Who has outside dogs?

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whitelop

Morgan
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
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Location
York, South Carolina, USA
Here is some back story. My dog, Woody is a Dingo. He's around 7. He's a great dog, he protects our house, yard and my chickens. He is so good with my son. My son can hang on him, pull his ears and tail.
All that being said, last night we were sitting on the couch, my son with playing in the living room. Woody was laying in the middle of the floor, my son came over and kind of laid on top of him, like laid over his side. Woody growled and snapped at him! I flipped out! I grabbed him and put him outside and told him he was a bad dog.
Last week, he snapped at my cat too. She didn't even touch him though, she just walked in front of him and he growled and snapped.

I told my husband that I didn't want him in the house anymore, because I don't want him around my son. It scared my son so bad last night when he did that, my son doesn't understand what is happening, because my dog is the kind of dog you can use as a pillow to go to sleep on.
We brought him in last night because we don't have a dog house anymore(it became a chicken coop), and I don't want him to be cold. I know there could be some underlying issues here with the dog. I'm going to also say that I don't really want to hear that is 'horrible to put a dog outside'. He stays outside a lot and LOVES to be outside. And chances are, if he goes out; it will only be during the day and I'll bring him in at night so he won't be cold.

So who has outside dogs? What do you have in your dog houses? Do the dogs like to be outside, do you like them outside? What do you do with them at night?

I did find this enormous dog house on sale at my feed store, for $60. Its like a 5 x 5 dog house, with a shingled roof! Thats a great deal!
 
It's not bad to keep a dog outside, but it IS bad that he snapped at your son!!! I have lots of experience with dogs, moreso that rabbits, and i've seen this kind of thing. Could he have rabies?

Ultimately, if he doesn't stop snapping, you can risk your son being bitten, and that's a traumatic thing. I think it's suspicious that he suddenly turned this way, so maybe have him checked out by a vet. When we had a dog that almost bit a child, if it didn't stop, it was put down, because you can't have an aggressive dog, especially around kids. That might sound ''mean" to some people, but really, it comes down to, 'do you want to risk the people around you of getting bitten?' I'm not trying to be harsh or nasty, and I don't know the whole story, but this sounds more serious.
 
No, I don't think he has rabies. I don't really know what is going on with him. It could be his age, but he's not old; hes just getting there.

He's not highly aggressive or anything, I don't really know what happened. The only thing I can think of is, my son like put an elbow into his rib cage or something. Or put his weight on the wrong spot on the dog and it hurt him. But I don't know.
 
I have a rottweiler/beagle mix and she is outside ALL day until we go to bed at night. She prefers it that way. She hates being inside. I dont see a problem with putting him outside as long as he has shelter, food and water. But I agree, for him to suddenly do that, something must be going on him. I dont know why he may have snapped at the cat, but could it possible that maybe he's getting the start of arthiritis? He is older and the cold weither makes it act up more which could be painful. Maybe thats why he snapped at your son?? I dont know, just throwing out some ideas. But I definitely wouldn't tolerate him doing that at all
 
You know, arthritis is a good thought! I have noticed in the last few weeks that his back hips have been a little off. I can't explain it without y'all seeing it. But I thought I was just seeing things, because he would be fine one day then the next day, he would be walking kind of strange for a few minutes, then back to normal. I haven't taken him to the vet, because I'm not sure of what I'm seeing.

As for the cat, he has a really high prey drive...for wild animals. Sometimes he'll look at the cats like he would like to chase them, but he doesn't. He isn't aggressive towards the bun though, he actually loves her. He licks her and sleeps with her in her fur pile.

I'm going to go look at the dog house again, I only glanced at it a few days ago. If it really is $60 and I'm not a blind bat, then I'll get it. It was big enough to fit 2 great danes in comfortably. HUGE. I also big ceramic food/water bowls. And I have just shy of an acre thats fenced in.
 
Hmm... That does sound like arthritis. And then it would make sense if your son touched a sore spot. I'd take him to the vet anyway, and you can decide what to do from there :)
 
He's at the age where arthiritis can start being a problem. You could try giving him Glucosamine or fish oil pills. They help alot with arthiritis. My neighbor has a 12 year old German Shepard and thats what she gives her. Along with baby aspirin. You can always tell when she has gotten her medicine because she gets up and walks like nothing is wrong. Its worth a try
 
My first thought was also that it could be a pain response. I'd have him checked out by a vet.

However, if you do want to keep him outside, straw is a great dog house insulator/bed.
 
we had two dogs when I was a teenager... mom's dog was mostly inside, but mine stayed outside because she was an unruly bundle of energy and would spend the whole day running like mad around the yard. she seemed to really enjoy being out there and having the space, as opposed to having to be quiet and well-behaved in the house. she came inside for brief visits now and then, but the only time she really got kept inside was on really cold nights (which there are very few of in my area).
 
