Hi Chococheer, These were my thoughts as well, and she is reaching out for advice. Eastern Europe is completely different to UK as far as pets and animals go. Sounds like the Aussies to, but then there is Gary that runs free in the outback. Go Gary!
Working dogs in the outback are different - but they need to be extremely well trained - a dog which bites or/and mauls farm animals will be shot on sight. Even someone's pet which has obviously escaped its enclosure accosting farm animals is fair game - that too is a different culture to the treatment of city/suburban pets in Australia.
We have crazy laws here. When we are tending sheep, we have borders to herd and different kind of livestock guardian dogs. They come up to my belly button. We put them in with the sheep when they are born. They can be extremely unforgiving to intruders. So our problem is with the tourist who ignore the signs posted in just about every language and refuse to leash their dogs. They often chase the sheep and since they are not carefully introduced to the protection dogs, as the BC are, they attack and injure the tourist's dogs. No matter what, the Sheppard is liable.
I would get a fence and spend as much time with your dog as you can. Dogs are social animals and lonely and bored without company. ...
There were some posts on this thread which I felt were not in keeping with the forum ethos of creating a welcoming and friendly environment. I have now deleted them. There are a few interesting issues raised in this thread and I’d like to give my thoughts on those. They included International differences Allowing dogs to roam free Housing dogs outdoors Changes in behaviour in elderly dogs This is an international forum. We have members from all over the world and I think that makes it more interesting for all of us. Inevitably it also highlights some of our differences. As an example of different cultures, one poster on this thread commented that dogs would never be allowed off leash where he lives. Again, this is vastly different in the UK where dogs are rarely on leads when out in the countryside. The simple reason being that once you are away from roads, we have few environmental hazards here. No crocodiles or poisonous snakes. Few dangerous rapids, or canyons etc. There are no ‘dog parks’ in the UK because there are a million places where dogs can run free in relative safety - apart from sensible rules around livestock, and some restrictions on beaches in the summer for hygiene reasons, dogs can be off leash pretty much anywhere. My point is simply that what passes for normal in one place, may not be normal in another. Allowing dogs to roam free Some dogs live on rural properties without fences and for the most part don’t wander off. This seems quite alien to many of us in our densely populated corner of Europe where almost all dogs nowadays live fenced in. This does happen in parts of the UK, but is much more common in some other parts of the world I have an understanding of how this works because I grew up with a dog that knew no fences or boundaries, and my mother would have thought it cruel to enclose him in the same way that I think it cruel to enclose cats - even though in many parts of the USA most cats now live their entire lives indoors, and I am castigated for even considering letting my kitten outdoors when he is older (yes I have a kitten). My childhood dog (a golden retriever) in the 60s would accompany me to the school bus stop in the mornings, and meet me off the bus in the afternoons. By himself. He was no more and no less loved than anyone else’s dog, then or now. But roam he did, and was often gone for several hours at a time. Road traffic was a fraction of the volume in my childhood that it is now in the UK. And I think traffic is a huge part of why dogs are almost entirely restricted here now. How things differ in Slovenia, I don’t know as I have never been there. But I’m guessing that life is a little less frantic. I don’t really approve of dogs being left to roam now, but I understand that not everyone lives within two minutes of a dual carriageway, or in a villages where a hundred cars pass through every ten minutes. In many places dogs can live much freer lives than our dogs do, without coming to any harm Once a dog has started roaming, for whatever reason, it is not really helpful to make the dog responsible for the problem - as in saying “the dog knows he did wrong” As Julie has said, dogs have no concept of guilt, only an expectation of punishment. And studies support this view. In addition punishment long after the crime (the point at which the dog wanders off), has no effect on behaviour. So my advice to the OP would be to try and manage this problem rather that addressing it with training. Housing dogs outdoors In some parts of the world, dogs live outdoors for much of their lives. In many places dogs sleep outside in extremely cold weather. Until a couple of years ago, all my dogs, working gundogs, whenever they were not being worked or trained, lived their entire adult lives in outdoor unheated kennels, with an exercise yard/run attached. Our kennel area is about 7 metres by 3 metres, so around the same size as the OP’s dog’s run. I don’t agree that this is miserable though I can see why some people might think it so. In my view, many dogs actually prefer to spend their time outdoors, to sleep in the sun when they choose, feel the breeze on their faces, and watch the world go by, and are not bothered by the cold. My dogs now live indoors - I brought them in mainly because I was worried about the increasingly frequent thefts of gundogs from kennels in my area. And partly because my kids had grown up and left home and I was able to enjoy my dogs indoors without them (or me) being distracted. Are they happier indoors? I wouldn’t say so. I’m happier with them inside, but I don’t think it makes very much difference to them. Meg likes to sleep next to me if she can, but the two Labs take themselves off to a bed or the sofa and sleep the day away while I work, just as they did in the kennel. It isn’t as cold here as it is in Eastern Europe, but many working gundogs in the UK sleep outdoors in much colder temperatures than we have here on the South coast. And I do know that my dogs came to no harm and grew thick and magnificent coats to keep themselves warm. Obviously, kennelling needs to be done with consideration. Freedom from drafts or direct sun are important. And dogs kennelled alone can definitely get bored and lonely. If it is too cold in Slovenia for a dog to stay outdoors for an extended period of time, then a solution might be to keep the dog indoors until the weather warms up and to take her for walks several times a day so she can relieve herself under supervision. If she runs off when under supervision, then the OP might want to consider keeping her on a long line, or doing to recall retraining using high value rewards Changes in an old dog I think it is relevant here that the dog’s behaviour has changed recently. This might indicate some change in the dog. Perhaps, as Snowshoe has suggested, a change associated with aging Changes in behaviour in an older dog (such as the way a dog relates to other dogs) may be associated with cognitive decline. And I agree that the increase in roaming could be linked to this too. To go back to cultural difference for a moment. When we are talking about the way we manage our dogs, I think it’s worth bearing in mind too, that times change, things change, but every location changes at the same pace and not everyone changes at once. There are still parts of the world where the day to day treatment of dogs seems particularly harsh to the majority of those who post regularly on this forum. Places where puppies are sold at four or five weeks old, places where dogs are trained with prong collars or electric shocks. Place where dogs are regularly beaten or abused. Places where people still believe in outdated theories of dominance and pack leadership Sometimes people post on this forum with comments that show that they are light years behind providing what we believe to be the minimum basic requirements for a dog to have a good life. And for the most part we deal with those people sensitively and kindly, even though we may be saddened for their dogs. My personal view is that sensitively and kindly is the right approach for us here, even if it is not the approach favoured on many modern forums. Maintaining forum for everyone Internet life can be very abrasive and harsh and I like to think that this forum can be a safe haven for people where they can be advised and helped without fear of being jumped on. We aim to achieve that environment by moderating what is posted here. Obviously one person’s ‘well-moderated’ is another person’s ‘over-censored’ and we are never going to please everyone on that score. And I do massively appreciate everyone's help in maintaining the forum ethos, even if they don't agree with everything I am trying to do here. On balance, I think Karen was right to step in and ask for the thread to proceed in a more friendly manner, and for that reason, I’m have split the thread at the point where I think it became, in my view, unfriendly, and have posted this in its place.
Thanks for an excellent, well considered post Pippa. So much of the way we keep dogs is cultural. They are amazing animals, aren't they? Over the millennia they have loved us and stuck with us however we have treated them. I am very glad the trend - everywhere as far as I can see - is towards positive, kindly treatment of dogs and methods of training. Long may this trend continue.
