by Heather Carter

Created on: February 07, 2009

When a person adopts a pet or buys a pet from a breeder there are many different reasons. However, no matter what the reason a person who does adopt or buy is agreeing to take responsibility for that dog, and keeping them 100% outside just isn't very responsible. It can affect their health, their temperament, and at times possibly your pocketbook.
I suppose that if you were planning on making your dog an outside dog then it is wise to know how temperatures affect certain breeds. Picture this, you are walking down the side of the road on a squelching summer day and you see a dog lying in the sun. No water and chained to the dog house. The breed of the dog in some cases governs weather they should be inside or out side. For example most dogs with shorter snouts i.e.: Boston terriers, pugs, or English bull dogs, shouldn't be exposed to extreme temperatures weather those temperatures be hot or cold without proper supervision. To make sure these types of situations don't come up let your dogs live indoors. I am not saying that an owner's companion can't play or work outside ever, just that at night or whenever they want they should have a comfortable place in which to rest. Also dogs that primarily live outside most likely could be affected more with illness than indoor dogs because they a lot of things in which they could get into.

A dog that lives outside could have a much different personality than one that lives inside. I would venture to say that ones who live outside would be more isolated than ones that live inside. They could be more irritable and for lack of better terms grumpy as a result. Not that it will be true in all cases just an idea of what could happen in certain situations.
I think that the cruelty of animals has been frowned upon more and more every year even the unintentional. In Wisconsin I believe that if it gets below a certain temperature it is illegal to have your animal outside without proper shelter conditions overnight, meaning that if you get caught you could be fined.
Mostly I feel that dogs should be kept as inside pets because I live in Wisconsin and during the summer it is very nice and I would let my Black Lab play outside all day if she wanted, but the winters get really cold and especially this year has been one of the coldest I can ever remember. I just couldn't imagine leaving her outside to face that coldness even with her sleek fur coat while I am all toasty warm inside.

The argument I am sure will be raised that dogs were living outside for many years before we came and they did it just fine. However, we took it upon ourselves to "adopt" them as man's best friend. In doing this we became responsible for taking care of them and you can't just do that half-way.

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