My backyard neighbor has an outside dog. Last night we had a windchill of 13 degree F. This dog is a boarder Collie.
I would imagine that this is too cold for a boarder Collie, but before I stick my nose in someone else's business, I thought I'd check.
He does have a dog house, but he spent the entire night barking in it non stop.
Kae

Dogs will do fine in a nice tight dog house with good bedding. It is true that they will be uncomfortable early in the season until their coat catches up with their living conditions.

I am afraid the dog barking all night indicates it didn't have adequate protection. There are other issues too. Dogs belong with others. It really needs to be in the house with its pack, the family.

Outside dogs used to be much more common. We are not condemned to continue the mistakes of the past.

I thought the barking was a result of the animal being cold as well. Plus, they actually have 2 border collies. One is allowed in at night and the 2nd one lives outside all the time.
His barking in the middle of the night is a normal behavior (not to mention annoying); however he usually stops within a reasonable amount of time or only lets out a few barks here and there - nothing compared to the non stop yak of last night. Just didn't sound like the normal bark between distant dogs in the neighborhood... I was thinking he was cold.
The dog house does not have a door and the wind was blowing so hard that this morning my city trash can was blown over and in my neighbors yard.
Sorry to keep rambling - just feel bad for the little fellow.
Kae

While it may be possible for the dog to physically survive, I wouldn't consider it humane or wise, especially as Labman pointed out for the separated from the pack part. If you speak with him notice if he offers any reason for the separation? If it's a security measure, politely point out that a doghouse in a yard with active use written all over it is sufficient perhaps and that nothing makes for better security than dogs inside the house? I mean clearly he isn't getting up to check every time the outside dog barks so...

And if approaching him isn't in the stars, you can always call and complain about the noise - there are laws against barking dogs all night long, at least where I live.

There are laws here too in the city where I live and my neighborhood also has a 10 o'clock no noise rule.
I didn't want to create problems with this guy by calling animal control.
It's just a man and his son that live in the house. I've never spoken to the man personally; however, his son does yard work for me in the summer/fall.
When they got the dog this past summer, I asked the son why they didn't let the new dog inside at night like they do the other one and he said it was because it goes to the bathroom all over the house. I just left it at that.
I guess if the dog is safe from freezing to death but the barking continues like it did last night, I'll go speak to him about it.
Just makes me nervious... Hate conflicts...
Kae

Like a lot of other things, a crate is no cure all, but in most cases you can solve the problem of the dog that barks outside by bringing it in. You then use the crate to control fouling the house and shredding stuff. Little sense in me posting material on crating again until they indicate an interest. I have up some stickies, and plan one on crating soon.

Unlike some other, I wasn't born knowing all about dogs. Years ago I was a bad neighbor with a dog that barked at night. I felt the problem was the bad neighbors that let their dogs run loose. After he died, I did without a dog for 6 years. When we had our first puppy to raise for the dog guide school, we had to do things their way, which of course included the sleeping in a crate in the house. It is a great solution to many problems.

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Originally Posted by AKaeTrue

My backyard neighbor has an outside dog. Last night we had a windchill of 13 degree F. This dog is a boarder Collie.
I would imagine that this is too cold for a boarder Collie, but before I stick my nose in someone else's business, I thought I'd check.
He does have a dog house, but he spent the entire night barking in it non stop.
Kae

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Cold, and wind chill, is the same for dogs as it is for people. 32 degrees is where it become uncomfortable to sleep without adequate bedding. 15 degrees (real temperature), is cold enough to "hurt you" (frostbite). 0 degrees and below is cold enough to kill. The dog house should have the effective benefit of "stopping" the effective wind chill factor. The true outside temperature applies. I could not tell, if the reason for your question was humane consideration for the dog, or being moderately "peeved" at the barking the dog does. I had this discussion again and again with my last girlfriend - "Why would a man want a dog, when all he ever did with that dog was keep it chained up"? As you doubtless guessed, this was that mans' "thing", and the pattern extended into his realtionships with people ie: his wife, his daughter, etc.

Thank you for answering my query. I'll send you something using real email. Phil

You have me all wrong artdeskinc, I'm very compassionate when it comes to the well being of all animals (and humans). I also say what I mean and correct myself when need be; therefore if I were posting because of the barking, I would have titled something more like this "Barking Dog Driving Me Crazy" (which I have felt like doing at times LOL), but I didn't. I have 3 dogs, 4 cats, 4 horses, 2 birds, tons of fish, and 2 kid (yes kids, the masters of all animal noises:D ). Animal noises are an everyday part of my life.
The dog has been barking at night time since June when they got him... I'm not going to lie, it's annoying at times (said that above), but so are a lot of other things in life that you deal with... I don't have an issue with that.
The dog wasn't doing his "normal" barking - like I said above. It was short, constant yaks, that never stopped, to me he sounded as though he was uncomfortable and trying to get some kind of attention brought his way (from being cold). Much like my dogs sound when they're trying to get my attention for something. And I'm sure a lot of people know this short yak I'm talking about. The "attention yak" rather than "theres a stranger in the yard" bark.
My dogs are indoor dogs and I don't even own a doghouse, so before I took it upon myself to say something to them, I wanted to see if the dog could possibly be cold in his dog house...
I saw the son this evening and mentioned to him that I thought the dog was too cold at night and that it was going to be below freezing tonight. They brought the dog inside so I feel better that he's not out there suffering, if in fact that's what was going on.
It's cold... and he's little...
Plus... You are very welcome
Kae

You may want to check on the laws in your state. Here in NY, they permit outside dogs, but the minimal shelter requirement is a dog house with a bale of straw in it - at least here in upstate (where it's colder)... and they enforce it pretty actively in my county.

I suspect this dog is barking mostly from being isolated from it's companion.

I had a gordon setter rescue who I adopted that came to me an emotional train wreck. He just could not stand to be in the house in the daytime, but was wonderful at night... So I did actually own a doghouse for him, but only for daytimes, and never on our coldest days.

-Beth

Hi Beth,
How is your puppy now after his "bad snack". Hope he's feeling better.
Yes, my county has the same rules as yours... It looks like they have cedar chips inside the dog house which is another form of bedding allowed.
I was just concerned for him.
Kae

I am glad to hear you spoke up in your ever gentle way, Akae, and I am glad to hear they brought the dog inside - I like happy endings. Thank you.

Kae -

Thanks for asking... Connor's back to his old evil ways

-Beth

I'm glad too, Val.

Beth, happy to hear Connor is well.

Doggy has been inside 2 nights in a roll (he's in right now).
They didn't mean any harm, I think they realize that it was too cold for him.
The first really cold night we had was just a few days ago, so the dog only spent one night in the cold cold (and he let it be know that he highly disapproved of the conditions LOL)