Keep in home or in kennel - Page 3

LOL, Ninja. Make sure you take your h-worm preventative!!

Kudos to you Ninja for coming up with a great solution

You guys are tough!

I have had multiple OB dogs who was were very consistent winners (three who averaged 196 in AKC through UD) who lived in the house 24/7.   I can't say from personal experience that a house dog can do top sport SchH, but if the rewards of training are good enough, and the trainer upbeat enough, relative to the everyday patterns of home life, it seems to me that it should work -- and no dog must sit alone in a kennel for hours every day (and night?)

I had a Bodo v Grafental (79 DDR sieger) son who would retrieve thirty foot trees all day with a whole lot of drive, and he would sometimes crack a wooden dumbbell in two in excitement during training (and once in competition).  He knocked down Don v Rolansteich's helper.  His drives were not dulled by house life.  (If they were, he would have been too much.)

What kind of training is more boring than hanging out on the rug?  And if your training is so boring that a dog needs to be bored to death all day to do it, why is that?

I don't actually deny that some edge may be lost in house life, and a person has to be willing to do that much more to make up for it in training -- but why don't we owe that to our dogs?

exactly my opinion, MVF! Glad someone shares my views. 

LOL. Ninja. xD

Guess it depends on what you want.  My dogs are pets first and foremost.  We just happen to do SchH (and other things too!) and breed  as well.  Mine all live in the house, infact I do not have a kennel here at all. 

I DO keep puppies/young dogs separated from the others MOST of the time while they are growing up.  My 9 month old is still separated from the adults for a good part of the day and is usually crated when I am not home.  My husband has little contact with her, just if he needs to take her out to potty, etc... she doesnt get to play with the adult dogs... only ME, I play, I feed, I train, etc...  Once she is older and well on her way in training... she will be allowed loose with the other dogs when I am home.  As she is growing she is getting more and more "free house time".

However, having three females in the house together I am VERY careful and constantly watching for ANY signs of a problem.  They are also never loose together when we are not home.  They are separated into crates and/or bedrooms with the oldest having free run of the house. 

I have never competed at a serious level with my girls though... as that is not my goal at this point.  I DO know of dogs who have competed more seriously but are still house dogs though!

I can tell you that Qenny lives in the house with Ivan and they are world champions twice over!!

SO I would say it depends on the handler and the dog.

I agree that I have my dogs in my house to protect me.  The more that someone knows I have two big GSDs that live inside, the less likely they are to try to come in, and the less likely I will have to DO SOMETHING myself, and trust me, everyone around me knows my dogs live in the house and that they are big!

My boy who just turned 1 still stays in his crate at night, which is in my bedroom, my girl who will be 4 next month has slept in bed with me since I brought her home at 10 weeks old.  She is a SchH3, and yes he has gotten away with many things on several occasions, but I attribute that more to me being a novice handler and a softie on my first working dog, nothing to do with her being in the house with me.

When I am at work both dogs are in kennels outside, in separate kennels.  When I am home they are always in the house, GSDs like to be with their people, they are social dogs, and just want to be around!

~ Kari

This thread really points out the difference between a protection dog and a sport dog.  I don't believe in starving a dog of food, or of companionship, or of a better life, just to score more points in a contest.  I hear so many tell of how much their particular dog likes to bite or work, etc, but what it comes down to generally, is that the dog is just happy to be out of that damn cage, and revels in doing ANYTHING other than being inside that cage.

I understand that it is part of the "sport" training usually, but it is not for me.  It would be interesting to be able to ask the dogs which they would prefer.  Being with the masters in the house, or being in a cage until "play time".

I say this, even though I have many kennel runs and some dogs that stay in them many hours a day.  Just being honest about it, and maybe a little sad at myself for doing so.  But all of the dogs I have in kennels came from shelters, and get let out about 8 hours a day, to run free and play with me and other dogs.  Truth be told, if it wasn't for my wife being dead set against it, they would all be allowed in the house, at least through the night, assuming I could make them get along without fighting.  Some just seem to hate each other and some are indifferent and some love each other.  Sort of like us on this database.

Kyle,
My German shepherd male, Jake would protect me if anybody approches me the wrong way. Jake is a housedog, not a kennel dog. He is very protective over me. Jake hasn't had any personal protection training done to him and I have confident that he'll protect me.

Putting a dog in solitary confinement doesn't bring full potential in the dog. All it does is to create desperation (forcing) in the dog, not full potential. either the dog has it or doesn't.

I dont believe in solitary confinement at all and I dont think Kyle was advocating that......when y are not home the dog need s to be crated   when dog is a pup and you are busy mowing or doing chores   dog should be crated for its safety.......when you ttrain you should crate 30 minutes before to settle dog and make it think    crate for an hour after the training session , to make dog think things thru and cool down.....

No way do you just put them in a kennel and leave them their...but in notway do you just turn them loose in a home , and they of course , need to be inside most of the time , in a crate....when you come home , then they are with you...but if you have studies , kids to tend to and errands to do ,,,,you dont leave a young pup or young adult loose in house to get into mischief or harm your  house or himself..or herself....until a dog is an adult , they are into and can think up so many things to do when you are not paying attention.....and if there are more than one inside,,,,you let them run free.....?   not all the time I hope....I assume they are trained how to behave in house.....play outside....and until they are adults  ,,,the crate is where they belong when you cant pay them attention......a kennel outside is fine for days when you have need to kennel during cool , weather permitting ,,,confinement....some just let dogs stay in fenced yards...but beware of dog thieves,,,,unkenneled dogs in Tyler Texas and areas around Canton, disappear one week before the largest flea market in country,and end up sold on the road side at that market....never to be found again....right out of backyards....kenneling while at work  keeps that from happening...also..

Sure , all shepherds will protect you,,,,but I hope you mean an adult shepherd , not a pup.......a pup shouldnt be put to that task   ....until he can handle it....because he may not follow through and put you in more danger......

The age of the dog matters as to whether you mean protect or scare the bad guy off......some of the goof balls knocking on doors in our country are goofy enough to look at a young german shepherd and think it is a poodle and think they can get right on bye it....and will try it also.....Had a salesman one day , shook his brief case and sling it at my shepherd tied to the bumper of my truck as I loaded the truck with kennels , and equipment , and had gone inside to get ice and food to load....he came up and was a solicitator....He told the police he thought by shoving the briefcase in the dogs face he could get by it....He got a rude awakening....and almost lost his life....his brief case became my dogs, and I ended up with the samples of cleaning tennis shoes , as a hostage for the incident     ,,,neighbors saw it and call the pd and they were already aware of the solicitors with no permits....and lucky for me and the man,,,he didntl get hurt......I laughed afterwards , as I had lotsof tennis shoe cleaner.....police sent him packing with out the contents of his briefcase.......and they lectured him quite hard  about approaching a german shepherd on someones private property.....

It is YOUR decision. My dogs all live in my home and do just fine. ALL of the police departments I have ever worked with insist the dogs live IN the home as family companions during their off time so yes, they can be work dogs AND pet dogs. I find it is either the Police trainers who have not updated their training methods for 20 years or schutzhund handlers who insist the dogs live kenneled.

I do have something I found written by Capt Max which says a working dog should be the ideal pet and vise versa. I will find it and post tonight.

If you train your dog properly, you will be fine as an indoor dog but again, do what your gut tells you.

Tina