Well, like I said, I guess it depends on where you live.
I haven't had a dog in years, developed pet allergies when i was in my twenties
It never gets that cold here, and we always had a pen and roomy doghouse - in the winter we would put a light bulb in the ceiling of the house and pack it with old blankets - dogs slept warmer than I did, haha.
I had one dog, Mikey, who wouldn't leave the yard no matter what, and we didn't have a fenced-in yard. I think it was because when he was a puppy we were standing by the road and saw another dog get hit by a car (dog didn't die, but broke his front leg, and screamed so loud and so long people down the neighborhood were coming out of their houses to see what was going on). I think it imprinted on him that if you step onto the hard black surface, you get fucked up like that dog did. After that you couldn't even call him out of the yard, you could go on the other side of the road and call him and all he'd do is sit down and wag his tail at you. He wouldn't cross even if you had food, he'd just whine until you came back across and gave it to him. I've never seen anything like it. When he got older he'd occasionally venture to the next door neighbor's house, because they threw food out in the woods behind their yard (The Woods: a source of both porn and food!), but he never went any further than that. He hated going inside, too. He'd step into the kitchen long enough for you to give him some food, but would immediately turn around with it in his mouth and stand by the door with a "anytime you want to open this fucking thing, man" look on his face. He was a mutt mix of German Shepherd and hound so he was huge, big enough to almost be able to look you straight in the eyes when he jumped up and put his paws on your shoulder...but he was a giant pussy. He'd hide from cats when they came into the yard, then when we ran them out he'd strut around with his chest puffed out making that "boof" half-barking noise like he was king shit
I miss that dog
