I have a couple questions.....regarding having Rose live inside.

[Ritz459]

I was asking myself last night if I really wanted another dog. After much thought and questioning myself, what I found I wanted is an inside dog. Over the past few days I've been joking with mom and asking her if Rose can come inside. Now, I think I want Rose to come inside permently. I just have a couple of questions about that.
(The reason for this is when I propose an idea to Mom, I have to have all of the facts ready or she won't listen to me. )

1. Could a dog that has lived outside for 6 years and only came in the house for a couple times be able to adjust to living inside? She is very good inside and enjoys being in, but would she be able to adjust being inside all of the time? Since she is older, would it be harder to house break her than with a puppy?

2. Blackie would still have to be outside. The reasons for this is: He sheds like crazy, he would eat the cat, if we had visting dogs he would eat them, I don't think I could house break him, and when we get our Leader Dog puppy next year he would eat the thing because they would both be inside. Would Blackie miss Rose being outside all of the time? Would he become lonely?

It is mainly the Blackie problem that has me concerned. I don't want him to be lonely. Every time I went out with Rose (which would probably be around every hour) I would let him out too, but is that enough time for him? Thanks for all of your help!

(Rose is very well behaved and laid back when she is inside. She is already halfway housebroken and she sheds less than our cat, gets along well with the cat, and she would be fine with a visting dog. She also likes sleeping an the chair! lol)

[TinyAlbinoDancer]

I can only speak from one experience- with my family's previous dog (our first), Spot.

He was around 5 or so when we found him and he adopted us, and he lived outside all the time. I can't remember when we started letting him sleep inside at night, but he did get to come in then, and occasionally at other times. He did like being inside with the family, and he was actually fully housetrained without any help from us. He just stood by the door when he was ready or needed to go out. Are you sure Rose won't do this already? I'd say it'll be even easier housetraining her if you do have to. She has her potty spot picked out outside already, so she knows where's she's supposed to (and prefers) to go. I'd just ask her every so often if she wants to go outside, and always let her out the same door. You may want to teach her to ring a bell or bark once at the door or something to let you know she needs to go out. Or if you're usually in the general vicinity of the door anyway, you can just keep an eye out for her standing there. Eventually when she learns what you mean by going outside, she'll tell you whether she wants to go or not. When Spot didn't need to go out and wanted to stay inside, he'd just stand by the door while we held it open and wag his tail and look at us.

I don't know about Blackie- hopefully someone else can help you with that. Good luck!

[Rip's Girl]

Personally I think it sounds like Blackie needs a consultation with a professional trainer, to work on his aggression. If he will "eat" other dogs, he is dangerous and obviously not under control. A little bit of training can go a long way, and I think that he could be house trained. (As for the shedding, you could always have him clipped. That is what we resorted to with my mom's dog, who shed clumps of hair constantly, no matter how much I bathed or brushed him)

As for Rose, absolutely she can adjust. AND, big bonus here she will be easier to house train than a puppy, because she is mature and has full control over her body. A little puppy can't always hold it in, which is why they often have accidents, but an older dog can learn just as well, and doesn't have to go out every 45 minutes (provided of course that she doesn't eat 5 times a day)

Blackie would probably be bored without her. I'd stuff a kong full of treats for him, when you bring Rose inside. It'll take his mind off of her and amuse him at the same time.

[Cassiepeia]

I agree with Rip's Girl about Blackie.
If this were me, I wouldn't keep Rose in all the time. Actually I'd probably leave things as they are, if the dogs were already happy. It doesn't seem like keeping her inside would make much difference to her and it certainly wouldn't benefit Blackie at all. He seems like he's getting left out on his own in more ways than one. You ask if he'd be lonely, I think definately.. yes. Mostly because he'd obviously still be aware that she's there, but he's just being denied time with her and also being isolated in the yard, which IMO is never a good thing for a pack animal.
Also, why would you want to bring another pup into the house if one of your own dogs is known to be hostile towards other animals? Surely you should think of your own dogs first? (apologies, I'm going off subject).
Anyhoo... Basically, what I'm saying is... if it were me and I couldn't bring both dogs inside together, I wouldn't bring either of them in. All or nothing with me. Although I'm sure others have different opinions.

Cass.

[flyndog]

I would just echo what with Rip's said. And Cassiepeia brings up a good question.
Kit

[Pugdawg1]

I agree with everything that's been said. And I feel bad for the dog that wouldn't be allowed inside. Seems unfair to me. For me, like someone else has already said.. would be both or neither.

[Ritz459]

Ok, here is my 'plan of attack'. Sometimes (not all of the time) I will bring Rose inside during the afternoon after I'm done walking the dogs. She will go back outside around 3-5pm, depending on what we are doing and how she is behaving. Right now Rose is asleep upstairs on my bed! lol (She LOVES mt bed. Everytime she comes in she goes up there and falls asleep! lol) She won't be inside permentaly, but she can come in.

When I say Blackie will eat other dogs, I mean that with a strange dog (one that he isn't used to), he has dominance issues. (i.e. he gets in fights with them.) He wouldn't 'eat' them litterally and I think the only time a fight would happen would be if the dog doesn't respect him and give him his space. After he gets used to them (that takes a while.) he is fine with them. (An example of this is Jewels [one of Blackie's daughters that we gave to a neighbor] came over to our house a couple of times after we got rid of her and Blackie chased her away the first couple of times but then he got used to her and they became buddies.) And I can't really shave him because he has a coat like a Lab! lol He just has a really thick coat that sheds a lot. (Sort of like a GSD.)

Anyways, thanks for all of the replies! So to sum it all up: Rose won't be inside permentaly but will be able to come in sometimes.