Dog Confinment

[MadMax]

What do you think would be best? to have my dog confined to kennel and only be allowed out for daily walks, and training, or to let him roam around in the yard. My house sits on two residential lots, so he has lots of room to run around. Please advise

[Brittguy]

If you have a means to keep him in your yard such as fencing then I feel either way would be alright.

[BigShooter]

This is just my opinion of what I would do. Kennels are constructed to prevent escapes from digging and roofed to prevent climbing the chain link sidewalls to go over the top. That kind of security is difficult to duplicate along an entire fenced in yard. Set up the kennel so urine and fecal matter is easily cleaned off into a drain and containment system. Dogs ruin whole yards with digging, running lanes & urine. I would keep the dog in a kennel but have the yard fenced in around the kennel. For training a gundog we want it to be fun and something the dog looks forward to. The dogs always look forward to getting out of a kennel. So when you take the dog out you transition to training and fun time in the fenced in yard for control purposes and to prevent any accidents from happening beyond your yard. Personally I would tend to only have the dog running free in the yard when I was home. You want the dog to associate you with fun time.

Lots of folks use e-collar type containment systems, either with underground wire around the perimeter or wireless. The pro I know the best will tell you he hates getting a dog to train that has this type of containment system at home but these systems are effective for many situations.

JMO,

[RayGubernat]

My dogs are kenneled when my wife or I are not in the yard with them. Period...end of story. I need to know that they are safe and in the kennel they are safe.

When we are there the dogs have the run of the fenced in back yard which is about 80 X 100, but they seem to want to take turns coming to one or the other of us to get some attention...in between playing keep away and tug of war with boodles and balls with the other dogs.

I kennel the dogs up after they run around and burn off steam and then I will work with each of them in turn, usually twice a day, morning and evening, while the rest watch from their kennels. Often it is just a few simple heel/whoa drills or some bench time, but they all seem to crave it and wait for it.

RayG

[vols fan]

My dogsare in a 100 x 200 fenced run but are kenneled at night and when we are gone.

[MadMax]

Thanks for the replies. My dog seems to be doing ok and he knows when play time and training begin and gets really excited. I feel that if I kennel him now it will only bring him down. I just needed some input and it is greatly appreciated.

[Tall Boy]

Big Shooter hit it on the head. I trained a GSP who's owners had big property on the water, where the dog ran around the yard all day pointing lizards and chasing birds. She was a very independent dog who, as a result, elongated her range to that of a big running pointer. From the dogs I have trained, those that are kenneled always tune up a little easier. But, what is more important than any of that is the relationship with your dog. I like kennels for multiple dogs because you can get one-on-one with them with out having to worry about the other dogs. If you have only one dog then let the pup do what he wants, just make sure that his environment is safe and that you hang it with him a lot.

[birddogger]

Big Shooter hit it on the head. I trained a GSP who's owners had big property on the water, where the dog ran around the yard all day pointing lizards and chasing birds. She was a very independent dog who, as a result, elongated her range to that of a big running pointer. From the dogs I have trained, those that are kenneled always tune up a little easier. But, what is more important than any of that is the relationship with your dog. I like kennels for multiple dogs because you can get one-on-one with them with out having to worry about the other dogs. If you have only one dog then let the pup do what he wants, just make sure that his environment is safe and that you hang it with him a lot.

Good post and well stated.

Charlie