[kgrl4God02]

I wrote about my basset hound in the thread called "Basset Stank". Well, I was sort of surprised to find that her odor originated froom her beautiful ears, and I've resolved to cleaning her ears much more often than I have been. And I wondered if that, along with some other grooming improvements, would make her suitable to change into an indoor dog... the problem is that she's seven years old!! Well, she is potty-trained, I know this, and relatively house-broken. I don't have any problem with sweeping and swiffering and washing doggy bedding, as I do this anyway with our english bulldog.... the only reason Lucy's been an outdoor dog all this time has been because of her smell, and I think I can fix that now! Soo... I just have some questions::

1. Has anyone done this before - changed a basset- or any dog for that matter - from an outdoor to an indoor dog?
2. Is this even a good idea? (I really want to try it!)

Input?

~K~<3

 

[Elvismom]

Yes and yes.

I rescued Dart when he was 10. He'd been kept in the backyard for a lot of his life. He came into the house, claimed one of the beds for his own and lives a very happy life.

Plan on diong a little training so she knows how to let you know when she needs to go out. Or how to use the doggy door if you have one.

I can say with almost 100% certainly that she'll settle in the house with no problems.

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

My boy Stomps was kept outside until he came to live with me. I don't know that he was ever housebroken, so we had that to contend with. But he transitioned very, very well to being inside. He's probably about 12 now, and he actually prefers to be either outside or in the garage (I try not to take it personally), but I have dog doors so he can come and go as he wishes. Some dogs come inside and never want to leave, some, like Stomps, still like to be outside quite a bit. But either way, I don't think you'll have any problem with your girl. Watch out for territorial issues now that both kids are inside, though, and nip them in the bud before it escalates. Surely an English bulldog and a basset would be fine, though.

 

[Baxter Basset]

I got Baxter when he was 3 months old. He was contained in a crate in the house when I wasn't home. The crate had a gate around it and I left puppy pads down for him . My oldest Lab, who is now 15, stayed outdoors in an insulated dog house which was enclosed in a chain link fenced in area. She lived there for the first 2 years of her life and then I brought her in (when my 16 year old terrier died). She's lived in the house ever since. I bought a new dog house and lined the pen with cedar chips and flag stone and put Baxter out there when I'm not home, along with lots of toys. He's in the house when I'm home including overnight. When it gets towards winter and it's cold out. I will buy him a crate and he will stay indoors, along with BJ our other Lab mix, and his good buddy, who has his own crate. That would only be when I'm not home. The 15 year old has free run of the house. I think he'll get used to it as he now sleeps in a crate at night. Dogs are really very adaptable, more so than we think. We just fenced in a large portion of our yard and the dogs are having a ball running and playing when we're home. :lol:

 

[FredMom]

Fred has been trained to "do his business" outdoors since I brought him home a year ago as a pup. He just wouldn't accept the pee pee pads that I tried to train him to. He would just destroy them and turn them into conffetti. LOL My mom checks on him once a day when I'm at work and take him out so that he won't suffer holding it all day.

 

[kgrl4God02]

Thank you for all the input! LOL Fred's Mom! Thankfully, we potty trained Lucy when she was very small and somehow she still clings to that rule; she's quite the smarty-paws... What I'm mostly concerned about is keeping two dogs in the house. I've found that on the occasion when Lucy does come into the house, Matilda (and our last indoor dog who was tragically ran over at a year old ) follows her around, practically leaning on her physically, fretting over Lucy's every move, making sure she follows the rules, and whatnot! Lol, it's funny watching her at first, but Lucy ends up snapping at her within minutes... Matilda happens to LOVE that and sees another dog's hostility as an initiation to a game . Matilda is quite silly, she's always been that way, the sweetest little thing... she doesn't even know meanness, but it'll take some time to train her out of her annoyingness, I know. She just gets excited at the change, I guess.

That's basically my only worry, besides Lucy's inclination to watch my guinea pigs for hours on end until she works herself into a fit.... I can fix that, too, I've done it. Matilda grew up around arouind guinea pigs and pays them hardly any attention, unless the guinea pigs want to play with her.. and sometimes they actually do!

ANYWAY... thanks for your stories, I think we cand do this; but what are some ways to keep the indoor dog-indoor dog relationship in check? How do you keep things neutral with multiple dogs in the house?? Do you think Matilda get over the excitement of having Lucy in the house?
~K~<3