Owning a kennel dog

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cbump
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Owning a kennel dog

Post by cbump » Wed Jan 14, 2015 6:24 am

I'm thinking of making a super high drive and high strung pup of mine an outside/kennel dog. She can't turn off her retrieve drive in the house and it's getting ridiculous. She can be in the house three hours and it's 10pm and she still will up and wired searching for a ball or trying to bring things. It's literally non stop, she won't even chill out long enough to lay down for 5 minutes.

So anyway, anyone have a kennel only dog? What kind of routine do you keep them on? I've only ever had inside dogs so I need to get passed the stigma of feeling sorry for her when I bring my other dog in at night. I'm having reservations about it because I know I would feel bad but the stress is too high in the house with her.
They already have a nice kennel with igloo house and cedar chips.

What's your routine and do you believe in owning a kennel dog?
Also does anyone have a dog that is a machine like that? A dog that is pretty much uninterested in anything (affection, etc) other than working?

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gonehuntin'
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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by gonehuntin' » Wed Jan 14, 2015 6:30 am

Every dog I've owned for the past 40 years has been a field trial dog. I don't put up with that crap. I either make them lay on a bed or spot on the floor, or I kennel them for the night. Just don't put up with it or the dog will be running you for the rest of it's life. No reason EVER for a dog's rude behavior in the house.

I don't like keeping dog's in an outdoor kennel, but I have and if you have a lot of dog's there's not much choice. Even when I did that I'd have them in the house until bed time then kennel them. Having a dog in the house is a chance to instill more discipline when not associated with the field and to build a closer bond with the dog.

tobytx
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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by tobytx » Wed Jan 14, 2015 7:44 am

How old is this pup?

Sounds like you have more dog than you can handle.

cbump
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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by cbump » Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:01 am

Thanks for the reply. I feel like we've set ourselves up for this because, since she loves to retrieve so much, we will work her trying to wear her out (which it doesn't) and I think she now just associates us with playing fetch. Basically I think we've unintentionally taught her that if she's around us, it's fetch time.

Any tips on how to not allow it in the house? Should we literally force her to lay down over and over? We've tried ignoring her but she's relentless so that doesn't work.
Btw, she is crate trained and they do sleep in it at night. It's just the three to four hours between coming in for the evening and going to bed that is hectic. My other dog is only two, but has always figured out that when inside he should just chill and hang out with us so I never had to train it in him.

If I can break the behavior that would be ideal.




PS she goes to a trainer in a month so maybe they can teach her "place"?

cbump
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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by cbump » Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:05 am

tobytx wrote:How old is this pup?

Sounds like you have more dog than you can handle.
She's 6 months old.
Big time field trial lines.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by PntrRookie » Wed Jan 14, 2015 8:56 am

cbump wrote:...anyone have a kennel only dog? What kind of routine do you keep them on...
Dogs do VERY well in outdoor kennels. They make it their home. It will take a LOT of stress off of you and your family. Yes you will have to get over the feeling of guilt or uneasiness that YOU feel, but remember that feeling is YOURS NOT the dogs. They LOVE their space and it is their home. Trust me I did this 2+ years ago and will never have another house dog. They get all the attention, training, love, independence, etc. and your house becomes YOUR house. Your family will love you for it.

That being said, my routine is this...morning, get ready for work, go out let dogs out to run in yard and do their business. I clean the kennel, check their water, and make sure they have dry bedding in their house (we are here in the cold), drink my coffee and put them back in after 15-30 minutes. Afternoon when I get home from work I repeat morning routine and leave them out longer because now I am home working in garage/yard, etc. Put them back in kennel around 6pm and I go in and have dinner w family, run errands, watch TV, etc....MY time. Around 9pm (and not every night) I'll let them out one last time before bed.

Here is the only exception. When the temps dip below 0, and wind chills are below -10 at night, I bring them in and put them each in a crate and they sleep in our laundry room. Then in the morning, the outside daily routine begins again. Their outside dog house is heated, so I rarely worry. You will not have that problem in TX.

