I was asked a legitimate question of a fellow Voxer about my hunting dogs. My answer would have been too lengthy in a reply, so in case others are curious, or have similar concerns, I will answer it in this fashion:
No offense, but I don't and never have understood having a dog that you keep outside. They are companions. I know your poochies are warm and ok, but it seems cruel to me to keep them away from you, in a box outside!
See, and I think it's cruel that working people keep dogs crated inside all day while they are at work. At least mine can go out into their kennel runs and pee if they need to, lie in the sun…or simply watch the comings and goings. When not working or engaged with humans, most dogs just lie around anyway. They especially like it when they have a perch with a view. I feel like mine also get to be pretty much what they want to be…dogs. That’s not to say they don’t get quality time and attention from me, as you will see in the pictures. They are in no way ignored, isolated, or forgotten in the kennel, but I would feel conceited to think that they only live for my touch or to be in my immediate presence.
I’m not saying pet dog ownership is not justified, because I’ve had many lap-sitting, under-the-covers-with-me-foot-warming, sweet canine rescues in the house during my 53 years, but I’m also a breeder of a working dog. I try very diligently and responsibly to be a good steward of the breed; see that it remains the best it can be, and not be mutated into someone’s novelty. The field trials and the actual hunt are the barometer on which to gauge one’s success at preserving the breed.
My dogs are a pack of true hunting dogs. They are born in my kitchen, literally into my waiting hands; they know my smell and voice from birth. For the same reason, their mothers will allow me to handle the pups if intervention is needed.
But, they are moved outside within 3 weeks. They will learn how to live, sleep, and eat in packs…because they will perform that way when they are grown. They will depend on each other in the kennel, and they will depend on each other in the field. It is natural for them, and not to rear them this way would be a forced culture shock, and it would stunt their true socialization skills – that being, the ability to bed up in strange places and work with other dogs they’ve just met…because it’s what they do. It always leads to fun for them, and they know it.
The type of hunting they do requires them to be out in cold weather, often wet, rugged terrain, for 8 or more hours at a a time, and they must develop a coat for it.
If I keep them indoors they won't develop as much undercoat, they won't adapt to the varying conditions, and they will suffer more because of it. They will struggle at doing the one thing they love more than anything – chasing rabbits and foxes and such. They would rather do that than eat when they're hungry, much less follow me around the house.
If I breed and train dogs for a specific task, I would be remiss in not preparing them, or giving them the tools with which to do it. It would be like sending your kid to the bus stop in January with no gloves, or to school with no breakfast.
We have a "working" relationship, my dogs and I; one in which I let them run their hearts out all day chasing things, and they rest up in between field trips in a safe, warm, kennel box filled with straw – just the very stuff they would choose to bed down on in the wild.
Because they don’t run loose in my backyard without my supervision, they don’t get accidently bred by the neighbor’s housedog, or attacked by one. They are safe. Aside from not allowing them to roam the neighborhood when they aren't hunting, my dogs are truly living the dog's life…I would never ask these particular dogs to live a human's life. It’s just really not their bag.
That being said, I groom them, medicate them, vaccinate them, make special treats for them; I know by the sound of their barks if they are out of water, aggravated with each other, or there's a cat in the yard. They know by the sound of my voice if we are going afield, it's a day of yard play, if I need them to be quiet, or that I want hugs and sloppy kisses from them.
They are my companions…my companions in the field, and we share a common goal when we're out there together. We work together as hunters; we co-exist and are very much bonded that way, but we don't really try to live in each other's world.
This is the best I can do to make you understand.
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Cheeps 