Hi All, I wanted to hear your thoughts / ideas regarding the Zulu’s access areas which would benefit him most. Currently Zulu spends most of the day (while we work), in his pen and crate. His pen seems big enough for him and it has a newspaper and turf which he uses to go to the toilet. When we home, we take him to the outside area where he goes to the toilet. While we home we also give him access to the outside area for him to run around and play. I am thinking of giving Zulu access to both his inside area (play pen room) as well as to the outside area. The outside area is under cover, where he goes to the toilet and is pretty big (400 square meters). It is fairly secure. There is no grass in this section though, just pavers. Do you think this would benefit Zulu more? My thinking is that he would be able to go outside to the toilet (if he needs too) as well as have much more room to stretch his legs if he needed. Something to keep in mind is that I do live in Australia, so the weather is good (just about all year round), so im sure Zulu would enjoy access to the outside area as well as his indoor area. Any thoughts of concerns? Cheers, Robbie
Re: Inside, Outside or Combination Dog? When I last had a puppy/very young dog he was outside when we were at work. He was fine (though he did dig up parts of the garden and squash a lot of plants). If your yard is secure (i.e. people can't see him from the street and you can lock your gate), there is no way he could hurt himself on anything and you do not mind that he may dig or pull up your automatic watering system (for example) then it is fine to give him access to the yard when you are out. I know that this is not the norm in many other countries but it is perfectly normal in Australia. A colleague of mine has a Border Collie puppy (he is about 12 weeks old) and when they are not at home he is in the secure backyard. When they are at home he is in the house with them (and sleeps inside).
Re: Inside, Outside or Combination Dog? Thanks! We have a 3 terrace property and the 1st terrace is the enclosed verandah (enclosed with steel wiring with about 8cm gaps). The 2nd terrace has a "makeshift fence", which i probably need to double check its secure. The 3rd terrace also has a fence, but ill need to see how secure it is too... so Zulu would need to get through 3 fences if he was adamant! lol We often let him roam around when we home and he never tries to "get out", but i think i should still double check all the fencing before we leave him with access to these areas while we not home. Luckily, at this stage, we dont have grass and any pretty plants we worried about. As you mentioned, this is pretty normal in Australia.. which is the feeling i got from quite a number of people who i have been chatting too at dog parks etc.
Re: Inside, Outside or Combination Dog? Living the UK this arrangement seemed at a strange arrangement to me at first. Then I thought about it, I've always had cat flaps so my cats could come and go as they please so, why not dogs? It is Spring here and I am looking forward to the warmer weather so I can leave the back door open so Molly can come and go as she pleases. (I may be looking forward to it, don't think the garden is.
Re: Inside, Outside or Combination Dog? I think the weather could play a role in it though? The coldest we get in Adelaide is perhaps 7 degrees in the middle of winter and very little rain.. so generally very pleasant to be outside during most of the year.
Re: Inside, Outside or Combination Dog? [quote author=Robbiep link=topic=5640.msg71530#msg71530 date=1398667283] I think the weather could play a role in it though? [/quote] Yes! Our winter was wet wet wet - we hardly had a day when it didn't rain. Any dog would have been miserable outside. I only know one person who has an outside pen for his dog, and he only uses it in the summer.
Re: Inside, Outside or Combination Dog? Could he have a dog door so that he could choose when to be in and when to be out?
Re: Inside, Outside or Combination Dog? I'm in Yorkshire so that would be no good for me, however my sister lives in Victoria, Australia and her two Kelpie's are very happy in the garden. They have shelter, a kennel each for when the weather isn't so great and pretty much live outside all year round. When they're at home then the door to the house is open and the dogs come and go as they please. I do think it's a great arrangement if you have the climate to suit.