In a nutshell...SAVE your family the headaches and get them all in an outside routine. It takes stress off you and your family. The dogs STILL get the love and attention and are still crazy for birds. Does absolutely NOTHING to deter that.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by shags » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:13 am

You can teach the dog 'place', you don't need a trainer for house manners. I think you are correct about why your dog is so persistant about fetch in the house. She has high drive and and you encouraged it, perhaps inappropriately. My daughter and SIL have a dog like that ( a shelter mixed breed, but really obsessive about playing fetch with his ball). They have inadvertantly enouraged him because when he nags, they tell him no, and to go lay down. He does for a minute then resumes nagging. To get him off their backs, they toss the ball for him. So the dog has learned that 'no' and 'go lay down' mean give it 30 seconds, resume nagging, and someone will give in.

I would put all fetching toys, bumpers, etc away where the dog has no access, visual or otherwise. Then enforce a place command, whether it's in the crate or at your feet or wherever you choose. If outside the crate, have a lead on the dog so you can correct her without verbal commands. IME a silent system works pretty well in frustrating situations because as we get more and more ramped up over the dog's disobedience, our voices get louder, and that contributes to frustration. Remaining quiet contributes to calmness, which is what the dog needs. If you crate the dog and she rattles around and whines in there, correct it. I've had good results with giving the crate a shake. The dogs learn that the crate is a place where they must lie down quietly.

If you relegate the dog to an outdoor kennel, you will get her out of your hair, but you won't be teaching her how to behave.

Good luck to you. That's a very annoying problem to deal with.

cbump
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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by cbump » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:16 am

Shags, luckily her crate is the one place she is settled. Almost instantly in her crate she's snoring. So she is capable.

I'll give everything you said a try.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by rinker » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:19 am

I must be the dinosaur on this page. I have never had a dog indoors. I currently have seven dogs, all in outside kennels. I don't do anything special. They are fed and watered daily, In the winter ice is busted out of pans regularly. They have houses with dry bedding, and bedding replaced on a regular basis. They get out of the kennel when it is time to train, or go hunting.

People tend to freak out over cold weather, but I honestly believe that my dogs are more comfortable in sub zero weather than they are in 90 degree plus weather. Of course they need a decent house and decent bedding. The record cold temperature where I live is -35 degrees, this occured in the early 90's. I had a litter of days old puppies in a house in an outdoor kennel that day. That is the only time that I have considered bringing dogs in the house. I decided against it because I thought they would never survive having the top removed from their dog house and being transported inside. The next day, I very nervously peaked in to the dog house and found those puppies to be just fine. I did not lose a puppy from that litter.

I hear people say that they feel sorry for dogs that live outside. I actually feel sorry for dogs that live inside. My dogs live in pens that are 35' wide and 110' deep. They have room to run around, they can dig a hole, bark a little, play with each other, go in and out of their house at their leisure, urinate and defecate on their own schedule. They are never confined to a crate, except when they are in the truck.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by cbump » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:22 am

Rinker, sounds like an awesome dog run. Does each dog have a kennel that size or are the all in together?

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by AZ Brittany Guy » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:26 am

"What you allow a dog to do, you train a dog to do"
............... Delmar Smith

Having said that, the only dogs that have uninterrupted house time in my family are my senior citizens, wife's dog and pups for their first year. Like my previous poster said, they get used to their kennel and that is where they feel safe and secure. I have had injured kennel dogs that I tried to keep in the house during recovery and they "fuss" until I let them back in their kennel. We have a kennel building with outdoor runs surrounded by about 1 acre of "fenced dog yard". The only time I lock them in their runs is when I travel and have someone look after them. Each one knows their own run/kennel and climb in their barrel every night. On cold nights they bunk together, two in a barrel.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by rinker » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:42 am

Does each dog have a kennel that size or are the all in together?
I have three pens that size. I currently have seven dogs divided in the three pens, but that is a little unusual. I usually have four or five dogs.

I moved a few years ago and set these pens up. At my former house I had smaller concrete floored kennels. I like the new setup better, hosing out concrete floored kennels multiple times daily was getting old.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by RoostersMom » Wed Jan 14, 2015 10:24 am

I'll fall on the side of "erring for inside." All of our pointing dogs live inside most of the time. Our beagles live together in a pen and our chessies stay outside as well since they don't tolerate the heat inside very well. I would have to agree that some dogs are plenty happy outside. Having "A" outside dog is not ideal though. One by itself - that's just not how dogs are meant to live. I know others will disagree, but dogs are pack animals, they do better with their "pack" around them - whether that be a human family or a dog family. I truly do think it's not right to leave a single dog kenneled outside alone.

