Can German Shepherd live outdoor during winter? - Page 3

I guess I believe it is not so much about whether they can physically live away from family but emotionally.  German Shepherd as any dog is a social creature and needs constant contact with the "pack/family".  Ask yourself if you are doing ok in that area.  Your dog will bond and be more protective if he is in with your family at night (also, dogs are domesticated, not wild, so they do not have the adaptation to live outdoors 24/7).

I agree with Mindhunt. No dog should be raised isolated from everyone, regardless of how nice the outside accommodations are. It is also unrealistic to think that someone with a job and family has a lot of time to spend with a dog, exercising his mind and body and providing socialization and affection. And who is going to want to spend much time outside with a dog when it is -10 C. Ryun seems to really care about Sam. He is providing high quality food and has built a very nice outdoor home for him. He is asking for help here in raising his first German Shepherd and I would hope that more emphasis would be put on the advantages of bringing Sam indoors rather than on how to keep him from freezing outdoors.

Dogs are social creatures and they need a family or social group to be part of in order to be happy. The Great Pyrenees does quite fine with being part of a social group of sheep and perhaps with another dog or GP as a partner in combination with a human partner such as a shepherd or livestock handler. There are a lot of border collies and Australian shepherds who do not sleep in the house. Most police dogs are not house dogs until after they retire if ever. There is no one size fits all for how dogs are housed and the relationships they have with other dogs, humans and other animals. There are some German Shepherds that are best buds with a Siberian Tiger while others are sleeping on a child's bed as seizure dogs. And then there is the fact that there are some things only a dog can teach another dog and consequently dogs living only with humans will never learn. As humans we tend to over value our intelligence and importance to the dog being happy because we only see things from a human vantage point. Dogs value companionship but not necessarily only human companionship.

At no point has anyone who has been making suggestions to the OP NOT stressed the importance of making sure Sam's social, mental and psychological needs are met in addition to the physical ones, and I have no reason to think the OP will not address the entirety of his dog's well-being. Consider this: if, during the course of one's normal work day, your dog was given the choice of staying inside a house, unable to relieve himself if the need arises, with limited visual, aural, or olfactory stimulation to engage him, or going outside to a well-built compound that would keep him protected from the elements while allowing him the freedom to just 'be' a dog, which do you think the dog would likely choose? In either circumstance, the dog is alone...

A person can spend 24 hours with a dog and never once meet that animal's non-physical needs, while another can spend three or four hours of time with their dog that is full of enrichment to the mind, body and soul of the animal...and to that of the person. I think Sam will be fine.

Hexe, that is true.  I hate that my dogs have to stay indoors when I am away at internship for the day.  I try to leave the television on some nature show or keep the radio on some calm music.  I leave window shades up to the back yard (8ft privacy fence) so they can at least see something.  I have a bare room for the older dogs and have to crate the pup since he does get into stuff when bored like chewing on the door, window frame, pulling up the carpet, despite having kongs filled with goodies lol.  I don't leave them outside because I have had a few very bad experiences with leaving dogs outside unattended for the entire day that almost cost me the lives of my dogs.  I wish I had that nice a set up for my dogs although I would have heated cement. 

Susie,

Just read your comment about the pile of snow moving and it brought a smile! I had similar experiences with my last shepherd. Granted, it probably doesn't get anywhere near as cold where I am, but it was not unusual for me to come home in the middle of a snow storm to not find my dog inside (we have a dog door) or find him in the lean-to or in the dog house under the lean-to. Calling for him resulted in a pile of snow shuffling and my faithful friend looking puzzled as to why I would wake him up from such a good snooze.

I concur with what many have already said about how this behavior seems to vary a lot even within the GSD breed. My current dog LOVES to get wet and, while she was just a young puppy last winter, she certainly seemed to enjoy a good romp in the snow. However, she also seems very fond of her warm dog bed inside the house, something that the last dog never showed any interest in, even in his senior years.

Kind of goes to the heart of the versatility of the breed doesn't it?