We live out in the country, and my puppy, Honey, stays exclusively outside. She usually does a great job of staying around our property but recently our neighbors from across the field said she’s been showing up at their house in the morning before I’m awake. There is a fence between our properties that I want to teach her is the border, but what is the best way to go about doing this? I know most dogs are kept primarily indoors, so it’s been hard to find good tips. One other thing is they have two dogs that she wants to go play with-that’s the draw for her. Thanks in advance!
Hi Stefanie, If you want to keep her out of your neighbour's yard then you will need to make a physical barrier that she cannot cross, or to supervise her whenever she's outdoors. The reward of getting to the other dogs is far too great for her to be motivated to stay in your property otherwise, I'm afraid
A dog needs to be safely contained at all times. If you don't want your dog to live indoors, then you will need to construct a kennel or run for her, outside. For me, part of the pleasure of having dogs, is living with them in my house. There is also research which shows that dogs benefit from just being in the presence of their owners - even if you're not engaging with the dog, they show fewer stress markers if they can live in your presence...
You can teach her boundaries; we've done that fifteen years ago but we now have our property completely fenced. Why? Because one of our "boundary trained" dogs (not a Lab) broke the boundary at a strange clanging noise coming from a farm tractor pulling a trailer full of produce. He lost a leg as a result. He'd never broken that boundary in a year of living here. But that noise put all of his training out of his head. We knew AFTER it was too late that it was that noise because after he recovered from the amputation, every single time that same trailer was pulled down the road in front, he raced the fence line till the last day he was physically capable but ignored every other trailer that passed - but again, too late we realized that something new could cause a dog to break its training. You mentioned that there is a fence between your two properties - how then is your puppy getting there? Over it? Around it? IF having the dog inside with you is out of the question, a fence and making sure that it is more fun to stay at home than to explore is the only answer other than a kennel that is too high for the puppy to scale.
Thank you for your response! Her outdoor kennel is on its way, but I was also hoping to also teach her boundaries too. She’ll just go in it during the night so she doesn’t end up at the neighbor’s in the wee hours of the morning and then once I’m awake I can let her out. What actually happens, is the two neighbor dogs come onto our deck every morning and ‘invite’ her over and they all run back to their house-can’t expect her to resist that! Haha
Simply because I don’t want her to be an indoor dog. She gets hours of interaction every day as my kids and I are home all day.
Thanks for your response, I purchased a big run for her for overnight when I’m not supervising her, but I was hoping to still teach her some boundary rules anyway because I figured it couldn’t hurt. And I don’t disagree with you, but we made the personal decision that she’ll be an outdoor dog.
I’m so sorry about your previous dog; how devastating! The fence is just a barbed wire fence between the two properties, so she’s easily able to climb under it. If we’re being completely honest, it’s actually the 2 neighbor dogs that come HERE and invite her back with them. but I can’t fix or train their dogs, but I can teach my Honey...so that’s why I was wondering, even though I have a big run/kennel on it’s way for her for during the nights, what additional border training I could try to work with her on. I won’t rely solely on boundary training though for her, I promise...your sad story is exactly why!
We had four dogs at that time and none of them had ever broken that boundary - until the day one did. A fence went up while our poor boy was in the hospital recovering from his surgery. And I spent months taking him out to potty using a towel to hold him while he recovered from the other injuries since his other front leg was fractured in several places. I will never trust boundary training again.... Let me go into a bit more detail. My husband was out with the dogs (who were in with us and out with us which is why the boundary training worked to the day that it didn't - they were never outside alone). He stepped into the kitchen to refill his glass of iced tea giving the four dogs the "stay" at the back door. He wasn't inside that house 30 seconds before we heard our boy barking and within another 30 seconds, heard him screaming! The other three didn't break boundary until they heard his screaming and the two oldest broke boundary to get to where he lie in the road. They reached him and helped him back across a narrow culvert bridge to where I kneeled on the ground to receive him. Every step he took with the fractured leg, holding up the one that had to be amputated, had him falling to his chest. The two mature labs (and this is a sight I will never forget) pressed their shoulders to him so that he could move one tortured step at a time to me. My advise is to not rely on boundary training at all. Sorry if that sounds blunt or rude, but the reality is that in less than a minute, our boundary trained dog who was never outside alone for longer than a few seconds, was maimed at 13 months old. He lived until he was 13, but the loss of that leg shortened his life through the arthritis he got in his other shoulder and his hips from learning to navigate on three legs. When pain meds no longer helped him and all other treatments failed, he was humanely euthanized.
Oh what a horrendous thing to have happened and witness. I'm so sorry for you all Aisling labs. I also believe that a huge part of owning a dog is the companionship and to have them inside with you, I'm curious, what happens during the winter months when you and your family are inside more of the time. I believe that dogs are a pack animal and love to be with their family, so this would worry me, especially as Aisling labs pointed out even trained dogs have moments when not supervised.
My kids love to go outside, even in the winter. I don’t disagree with you, but it just isn’t an option for her to be an indoor dog. I know there are others that keep their dogs outside so that’s why I’m looking for advice; I definitely don’t claim to have all the answers.
