Dogs- OK to keep inside?

T

Tim LaVan

Member
I am giving serious consideration to a pup, but only if I can keep it in the house. Is this fair to the dog to keep it inside and then expect him/her to be outside in the cold and retrieving in freezing water also?

Thanks.

Tim
 
my hunting retriever is a house dog. once he's been inside for couple of years, don't put him outside permamently. he'd have a tough time aclimating to cold. go one way or the other from an early age, but of course, keep a young pup warm.
 
I keep these two inside from the middle of Dec. too around March full time, then part time till Sept. and not at all in the fall so they are use to the weather.
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I have friends that keep there birddogs in full time and it does not seem to bother them hunting upland.

The neoprene vest would help if your worried about it's coat.
 
all year except for extreme weather, days outside and evening and nights inside. Read somewhere that its better for the dog to do both, I firmly belive it now.
 
Hasn't seem to hurt Buddy. He has slept inside every night of his life unless he was camping with me. Most nights in the bed.
Got some bad news yesterday and found out he has cancer. Last year he had tumor on his tail and the vet docked his tail and thought he had gotten all of the cancer. Last few days coughing, and heavy breathing and we found out it had spread.

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My Lab is a house dog. He does however sleep overnight in the garage which during cold spells gets pretty cold. I think that this helps him to acclimate to the coldness of the hunt................Kevin
 
Tim, All my dogs have been and are house dogs with their oun couches. The first worry I had was on a very late season Nebraska phesant hunt and my couch potato was just fine in - many degees wind chill, I was not !!!!!!!!!!!!!;^) Of course there was no swimming involved. As I am posting this one is warming my feet and the other one is trying to get in my lap. We don't hunt all year (pity) but we have to live with our dogs.
 
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The routine that works for me is as follows:

Sleeps in a dog kennel out of the wind on back porcch until night temp under 40 degrees. When colder sleeps in a kennel in unheated mud room - temp probably between 50 - 55 F.

Walked first thing in AM then fed in an outside pen & stays there until 5 PM. Pen has concrete floor, 6' walls, tarp over the top & has a wood dog house.

Spends 2 - 3 hours with us in house every evening then the routine starts all over.
 
I have two labs, 9 year old male and a 5 year old female neither has ever slept outside once. I hunt into late January every year in some petty nasty weather up hear in New England. They both wear neoprene vest when the weather starts to turn and never had a problem. It doesn't seem to bother them at all.
 
Gordy now 2.65 year old non altered BLM never going to spend a night outside. Still to this day
every night he sits on my lap in the lazy boy and we nap together. I wouldnt dream of having
one outdoors. To much part of the family.

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Thats a youngin photo.... 95# now and still a lap dog and a heck of a duck chaser.

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Ahhhh cant wait for the GE's to show up SOON!!!!!!!
 
Hello Jim,
Long time no talk to... I hope you are well....Sorry to hear about Buddy not doing good. I had to put Thor down in March of this year. 14.5 years though. He had a good long life. Great pictures of him. Ed Auman
 
Sorry to hear about your dog. Great pics in the timber. If he is anything like my dogs have been, they tremble with excitement to get in the boat. Take him for as many boat rides as you can. He looks like he has earned it!
 
I've owned 6 golden retrievers in my life. All have been inside dogs, sleeping on the bed and all have been great hunters. Definately never have a problem upland hunting as the dogs are moving and generating heat. As for waterfowl hunting, I too use a neoprene vest when the water gets cold,but, I think everyone should do this , even if their dog is an outside dog. My dogs have hunted in North Dakota, Canada, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Arkansas. Wi in Dec is cold . Many of my Arkansas hunt we had to break ice to open up holes for the dekes and ducks so I have hunted in very cold conditions.
A dog that is kept outside will likely develop a heavier coat and become more acclimated to the cold, however , I have found that dogs that are kept inside seem to bond better, have better communication with their owners and are better citizens than those that are strictly penned outside.
Since everyone thinks their dogs are great hunters I'd like to brag a bit and say that mine are Master Hunters, Bailey pictured below was also DU's Dog of the year for the MS Flyway, a National Master Hunter, the first golden in the Master National Hall of Fame, and All age Qualified as well as an OSS. Sleeping indoors didn't hurt his hunting ability.
DU Dog of the year
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Arkansas flooded timber
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Layout hunting
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Winter in the cattails
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Iowa Pheasants
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more timber
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Hasn't seemed to bother any of our dogs (most all of them goldens). We hunt NE, NY, and MD into Jan. and Feb. (march for NY geese); Canada into Nov. -- all can be pretty frosty spots.

This girl likes to warm her innards in front of the fireplace (or on our bed with the electric blanket) after a hard week of hunting.


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Since everyone thinks their dogs are great hunters I'd like to brag a bit and say that mine are Master Hunters, Bailey pictured below was also DU's DUck of the year for the MS Flyway, a National Master Hunter, the first golden in the Master National Hall of Fame, and All age Qualified as well as an OSS. Sleeping indoors didn't hurt his hunting ability.
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Dave's dogs are all excellent dogs! And Bailey is one of the best I've had the pleasure of hunting over for sure!

My dog is also an indoor dog and has been all over the country hunting. Last weekend, 3 days with temps 17-28 deg breaking ice and all, over 30 retrieves for the weekend in that frigid water. She doesn't have near the achievements of a Bailey, but she is an HRCH that picks up a couple hundred ducks a year.

An older picture of her hunting in a blizzard.
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Hasn't seem to hurt Buddy. He has slept inside every night of his life unless he was camping with me. Most nights in the bed.
Got some bad news yesterday and found out he has cancer. Last year he had tumor on his tail and the vet docked his tail and thought he had gotten all of the cancer. Last few days coughing, and heavy breathing and we found out it had spread.

Jim, I'm so sorry to hear about the cancer. Buddy looks like a great hunting dog. I lost my old Kimo the same way at 12 1/2, it was hard. We had to moniter him carefully his last month after the lung cancer diagnosis, we wanten him to live as long as possible without suffering, that's a very hard call.

Like you, all of my hunting dogs sleep inside and hunt in freezing cold Montana conditions, I use a neoprene vest and they do fine. It's better hunting from shore because they can run around on dry land and warm up.

John

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My buddies, Yoda with ducks and Cody his last season before passing at age 13, he was 12 in that photo. BTW I believe Cody is related to Bailey, Cody was out of FC AFC Mioaks Smokn'n Zeke, isn't Bailey also out of Zeke? Cody was a Master Hunter and Qualified All Age, Yoda won back to back Qualifyings and won an Open just before he turned five but unfortunately didn't get the points for his FC. Now I have two pups, Gus is on the National derby list with 17 points, and Alex may or may not be a successful FT dog but he is a great hunter.
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