No backyard = More people interrupting housetraining
Know when to say ‘no’ to humans, not just dogs
I had a backyard my entire childhood. When I lived in an apartment up to the age of 6.5, I’d run down the three flights of stairs to play with mud and flirt relentlessly with my childhood crush. From ages 6.5 to 17, when my parents bought a house, you could find me hanging out on my front porch with my next-door neighbor (or chatting between bedroom windows “Love & Basketball” style). I’d hang out in the backyard for holidays when my father BBQ’d or maybe to play a couple of games during sleepovers, but it was usually just a place to park cars.
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My 50–60 pound Labrador Retriever would constantly squeeze his body completely under the first step and just hang out under the porch during spring, summer and fall, and stay outside for two seconds in the winter. My German Shepherd wasn’t really a fan of hot weather and preferred the basement, but she always wanted to go in the backyard to play in the snow when it was offensively freezing outside. But if someone were to have asked me about the importance of backyards and dogs, I would’ve shrugged. Even during the year I was working on Rover, I shrugged my shoulders at owners who were adamant about dog caregivers who had backyards.
As a dog boarder and as a dog sitter for Wag and Rover, it just didn’t make me much difference, specifically with adult dogs who’d been housetrained. But when you’re the owner of a dog 24/7 without a backyard, you quickly figure out why a backyard is ideal. Because my dog was so easy to crate train (98:2 ratio) and I figured out baby carrots (and later Alpo Little Bites) could get her to do whatever I wanted her to do, not having a backyard didn’t faze me — at first. It wasn’t until I went to my parents’ house for the Fourth of July that my dog realized, “Wait a minute, I have more freedom to run around here.”
Recommended Read: “Unconventional ways to distract dogs from fireworks ~ The fireworks show is fun to hear and see — unless you own a dog”
Now she could take off running in circles, back and forth, and bark at the new neighbor’s dog. When she returned back to my condo, where she knew she was on a three-walk-per-day activity rate and just pop-in-and-out visits to release herself in between, I noticed she wanted to hang outside longer. Passersby wanted to play with her, she loves attention and I’d end up standing outside excessively longer than necessary. In backyards, this is a nonexistent issue. After the Fourth of July, I missed having a backyard — the same backyards I was indifferent about throughout childhood.
Training humans, not dogs
You would think that not being able to let the dog outside to run around would be the big issue. American Humane confirms that just letting your dog outside isn’t enough to housetrain him or her — “You must be with the dog outside so as to praise him; simply letting him out and shutting the door is not enough.”