Long gone are the days where dogs would reside in a backyard kennel. Now they are inside with us — some even nuzzling into our beds. Kylie Baracz discovers the benefits of indoor vs outdoor dogs.
Years ago, keeping your dog inside with you wasn’t common. Back then, owners considered dogs as protectors — a mate, but not part of the family. Fast forward to 2014 and dogs are not only sleeping indoors and spending time with the family, they are also making their way into our beds. So what changed? Pet psychologist Dr Joanne Righetti says it could be because we now consider them as part of the family unit. “We now have smaller families, but still have a human need to nurture and we now lavish our care and attention on our pets. It makes sense to keep something you care about close to you,” says Dr Righetti.
What are the benefits of indoor dogs?
When dogs spend time with us inside, there are some great benefits for both us and our pooches. Dr Righetti lists the perks of having a pup inside:
- They are always close when we need someone to talk to or to touch.
- They become part of the family and our children (if we have them) benefit from having a companion to nurture and tell their secrets to.
- We can more easily see when our pets are sick or their behaviour has changed and can seek help.
- They alert us to anyone who is approaching our homes (and for those who want a guard dog — there is more chance of them protecting what is in your home rather than simply protecting your backyard).
- We know where they are at all times so we can stop any misbehaviour.
- There are even health benefits such as having fewer allergies when you grow up with pets.
- They vacuum up all our crumbs!
What are the risks?
While Dr Righetti says the benefits of having a dog greatly outweigh the risks, there are some hazards to think about before opening that doggy door:
- There are disease risks of having a dog close to us as zoonotic diseases that can be transferred from animal to human and vice versa. These risks are small, however, and probably far outweighed by the benefits.
- We could potentially encounter our dog’s aggressive tendencies, perhaps challenging you for the sofa or taking your children’s toys. Obviously dogs need to be managed adequately and help found when any danger is present.
- Toilet training is a must; otherwise you may find puddles on your favourite rug.
- Other risks include tripping over your dog or not having a place on the sofa to sit!
What’s best for the dog?
Dr Righetti believes everyone should have a choice when it comes to the rules of the house, including working out what makes your pup comfortable. “If humans don’t want to sleep with their dog on the bed or in the bedroom, they shouldn’t have to. The same applies to the dog. Most dogs will choose to sleep near their owner. They have more restless sleep than us and may get too warm next to us. Then again they, and we, can be a great source of heat in winter,” she says.
“Some dogs, which spend a great deal of time in close proximity to their owners, will go on to develop separation anxiety — where they fret when left alone. Some dogs do not exhibit this condition so we don’t really know why some do and some don’t yet. Owners can make sure they spend some time apart from their dog, leaving them home alone or even leaving them in the room alone for a minute or two. This will help their dog learn to cope with being alone, especially if they are left with a toy or a treat to occupy them.”
Dr Righetti believes the bond is strongest when owners live in close proximity to their dog. “If you don’t wish your dog to be indoors, perhaps you should spend more time outside. If this is unacceptable, then perhaps a different kind of pet would suit you better,” she says.
How to prevent the mess
Keeping dogs inside can mean a bigger mess to clean up (eg urinating inside, chewed couches and shedding hair). So how can owners prevent these messes and still have their pooch indoors? “Mess equals environmental enrichment for dogs! Give your dog something to occupy them when indoors or when outside and you will have a happier canine,” says Dr Righetti. “If your dog is really destructive, confine them to a small, safe area when you cannot be present to supervise. When you are home, keep the dog near you (even attached to a lead) and you can monitor their behaviour, until you have taught them the way you’d like them to behave.”
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A family member of mine, who has been a stay at home housewife for the last 30yrs has always had two dogs at anytime. The dogs have spent every minute of the day with them, following them around the house all day,every day… sleeping in their bed each night, licking the dinner plates clean…. whinning when left alone for 2 minutes.
Each dog started with character and playfulness, But when they have reached the mid to later years have developed into Very Sad beasts who are totally reliant on just one person, even though there is more then one person in the household.
Selfishness!!
I am having very hard time with my dog…he is about 11 months and he is inisde. I am not the strongest of human reagrding training and I work a lot. I have cried a lot because I want to keep my og, however, he is destructive and pees everywhere and it is just a constant clean up! but he is sweet and loving but hyper. I am contemplating creating a life for him outside..backyard dog with clean area for him. it is not a big yard but I can still take him on walks as I normally do. I just feel so guilty and makes me sad to think he may feel alone.
Don’t feel guilty, your’e dog will be nomore alone outside then in, when your’e at work. Living outside doesn’t mean you can’t bring the dog in for company when you are there.
But would obviously need to sleep outside, due to lack of training
An unusual article. The title says Indoor vs Outdoor, yet the article only refers to indoor living.
Sorry but this is a very biased and poorly written article. Anyone that talks to a dog like a human or says theyre good for their children to tell secrets to might need some help.
