Many people think that a dog, in order to be happy, needs a nice yard where it can run and vent its energy rather than live calmly inside their homes. Actually, it’s not the dog that needs a garden, but the owner who has neither desire nor time to walk their furry four-legged friends and think the most practical solution is to just keep the dogs in the yard. Nothing could be farther from the truth! We will discover the pros and cons of the so called outside dog!
Are outside dogs happy?
For a dog, a yard is not a synonym of happiness nor something similar to Eden, it’s more like a personal bathroom. So, whoever thinks that keeping a dog outside all day and all night will make the dog happy is absolutely wrong. We will never get tired of saying it: A dog wants to be with its owner, it doesn’t ask for anything else, it doesn’t care about yards, quite the opposite, more often than not they get terribly bored and so, to kill time, they bark constantly at anything that they see move.
This of course is annoying for the neighbors that in some cases protest, in other case however they can do terrible things like throwing poisoned meatballs. Resentment towards dogs doesn’t come so much from the animal as from the way the owner deals with it. As a consequence, since they can’t poison the owner, they make the dog pay.
You can let your dog bark continuously at night, since your neighbors might pass from tolerating to hating dogs in garden that always bark and you will be to blame for this behavior, although the dog will pay for the awful relationship you’ve established with it, or better, you didn’t care to understand its needs and what it tries to communicate us. Do you want to know how to make a dog happy? We’ll tell you right away: a happy dog is a dog that is with its owner as much as possible. Dogs don’t care if they live in a 40 m2 apartment or in a mansion. Dog don’t care if their owners are poor or rich, a dog will be happy to just share it owner’s everyday life.
The pros and cons of dogs in the yard
If we want to put the pros and cons of dogs in the yard on a scale, according to you, which side wins?
- You can avoid taking the dog for a walk to go to the bathroom and avoid walking around outside in the cold and rain;
- You can play with your dog whenever you want without any complaints that it isn’t on its leash;
- You can avoid fights with other dogs.
Now let’s pass to cons…
- Dog don’t get to socialize with other dogs;
- They can become territorial up to the point where they considers anyone that enters onto your property, even if invited, as an intruder;
- It will not be unusual to see your dog run out of the gate if it is open with all the risks that brings if they are not properly trained;
- If you don’t spend enough time with them, outside dogs will not recognize you as their owners, but just as someone who brings food.
That said, it’s clear that if you have a yard, it’s not a crime to play with your dog and let him run around on the lawn! The only thing to emphasize is that an inside dog can be just as happy as a dog in the yard! So the sentence “I want a dog but I don’t have a yard“, at least to us, doesn’t make sense! In any case, during the night, always remember to keep your dog inside. Your neighbors will be happier and thieves won’t.
