Outdoor Poms

by Pat
(Texas)

Our 2 poms were originally adopted to be indoor pets. We did install a doggy door that opens into an enourmous pen (covered on top with chicken wire to protect them from flying predators) and is absolutely secure. We'd originaly designed this setup so that the dogs would have an outdoor play area and a potty area that was rinsed clean with each rain. We even went so far as to cover a large section of it for shade and put an outdoor dog house for if they get tired. Overkill, I know, but I always worried that if maybe they went outside and the doggy door got stuck they'd be without shelter if a sudden rainstorm came up or something.

Well, I'm thinking it might have been a mistake. Both poms have taken such a liking to it that they REFUSE to come indoors no matter how hot or cold it is. They'll run in, eat, and the scoot right back out. If we want to play with them, we have to go outdoors. We live in a wooded area and they seem to think that they're guard dogs. I finally figured out that it was the squirrles that fascinated them so much. However, the fact that they wont come in concerns me. I've gone and bought extra food and water dispensers so that they now have a set indoors and outdoors and we've fixed up a heater for the winter as well as warm bedding.

In the summer, we've now taken to doing the lion cut instead of our usual teddy bear cut and we have always kept the area flea and tick treated so that has never been a problem. My only complaint really is that I thought they would like being indoor pooches, but that is not the case. If I lock the door and keep them in, they cry and bark all night until we let them out, at which point they run the perimiter of their yard looking for those squirrels I suppose (not sure why they're so determined to keep them away) and then promptly hole up in their dog house and go to sleep and no amount of coaxing or begging will bring them inside. And if they think your'e going to force them indoors, they make you chase them down.


I just don't understand it. We coddled them like our own kids right from the beginning and they stayed indoors for the first six months (since the yard wasn't built yet), but once they got a taste of outside, it's like they forgot about us. Yes, they always come for belly rubs and love to go walk each evening and my youngest son plays with them a lot each day, but other than that, they just straight out refuse to come in. Thankfully, we live in Texas and the winters are mild here. The summer's get really hot, but it never seems to bother them. They even have one of those small plastic pools that they sometimes play in, but again, nothing I do will keep them inside.

Any ideas on how to get them back where they belong or should I just give up and let them do like they want? We do still keep the doggy door ready just in case, but since I put food outside too, they haven't come indoors in over six months no matter what I've done.