Outdoor dogs to in indoor dogs?

[JakeNAudrei]

I have been thinking about bringing my dogs in. My golden is 3 and my lab mix is about 4. I recently bought my own house and before I was living with a friend and they had to be outside. My golden has not lived inside since he was a pup. But now that I have my own place I have been contemplating how they will take the transition. They are outside in a pin right now. And I have a very strange and crazy neighbor who in the past has come over and harrassed them by jabbing sticks into the dog pin at them when i wasn't at home, supposedly they were barking at him! Hello! I would too! But anyways, my job requires me to be away 24 hours at a time and I am constantly worrying that something will happen to them. But he has been warned not to ever come over again. But I still worry. What do ya'll think??

[London_Pyr_Lover]

Do you have an area of your house like a mud room or laundry room that leads to the back yard?  If so you could install a doggie door there.  Keep the rest of you house locked up of course, but this way the pups can have somewhere to go out of the weather, and away from crazy neighbors.  How big is the dog pen?  You could also try gating off the area that the crazy neighbor is jabbing at, that way he can't reach them and they can bark their little hearts out without having to worry about him hurting them.

BTW I don't know if I've said hello to you yet, so HI!!  Welcome, and we must see pictures!!!  Please  !!

[kathryn]

If you are gone for 24 hour shifts I would definitely look into the doggy door if you don't have someone who can come over and let your pups out while you are gone.  Mine are crated because they will chew up the house if they are unattended.  So if I'm going to be late I call a friend to come over and let them out for a quick run and potty trip. 

As for the neighbor, I would put locks on the gates to your yard.   

[JakeNAudrei]

Do you have an area of your house like a mud room or laundry room that leads to the back yard?  If so you could install a doggie door there.  Keep the rest of you house locked up of course, but this way the pups can have somewhere to go out of the weather, and away from crazy neighbors.  How big is the dog pen?  You could also try gating off the area that the crazy neighbor is jabbing at, that way he can't reach them and they can bark their little hearts out without having to worry about him hurting them.

BTW I don't know if I've said hello to you yet, so HI!!  Welcome, and we must see pictures!!!  Please  !!

It's nice to meet you! Yes I promise I will get pictures up soon, looking for the perfect ones!! I don't have a room that leads to the back yard. I have a garage but it goes to the front. I did have a boundary privacy fence kind of thing built on that side of the crazy neighbor, I want to fence in the entire back yard but geez!! Very expensive!! that one side cost $3000! It has helped some, but he still watches me all the time, I hate it!! My lab mix absolutely hates that man, there is no doubt in my mind she would eat him alive if she ever got the chance! But anyways thats another story. My stepdad built the dog pen and its about like 10 feet by 15 feet. Its a pretty good size. I may have to try the crates if I decide to bring them in cause I don't want my house destroyed!!

[JakeNAudrei]

Thanks for the advice. I will let you know how things go. I have to wait just a little bit longer though cause they are being treated for sarcoptic mange and definetly do not want to bring that inside!!