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I guess I've never been absolutely one way or the other. To me, it just depends on the dog, their personality, the weather, etc.
20 years ago when we lived in Texas out in the middle of no where, we had two dogs that were strictly outdoor dogs that ran free. They were the two happiest dogs we ever had. Loved those dogs.
We now live in a subdivision in Colorado. Our last dog hated to be outside. If we were to leave him out and go somewhere he would have whined his head off and bothered the neighbors to no end. Two years ago we had to put him down due to old age.
A week and a half ago we adopted a 5 year old collie mix. The reason she had been surrendered twice to the shelter was for jumping 6 ft fences. She cannot be left unattended in the back yard. She has the perfect set up here as we both work from home. She is with us most the day in the house (very happy) but when she needs to go out back, we keep an eye on her. She is doing better than expected - and we can let her out on her own for short bits and she enjoys laying in the grass.
The Humane Society suspected previous owners wanted to be able to leave her outside all the time and probably had schedules that meant she was alone too much. She would then escape. In the end I guess it was a good thing - she found us!
What a nice story....good for you! What a lucky dog she is to get a wonderful home like yours! It was meant to be!
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