It does sound as if it is arthritis or some other pain related issued. That being said it is never a good idea to allow children to pull on, climb on or lay on a dog. I know that many dogs put up with it but it just leaves too much of a chance for one quick mistake to leave a child scarred and an animal being put to sleep. When I worked for a local veterinary office, I saw way too many dogs being abandoned or put to sleep because they snapped at a child. And almost always the parents had a comment of "But Johnny has been sitting on/riding on/climbing on/pulling the ears of Rover since they were little". Think of it this way. If you are having pain in your hips and it hurts to sit are you going to cuddle with your child but you will tell them enough is enough when they start to hurt you. A dog can only say enough one way and that is to growl or snap.
 
nermal71 wrote:
It does sound as if it is arthritis or some other pain related issued. That being said it is never a good idea to allow children to pull on, climb on or lay on a dog. I know that many dogs put up with it but it just leaves too much of a chance for one quick mistake to leave a child scarred and an animal being put to sleep. When I worked for a local veterinary office,  I saw way too many dogs being abandoned or put to sleep because they snapped at a child. And almost always the parents had a comment of "But Johnny has been sitting on/riding on/climbing on/pulling the ears of Rover since they were little". Think of it this way. If you are having pain in your hips and it hurts to sit are you going to cuddle with your child but you will tell them enough is enough when they start to hurt you. A dog can only say enough one way and that is to growl or snap.
That makes so much sense.

I think I have some glucosimine tablets hiding in my animal box. I'll dig them out and start giving them to him.
I had a golden retriever live to be 16 and we gave him those, they seemed to help with his hips, but with him I think we started too late.
Anyway, I have to talk to my husband about it more. It was just my impulse to get him out of the house. He's been in this morning, but not around my son. Hes out right now and he seems happy. If my husband gives the okay to put him out, I'm going to get my dad to build him a dog house, since he's staying with us.
But then I don't know if I should put him out if his hips hurt and its cold out. Ughhh. I'm so confused now. I love this dog, he is a good boy. But I can't have a nippy dog near my kid, because I love my kid more. But I don't want my dog to suffer because hes in pain and my kid thinks he's a jungle gym.
I mean you guys with kids understand right? Like you love your animals, but you love your kids more. You don't want your animals to be unhappy, but you don't want your kids to get hurt either. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place I guess. AHHH.

PS. I've been trying to be more firm about my son being on the dog like that, because he doesn't understand when he is near other dogs that he can't touch them or be on them. So now I'm going to be EXTRA firm and tell him. But he IS just 18 months and he doesn't quite get it. He especially doesn't understand because he's been sleeping with our dog since he was a baby. But its never too early to start teaching/learning. He knows how to stay away from a Christmas tree, even if its a strangers! I taught him he can't go jerking down ornaments.
 
That's too bad your dog did that Morgan :(

I've never had outside dogs. But in this case it's definetly more important to do what's safe for your son. If that means putting your dog outside then I would do that. Either that or find him a new home, which that would probably be too hard to do and maybe more traumatic to your dog since you say he loves being outside.

I have aLOT of experience training dogs/owning dogs. Our last dog was a Rottweiler. I think that it is a bit of a myth that dogs and kids go together or play together well. Of course there are definetly dogs out there that are tolerable of anything, but alot of the time dogs don't view children, especially your sons age, as alpha. They view them as their equal or beneath them. So when they do something like lay on them or pull on them, they act out like a normal dog would to an inferior being....bite and growl.
I agree with nermal that your kid probably shouldn't be allowed to climb and lay on your dog....or any dog for that matter. It's to big a risk. If you can keep your dog and son seperate then maybe you can keep the dog inside all the time, but that may prove to be too difficult.
I think you should check out the arthritis avenue and the dog house route but definetly do what needs to be done to keep your son safe.
 
I absolutely will keep my son safe. That's why the dog is outside right now, because my son is up and around the house.
And everything everyone has said makes sense, and this is probably partly my fault because I didn't tell my son from a younger age to not be on the dog. I should have known since he was getting older and is a larger dog that he could have problems with arthritis.

I probably won't try to find him a home, its too difficult to do that. People don't want older larger dogs, who are dingos. I just have to figure out something to make it work.
Its so hard to find them homes and he doesn't always get along with other dogs. They have to be smaller than him.

And I'm the alpha in my house ;)
 
Haha, that's right Morgan, you ARE the alpha! I think you're doing the right thing, because you can see and understand that your son is more important and comes first. Believe me, i've met some people who don't share your views, and it didn't end up well for them!

