Recently came across two people we know who've each acquired a dog - one a rescue hound aged about 1 yr and the other a puppy - who is now about 7 months. In both cases, the dog is kept in their garage. The rescue dog - who is largely untrained and spent most of its life in kennels and is aggressive with children - gets to come into the house when the people are there but spends much of the day and all the night in the unheated garage with access to a small garden. Although it hasn't been nearly as cold snowy weather where we are locally, it's still been bitterly cold, especially at nights and I can't help worrying that the dog must be freezing cold?
The other people's puppy - now aged about 7 months, appears to live in a garage too, with access to the garden and occasional access to the conservatory but isn't allowed in the house at all. In both cases, from what I know, the dogs are walked and played with.
The puppy's owners recommended to us that when we get our puppy next year, we also don't keep it in the house but convert a shed or the garage. It never crossed my mind to have anything but a house dog as part of the family, although we might restrict it to downstairs only but the other people say the whole house will smell strongly in no time at all and it's unhygienic.
So I'm just asking really is it normal practice - and the owner's choice - to keep a dog outside the house - I suppose in the equivalent of a kennel arrangement and is this common practice and not too cold for the dog? I know the breeder we'll get our pup from has her dogs in kennels but with access to the house and her elderly dogs are in the house.
Incidentally, we'll DEFINITELY want to keep our puppy-to-be in the home but does this mean the house will inevitably smell? How common is it to house your family pet outside the house?