For thousands of years dogs have protected man and slept outside, happily gaurding their territories and owners. Now suddenly youre Adolf Hitler in disguise for even suggesting a dog sleeps or stays outside. They urinate and poo all over the house unless you have hours to sit and train them for months to go outside by themselves. They chew the furniture, get extremely demanding and take advantage of people who dont know how to properly train a dog. Dogs can blackmail you if thy see you are weak. They will whine and a weak owner will give them food or pet them, only reinforcing the whining, the bad behaviour.
I agree 110% that every dog must get love and attention from their owners. But it seems in this day and age people have become too soft that they are even willing to share their plate with their dog, and in some cases the dogs take over the bed. These dogs are usually horribly behaved and lack even the most basic discipline.
Its up to you if you want your dog to run your house. But theres nothing wrong with having a dog outside, and its very beneficial in many ways. This article defends only the in house position with little else to say about outside dogs. Ive even seen people let their dogs lick their children on the mouth. That is sick and disgusting and you should be put in prison for that.
I agree. It’s shocking to see how many people apply their “human ideology” on animals especially dogs. They don’t try to keep them in their natural habitat such as keeping them out in the open air, getting them familiarised with rain and winds, allowing them to encounter some toughness (under your supervision).
We’ve domesticated them enough now us human keep on looking for excuses to apply our lazy human ideology on dogs. Dogs don’t become part of the family only when indoor.
I guess it’s just an excuse for them lazy people who cannot be bothered to spend some time outside in open air with their dog.
It’s all personal whether to keep inside or outside.
Keeping the dog outside is not cruel when all their needs are provided for them such as a soft rug or blanket for them to sit on if not comfy on the ground, checking on them and interacting with them every now and then and keeping their environment clean.
I have a large breed dog and he’s outside, but I do not know about small breed dogs 🙂
I completely agree. I used to have the dogs inside with me day and night but I came to the conclusion I simply did not have the time any longer to vacuum and clean the house, furniture and bed daily – which is what you should do if you make the commitment to having inside dogs IMO – not only that, the smell of dog is near impossible to get rid of. From going to the toilet (marking territory) to shedding hair. To each his own however, I get so annoyed when people gasp in horror when they find my dogs are outside dogs. At the end of the day, people being judgemental towards “outside dog owners” need to remember the amount of dogs/animals being starved to death, chained up their entire lives, abandoned, given up etc etc. rubbish article.
When i was a kid most everyone that had animals like dogs had them outside. Unleashed turned to leashed as more people moved to the area. My last dog passed away about 2003 at 16. We are very anti indoor dogs. Just now how we had it. They were animals for the kids (us) to go outside and play with.
Today it seems that the outdoor dogs were all brought indoors…but not because it was cruelty. We got cell phones, smart phones, didnt venture outside, and the nuclear family went kaput. Dogs now are the solution to a bad family system. Dads gone to be a trucker? Get a dog. Mom doesnt get love from dad anymore? Get her a dog. Kids wanna new toy but wont get off their phones or go outside anymore? Bring a dog in.
My mother and i have been able to look back and see when people brought the dogs in. I can list reasons why most every who has indoor dogs has them. From the chick whos BF ignores her to the loss of a child. It changed the amimal to a member of the family. Its strange and a band aid that didnt fix the family issues.
Well said. I also grew up knowing dogs mainly to be outside, and they were happy that way. This whole new movement of insisting they be indoors is ridiculous. Dogs are deaigned to be outdoor animals. They dont build houses like humans. They have fur coats to protect them from various weather conditions etc because they are made to be outdoors. Humans build houses because we dont have fur, we have bare skin and are much more sensitive to cold weather. A dog can survive just fine in the outdoors. Some can even sleep in the snow! Look at dogs in Alaska
Our dog started off a an outside dog but somehow managed to make his way inside, he was never aloud in the lounge room but now is up on the couch with us. But there was one place were he was definitely NOT aloud, upstairs!!!!!! He now sleeps upstairs in our beds. Its amazing how dogs manage to sneak into our NO-GO ZONE’S.
Thats because you are weak and your dog has trained you so well that you meet its every demand, instead of you being leader of the pack, your dog now owns you, not the other way around. Congratulations, you are a pet of a dog.
I couldn’t imagine having an ‘outside’ dog! I grew up in England and due to the awful weather, you’d hardly ever see an outside dog except if they lived on a farm. When I came to live in Australia I was surprised how many dogs lived in people’s backyards.
Working at My Pet Warehouse, has exposed me to a multitude of pet owners and I agree with the article that the majority of people keep their dog’s inside. Particularly those that see their dog as part of the family!
– Amy @ My Pet Warehouse
Freezing for a dog in England?, What naive comments ,Sorry!! Just because we might find in freezing doesn’t mean most breed of dogs would.
Its only the last 30-50yrs that the dog has commonly being bought inside, Where do you think they lived before? Its society that has become soft, Not the Dog! We spend so much time these days sat inside and have ‘generally’ become to Lazy and to weak ourselves to spend time outside, that we want our dogs inside.
Thanks for your comment Amy! I can’t imagine seeing a dog sleep outdoors in England – that would be freezing in winter! In Australia, it is more common, however many have moved indoors over the years 🙂