My dog is crated at night and when away from the house. In the house he is "anxious" or "rambunctious" and outside he is much more calm. He is responding to commands well in both locations. He was a stray that we picked up at the local pound.

Dog gets two walks a day.
Dog gets to place soccer and fetch.
Minimum 1 training session a day (of about 3-5 mins).
Not allowed on furniture, must down before eating, etc.

He is good in the house at 9pm on the nose. My wife and I are very schedule driven people. Everything we do (and therefore the dog does is on a schedule). Before 9pm, he just has too much energy in the house so we either let him outside or play with him outside.

Are some dogs just outside dogs?

Or am I just crazy?

He's probably used to being outside most or all of the time previously; if that's the case, it would make sense. It probably is the case. Out of all the dog owners around me in my neighborhood, there is only one person that keeps their dog in the house, besides me; even in the hell heat of Phoenix in the summer that's not fit for man or beast, some of these poor dogs have no shade, or if they have shade it's over a concrete patio. Which isn't a good situation either as the concrete, shaded or not, is just too hot to lay down on. Your dog will probably soon get used to being in the house more and more and will start to settle down before 9 PM.

Hey Chris,
Good question and I some times wonder the same thing. Here is what I think may be the case here. Your dog first experience with being in side may have been when he came home with you. You say he was a stray and you got him from the pound. So this very well may be your dogs first real indoor experience. Well second being the first would have been the pound, so he may get a bit anxious do to the fact that the pound was not all that great of an experience. Then once you brought him home and bring him inside he may just be thinking of the whole pound thing. Not knowing the back ground on your dog has some down sides to it, but I think that getting a dog from the pound takes a lot of guts and patients on the owners part. So be patient and always make being in the house a very good experience, I am sure over time that will work itself out. My dog seems to have a lot of energy in the evenings as well, during the day a bit more laid back, but once I get home in the evenings he is full of life, seems to start a bit later in the evening, but I think that is do to teh fact that we live in Texas where it is so darn hot during the days, so he seems to kind of come alive when it begin to cool a bit out side. Man am I going to be in trouble once winter sets is, well what we in Texas call a winter... anything below 80 ....lol
Rememebr this is only my opinion on what you may be seeing in your dog :-).
Jay

Hi Jay and Sandy,

Yeah, it was actually quite cool the last few days and he pretty much didn't even want to come inside. I would say that in my neighborhood probably 80% of the dogs are outside all of the time and the fact that I have my dog in the house at all is pretty remarkable. How people can leave their dogs outside in July and August in Texas is beyond me.

Both have pretty well confirmed my feelings. We have had him for about 3 months and while he is a good dog, like I said he just doesn't really get comfortable inside until the evening. Lately we pretty much have him as an outside dog (except he is crated in the house). Unlike many people with an outside dog we still interact with him for a few hours a day and let him be inside when he is worn out and calm.

As far as getting a dog from the pound...not sure I would do that again. Or at least not get a full grown, intact, male, high energy, untrained dog again...he grew on us pretty fast though :-) So when the time comes we'll probably do the same thing...

Thanks,
Chris

I got my dog from a rescue site...and he had spent all of his life chained up to a dog house on a farm, so when we first got home he was a bit on the wild side in the house. It did stress him out a bit, because he was used to being outside all of his life. But with some patience, alot of exercise, and lots of things inside to distract him from running around like a nut...he eventually adjusted.
Now he's perfectly fine inside. Outside, he's nutty!

I got a Dal that spent the first year of his life in a backyard with absolutly NO socialization with people or animals. He was a year and intact when I got him so the first 2 weeks, he would do laps in the house as fast as he could. Eventually, inside was no big deal and he went inside or out when he pleased. Hang in there, it's all new to the poor pouch. That Dal turned out to be one of the best dogs! You never know how a rescue will end up <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

At least I'm not crazy.

For being a stray and at the pound he is remarkably well socialized. Neutering him helped a bit. Exercise does too.

I don't feel too bad putting him outside. I know that he gets more interaction with us than most inside type dogs...

At least once 9pm rolls around he is great indoors! (see above about exercise).

I swear that he only sleeps for 7 hours a day though (if that much)!

A couple more thoughts on the subject. My wife and I practice, I believe, good pack leadership. But I think we can do better...

As I have mentioned, in the backyard the dog is great. I think being allowed to roam the yard as he pleases works well with him (it is a regular sized yard maybe 5000 sq ft, completely fenced with 6' fencing and a few trees to lounge under and chase squirrels up). He'll come over when called, lay down at your feet for a while and then wander back over to the trees.

In the house he is NOT allowed to go wherever he wants. He is not allowed upstairs. He is not allowed to be in a room if we are not in that room. And I think this is really frustrating for him. He has actually barked at me the last few days. He seems angry and frustrated. Doesn't seem to be in any pain. Sometimes I think he is "antsy" because he is just doing the potty dance. If I take him out he will go 99% of the time.

Last night we added a new meaning to "let sleeping dogs lie". My dog FINALLY laid down (9pm, surprise) and I wanted him to come over a little closer so I called him over. Sure enough he was no longer dead tired like he was 10 seconds earlier. In this case I should have followed that ancient advice and just let him be.

I think taking a few steps back in leadership and putting him in his crate more may be in order. Or control him more in the backyard. Or buy a remote trainer to allow me to have better control inside and outside.

Thanks for reading my ramblings...I think I know the answers (more training, remote trainer and the drive video), but none of my friends are as into training their dogs as we are.

Yes, I will agree with you, you should've just let him be.
Although some people might say to praise him when he did that, I find that with some dogs, if you praise them for something, like settling down, it sometimes just works them up again.
Obedience training will wear him out pretty good. He'll be using his mind and body and that will tire him out both mentally and physically, and a tired dog means a quiet dog.
How long are you exercising him for? Usually if the dog is still antsy and restless after exercise, it wasn't long enough. What we might think is enough and should tire them out, really isn't.
Do you have a Kong or a chew toy that he can use while he's in the house? That will use up some of his restless energy indoors.
Especially if you put the food in the Kong then freeze it for a while, it will take him longer to get the food out if it's frozen.

He is exhausted after exercise. I myself have had to buy new pants we go out so much. For fetch or soccer I don't quit unless he lays down and loses all drive. Then I give him some water and ice cubes and he will lay down. If this dog needs more exercise I don't know what I am going to do he gets about 2 hours a day total from me (walks, runs, soccer, fetch) not to mention a couple 5 min. sessions of training.

He might be antsy inside but the second I let him outside he will run and check all 4 trees and then lay down. Or I put him in his crate for 10 minutes and then let him out and he is calm again.

I have a love/hate relationship with the Kong...I love that it keeps him occupied I hate that he is constantly dropping it in my lap when it gets down to the final cookie part. It also really works him up to start throwing it around. Filled with peanut butter and frozen for a few hours buys me about 15 minutes of relaxation. Once he gets to the cookie part (peanut butter biscuits by KONG that fit half in and half out) he goes crazy trying to get it. Entertaining yes, works his mind yes, but he really goes nuts trying to get it out.

Deli-sticks (pretty sure they are beef tendons) and bully sticks work well too and are good for almost half an hour.

Nylabone keeps him occupied though sometimes he doesn't really care. He has the "souper bone" and it is about to be replaced (chewed about half of it).

I took away his "sqeaky monster" toy as it gets him way too riled up.

The more I think about it, he seems to get up in drive and then it is very hard to have him come back down. Does the building drive video talk about that?

Thanks again!