing and sniffing and enjoying themselves,” says Zazie Todd, author of Wag: The Science of Making Your Dog Happy. “And there are some dogs that enjoy it, but for many dogs, if they’re outdoors on their own, they’re going to be a bit bored.”
Even those of us who love dogs don’t love the sound of constant barking. One effective way to get dogs to bark their heads off is to leave them outside in a yard alone. Maybe you have a neighbor who does this, but maybe you even do it yourself, because you think your dog loves being out there. This is a well-meaning misconception that results in a lot of bored dogs at best and exacerbates or causes behavior problems at worst.
You may think the dog is getting exercise in the yard, but if you’re not out there playing with him, probably not. “There’s some research on dogs in yards and it showed that they don’t actually do a huge lot,” says Todd. If anything, the study showed that dogs outdoors seem to move around the house according to where their person is inside, as if trying to stay near.
But when you open the door, your dog runs right out. He must love it, right? Sure – at first.
“Many of those reasons are because there is something the dog is not particularly happy about,” says Todd. “If someone arrives at your house and your dog barks and alerts you to the fact that they’re there, that’s just a normal thing for dogs to do. But if there’s barking for long periods of time, you should be thinking about the underlying reasons. Is it because they’re bored? Is it because they’re frustrated?”
Why you should go outside your comfort zone with your dogs | The Asher House
We like to think of our dogs as members of the family, sharing our beds, our living rooms and our hearts. But in some homes, dogs arent family members – they arent even allowed indoors.
The myth of the “outdoor dog” persists: Despite constant urging from rescues and animal welfare groups that dogs should live indoors with their families, especially during extreme weather, thousands of dogs live their lives in backyards, sometimes on chains. But there are lots of reasons why forcing a dog to live outdoors year-round is unhealthy and unkind – and its not just about the weather.
“Keeping pet dogs outside consigns them to a life of loneliness and frustration,” the MSPCAs Rob Halpin told The Dodo.
“Dogs are highly social animals whose ancestors and cousins – the wolves – live in packs. Wolves hunt together, sleep together and play together,” Halpin said.
“Dogs dont have packs. They only have us,” he added. “Depriving dogs of human companionship by forcing them to live outside blunts their natural desires and is its own form of animal cruelty.”
Dr. Rob Proietto, a veterinarian in New York City, explained that, while no dog should live outdoors his whole life, some dogs enjoy spending much of their time outside.
“Many dogs love to be outside and some in rural areas sometimes prefer to be outside. As pup parents, its important to know when they need to join their families and seek shelter,” he told The Dodo. “Dogs can overheat very quickly in warm weather climates and can get hypothermia in cold, wet conditions.”
There is no breed or type of dog that is able to live outdoors full-time – dogs are domesticated, not wild, and they rely on humans for comfort and safety.
Like many shelter workers, Adam Goldberg, of the Humane Society of Broward County in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has seen firsthand the damage that living outdoors can do to dogs.
“One of the cruelest things you could do to a dog is to chain them [up] for a prolonged period of time,” Goldberg said. “It is cruel and inhumane! Dogs kept on chains watch as the world goes by and imagine what life would be like.”
He recalled the story of Hope, a 3-year-old pit bull rescue who had never lived indoors before coming to the Broward County facility. Hope had “rough callouses on her elbows and joints from sleeping on hard surfaces like concrete.”
Living outside, she had never learned the rules of a home; shed missed out on the training most puppies get from their families. Hope had to be housebroken and taught not to steal from the garbage.
“It didnt take long for her to learn her inside manners and become accustomed to sleeping inside with her family in a warm bed,” Goldberg said. “Her callouses began to soften and her skin improved due to better nutrition and protection from the elements and fleas. She now lives happily inside as part of a family who loves her.”
Hope was one of the lucky ones – there are many dogs who never get their happy endings, and spend their entire lives outdoors, never knowing what it feels like to be part of a pack.
“More than 10,000 years ago, dogs were domesticated to live with humans: They long for our companionship and need it,” Goldberg explained. “Your dog will only be happy living outside if you live outside with him.”
If youre interested in helping educate about the importance of letting dogs live indoors, check out volunteer organizations like The Backyard Dog Project, which works to bring in chained dogs.