Outside by himself

[Hagar]

For those who have a well fenced yard, how much outdoor time do you give your Cairn? Renny loves the backyard and would spend hours out there by himself. He either plays with a few toys, patrols the fence like a border guard, sniffs the neighbor's dogs thru the fence, or simply finds a sunny spot to take a nap. I do keep a dish of fresh water available outside for him.

I know I'm probably way "overprotective" of him. He is a healthy and sturdy little guy. I do leave him out for short periods, but do check on him every few minutes. If I'm doing yardwork in the front yard, I'll leave him in back and make it a point to check on him every few minutes. He is not much of a "digger", although he will dig a little at times. My fence is well secured, and if he did decide to dig, it would take him quite awhile to go deep enough to even get close to getting out.

My previous dog was a very small and delicate Toy Poodle who was never left out by himself. He was "Taken out" not "Put out". In other words when he needed to go out, I would take him out, and wait while he took care of business, and bring him back in. If I was sitting on the patio or doing yardwork, he would be out with me, but if I was doing something where I couldn't watch him closely, I'd put him back in the house.

I'd like to hear how much outdoor freedom you allow your Cairns.

Hagar.

[ParNone]

I think it depends on the dog. My Cairn is really well behaved outside. No trying to escape. No excess barking. No destruction. So he gets to stay out as long as he wants. When it's hotter, like it is now, he asks to come back in quicker, but when the weather's really nice he'll stay outside for a couple of hours at time.

The Collies, being vedy loud barkers, get no choice in the matter. They're usually only outside when I'm supervising and playing with them, but the times I do give them a lil' alone time outside, if they start getting too barky, they have to come back inside.

Les...

[toomanypaws]

Mine are rarely outside alone. I've read one too many sad stories of Cairns escaping, only to lose their life to an automobile. Our yard is very wide, slanting down to a lake. We've had many critters dig under our fence leaving a hole. Hopefully we seem to have corrected that by pouring gravel along the base. Still, I feel more comfortable supervising them. I'm fortunate to have a 10 yr old who loves nothing more than to be outside w/ them and has them scheduled into her dailty activities. I'm sure I'm overprotective, but I don't think mine have ever been left longer than 5 minutes if someone can't watch them.

[Brody'sMom]

Neither Brody and Mia do much barking in the yard so in that respect they could stay out for a long period of time. However, we too have animals that dig under our fence (dasterdly woodchucks) and Mia will escape through the smallest hole. Fortunately she doesn't go far and returns when we ring a bell, but it scares us to death, so we have to limit her time out there. If it weren't for her escape tendencies (Brody does not seem to have any) I would leave the outside for as long as they wanted. My dogs seem to like to stay out for 20 minutes and then come in for 5 and back out. I think they like to see me open the door!

[brin145]

Mine spend time outside in our fenced back yard every evening while we are home. I periodically check that no digging, climbing, harassing, etc. is going on in the yard. I have to watch Gus mostly because he tends to try to chew/eat everything. If he finds a peice of wood (like the bark from flower beds) , he will try to chew on it. He has gotten wood stuck in his mouth several times. I will frantically go and extract it. Crunch digs some, but he has stayed away from the fence line. I check the fence all the time. So, on average, mine get at least one - two hours outside everyday right now. I don't stay outside with them. As I said, I just monitor them.

[OzGirl]

When we are home the girls have access to the fenced back yard through their doggy door. They come and go as they please all day/night till I put them to bed in their crates. The main living area and kitchen look out to the yard so I usually know what they are up to when they are out by themselves, and if I can't see them I will go and check. They don't dig much so I haven't had any concerns of them trying to dig under the fence - but I do watch out for it (if they did they would end up in another fully fenced back yard). As we live in suburbia there is no danger from wildlife. If they start to bark too much I will bring them in. They tend to stay near us but it is nice that they can just take themselves out when they need to wee/poo - makes my life a little bit easier.

[Maggie15]

We leave maggie for quite a while outside, she likes lying in the sun, playing whatever... i'd say we leave her for at most 30-60 minutes before checking on her... my fence is pretty secure and she has never dug around the fence... also sometimes if we are in the front yard and its safe for her to be around we'll put her on a spike so she can be around us... i guess you really have to go with your comfort level... i'm pretty comfortable with not keeping an eye on her for while... i dont leave her on the spike unattended or with a collar on at all just for safety reasons...

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[Hagar]

I appreciate the comments. One thing I should have mentioned is that a couple of squirrels love to tease Renny every chance they get. He has not caught one yet, but has gotten close. He is not much of a barker, although every so often something will get his attention and set him off. After a minute or so, he calms down and is quiet. My neighbor has a couple of Dachshunds who often bark a lot and for long periods. Renny usually just looks at them, stays quiet and figures it must be time to go in the house. Hagar.

[SARpartner]

I only let my guy out with the big dogs as we have lots of preditory birds that are big enough to take a Cairn. We get large owls, hawks and the occasional eagle.