I see your problem with getting this dog to "turn off" the switch inside. You have to teach that. Our 18 month old pointer (a big boy) is still too rambunctious in the house - we just train on that and he's getting better every day. He'll now go to his blanket and lay down when told to do so. Does he still knock stuff off the coffee table with his ridiculously long tail - yes. But he's getting better every day. A great trainer here in Missouri once told me that he takes every single dog he trains in the house on a leash - he then sits down with a good book (every day) and reads for at least 30 minutes with the dog on the leash in the "down" position. He either steps on the leash or he puts his chair leg on it to keep the dog immobile. He believes this teaches the dog self control. He's also a big advocate of really exercising the dog a lot - biking or running 3 miles each evening before coming in the house. I find that my dogs are all much more enjoyable in the house after they've had a good nice run or been hunting.

If you just relegate the dog to the outdoors so you don't have to deal with the obedience problem - well that will never improve. The dog will always be out of control until you get a handle on it. It takes persistence and consistency. You say the dog settles in the kennel well - then you need to teach her to settle in the house as well. She is capable and I'm sure that you are too. It will take time, but you'll likely benefit from it in the long run - and the dog will as well.

BTW - with these really frigid temps (last week and a half) under 0 degrees, we've had 6 birddogs in the house. We use crates when needed, but they have all learned to settle well. It takes time for the youngsters to learn this trick - but you can do it.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by shags » Wed Jan 14, 2015 10:30 am

I have 5 dogs, and all are in the house all the time. They all know how to behave, most of the time :lol: Every now and then it gets annoying but overall we enjoy having them around - with dogs, everything is cause for celebration and mine are always ready to throw a party. Makes it cheerful :lol:

Horses for courses. It's not a question of whether inside or outside is right or wrong. Whatever suits ya.

Edited to add...Roostersmom hit it about the single dog being alone outside. Dogs need and thrive with companionship.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by Sharon » Wed Jan 14, 2015 4:12 pm

Ignore the dog annoying you to play fetch . Say nothing - look away. It will take time, but it will work . I do the same thing with my JRT

Is the dog getting enough hard exercise otherwise?

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by cbump » Wed Jan 14, 2015 5:38 pm

Sharon wrote:Ignore the dog annoying you to play fetch . Say nothing - look away. It will take time, but it will work . I do the same thing with my JRT

Is the dog getting enough hard exercise otherwise?

I think so. Her and my vizsla run all day. Literally. They sit and watch for squirrels then chase them. I think the squirrels tease them on purpose.
We also take them up to the ball fields a lot for free run. And go camping a lot (which I know isn't day to day activity).

We're buying walky dog bike harnesses this month after I saw that conditioning post the other day.



Btw, when we go to the lake or ball fields she is a boot licker in the sense that she will literally walk backward and stare at you wherever you go waiting for something to get thrown. She won't just go run with my other dog.
I know I have encouraged this but just relaying how she now constantly acts. The other day I gave in and threw her big dokken mallard 87 times and she went as hard on the first as the last time and would have kept going. I was trying to wear her out but it wasn't working lmao. About 15 of those were water retrieves.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by cbump » Wed Jan 14, 2015 5:42 pm

Also she's super smart, just has a one track mind. I can say beside and she sits beside me on the left and she's about 50% on not breaking until I tell her fetch. I have her drag a lead and I step on it before I throw the dummy so she feels it if she breaks.

This is all just play training by a newbie. My plan from the beginning had been to send her for formal training.

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Re: Owning a kennel dog

Post by ezzy333 » Wed Jan 14, 2015 5:47 pm

You probably just delayed by a week or two of her giving up if you had just ignored her. I always heard the problem with squirrel hunting by just sitting still is a human can only sit still for five minutes and a squirrel can sit still for six minutes. I think the same thing applies to trying to train a dog by ignoring them. Work on it if you want to win.

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