Rehoming him might not be too hard, but of course, you'll have to know if it's really necessary to rehome him. I'm sure there's someone out there who could take him (if that's what you decided to do!) ;) Maybe even someone on this forum; you said he did well with rabbits, right? :)
 
I would really rather not rehome him. My husband loves him. I think he'll just live outside during the day and then come in at night. We spend time outside, so he won't be lonely or anything like that.
I just have to talk it out with my husband. If he doesn't want to put him out, then I'll have to contain him in the kitchen. We already have a gate up to the kitchen because thats where Foo lives, but the dog doesn't respect the gate because we've allowed him to jump back and forth over it.
So I'll have to get a higher gate or something. He is kennel trained but after training a foster golden retriever and losing our dachshund I vowed to never have another kennel in my house.
 
It sounds like a pain response to me.

Was the dog asleep when your son flopped on him? If so, it could have just been from surprise as well.

Honestly, though, I don't want to offend anyone but maybe teaching your son to respect an older dogs space is a good idea. You mention him pulling the dogs ears and tail, that would be irritating to any dog and honestly, I don't tolerate any kind of behavior like that with my dog, no matter who's doing it. Yes, the dog should not have snapped but his space also needs to be respected, especially if he is developing arthritis. You can't expect him to tolerate something that's causing him pain, that's not at all fair to him. If he just randomly snapped out, there has to be a reason.
 
Kipcha wrote:
It sounds like a pain response to me.

Was the dog asleep when your son flopped on him? If so, it could have just been from surprise as well.

Honestly, though, I don't want to offend anyone but maybe teaching your son to respect an older dogs space is a good idea. You mention him pulling the dogs ears and tail, that would be irritating to any dog and honestly, I don't tolerate any kind of behavior like that with my dog, no matter who's doing it. Yes, the dog should not have snapped but his space also needs to be respected, especially if he is developing arthritis. You can't expect him to tolerate something that's causing him pain, that's not at all fair to him. If he just randomly snapped out, there has to be a reason.
I 100% agree with teaching him boundaries. It is my fault that he is all over the dog all the time, because I never did anything to really stop it because our dog was so good.
But now, we're going to work on not attacking the dog with love. I've taught him he can't smother the cats, so now its dog time.
 
First off, Alpha theory has been disproven. So please don't try to "Fraser Milan" your dog because of this.

Any change in behavior warrants a vet visit. It probably is arthritis, but I could be something else.

And I know you're a good parent, but you can't be everywhere at once I'm sorry to say it, but your kid getting snapped at was your fault, not the dog's. He was in a position that made him uncomfortable and he probably gave your son a lot of warnings to get off that he didnt understand (sighing, lip licking, yawning, paw lifting, and looking away are all calming signals that mean "please calm down" or "please don't do that.") Your son doesn't understand them, which is why he didnt listen, which is why your dog felt the need to "escalate" with a snap.

You do have to watch out for the safety of your son as well as the safety of your dog. That doesn't mean your dog has to live outside, it just means you get a baby gate and they can't both be on the same side of it unless you are watching and not allowing your son to invade your dog's slace like that.

Your dog didn't do this to be mean, or bad, or aggressive, he did it because he was in pain and his requests were being ignored. He was just communicating. He doesn't deserve to be "punished" by having his life change so drastically because YOU weren't watching.

I know from your posts here that you're a good mom and you really love your pets ans you'll make the best decision for you, I just had to give my two cents.
 
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whitelop wrote:
I absolutely will keep my son safe. That's why the dog is outside right now, because my son is up and around the house.
And everything everyone has said makes sense, and this is probably partly my fault because I didn't tell my son from a younger age to not be on the dog. I should have known since he was getting older and is a larger dog that he could have problems with arthritis.

I probably won't try to find him a home, its too difficult to do that. People don't want older larger dogs, who are dingos. I just have to figure out something to make it work.
Its so hard to find them homes and he doesn't always get along with other dogs. They have to be smaller than him.

And I'm the alpha in my house ;)

Oh and I totally know you will keep your son safe :) we've had convos about kids and animals, lol.
And yes you are right about rehoming him. I just mentioned it in case it was something you considered but that option wouldn't work for your dog.
I think you have the right plan of action. Im sure it will all work out! :)
 
Sorry to disagree with you Jordan, but having an 'alpha' is 100% needed! With no one controlling the dog, the dog in a way, BECOMES the controller, he will be very hard to train, to make him yield. That's something you quickly learn when you own dogs.

It could very well be the dog's fault. Some dogs, I'm sorry to offend you, are just born skittish, and a skittish dog is ultimately going to be snappy. if Morgan's dog had always been skittish, then it's not surprise he would snap. But, because he wasn't, it's something else, it could be arthritis.

I think morgan has the right plan going!
 

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