In many ways a calf is cleaner than a dog.
:dubious:
You sure you been around calves?
Not sure. I’m leaning toward something rustic looking since we live in a log cabin. But anything will look better than the ugly kennel so I don’t think it matters too much.
Maybe, but you can’t take any dog’s level of discernment for granted. A doghouse is a good opportunity to exercise some architectural principles, without taking the risk of a large investment.
Those are so cool! Why didn’t I ever have fun projects like that in school? I like the stone one with the pink poodley looking dog.
My cats don’t go outside nor do they roll in filth. They wash themselves all the time. They are not unhealthy. They enrich my life tremendously and are members of the family. People with mentalities like yours make me sad. I don’t think I’d want you in my house, either.
ETA: in many countries, dogs ARE allowed in shops and restaurants. Dogs are allowed in the building where I work, too.
What we have here is a clash of cultures. In my family, a dog or cat was mostly an indoor pet. Maybe not as clean as the humans, but a certain low level of filth was acceptable in return for the close companionship, and you bathed them when you could. Pets were neutered and cared for with considerable diet control and medical attention, even if expensive. You rescued a pet from the animal shelter to give it a good home. Parasites were discouraged. If you come across a stray, you find a home for it. Ours was a typical urban environment.
But a rural environment can be quite different. A cat is something that inhabits a barn, much like a dog has fleas, and your dog sure will have 'em; it’s all-natural. You might have a dog for hunting, and he follows you around the yard or jumps in the truck when you drive to the back 40. He certainly wouldn’t be allowed in the house; he sleeps in the barn like the other animals. Cats breed naturally, and help to keep the mouse population down. You throw them some food sometimes, especially in the winter; put down a saucer of milk while tending to the cows, but they generally fend for themselves. If you get too many kittens, you take a few down to the creek and drown them; too many dogs, you tie them to a tree and shoot them. A few get run over by cars or tractors anyway, and if they can’t recover from their injury themselves, they crawl off to die. Medical attention is lavished on your income-producing livestock, not pets.
Quite a difference eh?
When I was a kid we had a dog and often we’d leave him outside when we left. If it was a nice day, why not be outside? We’d leave the back door to the garage open and he could go in there if it was rainging.
But that kind of defeats the purpose of having a dog to keep the burglers away if he’s outside.
Dogs like to be with people, or with another dog.
I watch my neighbors dogs when they go away and they clearly like to be out. But more important they want to be with someone. If I let them out, they do their “business” and then want to be with me. If I’m inside they come inside. If I’m outside they want to be outside.
If I stand halfway in and out the door, they will choose outside. Dogs like to be able to watch people and run around. But since they’re social they most want to be with someone.
And of course outside gives them a chance to stalk the evil mailman 
Because they are animals.
I understand this is mainly a city-folks board here and the prevailing view of dogs and cats is that they should be at least coddled pets, if not “furry children.” But for some people, letting dogs in the house would be exactly as weird and disgusting as letting pigs and ponies in the house. (Not that there aren’t people who do that.)
Dogs might be valued working animals (hunting, herding) and receive good veterinary care, as a horse would, but still never be allowed inside human homes. For that matter, even dogs that are only companion animals/trespass alarms aren’t necessarily allowed in the house.
Guard duty, in some cases.
I’ve heard of more than one interloper being apprehended or driven off by a yard dog before he ever reached the house.
…sounds, oh, so , familiar.
A dog’s purpose is not "to keep burglers away", nor is the dog to to kill nor capture burglers, rather, the purpose of a dog is to bark, to give alarm, and to wake up and to notify the homeowner so that the homeowner can get his gun and chase away the burglers.
I vehemently disagree. Have you ever really known a dog? I probably thought this, too, until I had a dog of my own. Dogs are the best creatures ever and should not be ostracized.
Where I live, dogs are allowed in many stores.
People are grosser than dogs could ever be. :rolleyes:
It’s worth noting that, biologically, people are a MUCH, MUCH likelier disease vector for MUCH more serious diseases than any dog, even a pretty filthy one.
It just pisses me off that there can’t be a nice pet related thread without the animal-haters popping in and telling us all how ignorant and filthy those of us that love and live with pets are. If you don’t like animals them WHY in the name of all that’s holy do you open the thread??? Oh yeah… just to start shit, that’s right. :rolleyes:
PapSett, I think this person is an exception to most folks here. She’s busy shitting up other threads too. Try not to let it get to you.
This is because unlike other creatures ALLOWED IN THE HOUSE Susanann isn’t housetrained.
congodwarf, aside from having a dog house that is big enough for yer pups to stand up and turn around in, I’d make sure it was easy for me to be able to reach inside to properly clean it, or have it with a hinged roof for said purpose.
A word of caution. I generally take a dim view of any situation in which a dog is outside without immediate supervision by a human family member. I know that sounds extreme.
This dog was shot by persons unknown while in her own fenced back yard, in the county in which I live. It’s a wealthy county full of nice people.
(As a side note, I find it funny that although the entire article is only six lines long, containing 84 words, in one of the currently-showing comments someone suggests the dog should have been kept in a fenced yard. Reading comprehension for the win!)