Puppy won't stay outside alone

[specialkel]

I have a 5 month old Sheltie/Poodle mix named Cody (no, I didn't get him because I wanted a "designer dog" - he is a mutt! LOL). I love him to death... he is the best puppy.

HOWEVER! lol

We housetrained him by teaching him how to ring a bell on the door when he needs to go outside. This has worked really well and he is pretty much accident-free in the house.

But he LOVES to go outside. He loves to sniff around, chase bugs, everything a puppy probably loves to do. He will ring the bell for 10 minutes so he can go outside (even when he was just out to go potty). So, we decided to get a tie-out so that he can be outside when we can't be or even when we are.

Whenever he is tied to this, he spends most of the time barking and barking and barking, usually at the door. Even when I am outside, say, washing my car and have him on the tie-out, he still does nothing but barks until I either sit with him or let him go inside.

Is there any way to help this? He LOVES being outside when I have him on the leash. As soon as I put him on the tie-out, he wants back inside. He is very much a people-puppy, he loves everyone!

Any suggestions?

 

[J's crew]

Please don't tie your dog up.
By being tied up he is at the mercy of any other dog that comes by, or anything else for that matter.
If you need to leave him outside unattended think about getting a kennel or fencing in your yard.

 

[specialkel]

I got one of those puppy play yards and he hated that even worse! I think because he already had full reign of the yard... being confined to a little spot didn't make him too happy...

 

[gibbrishclown]

Could you create a little excitement in his surroundings? You could drop special food (maybe a little shredded lunchmeat) into the grass before putting him out and let him hunt for it... or get him a little spring pole contraption or like a little tether ball pole so he has something to chase around without you there. It sounds like puppy really prefers to be with his people, but if you could make it more exciting to be out back, maybe he'd go for that. My parents have to chain thier dog because htey don't have a fence too, but sometimes chaining can cause frustration and borede- hence the barking

 

[Southpaw]

Oh boy can I relate! My 7 month old puppy hates being outside alone, she loves exploring and sniffing around and chasing leaves, but the minute she hears me open the door, she comes running and she freaks out if I go inside and leave her out. It has to stop though because there's no way I can stay outside with her in the middle of January when the temp is below 0! :yikes:

So, I have no suggestions because I'm looking for suggestions of my own. I would think this would be common with puppies though...they get so used to us going out with them when we're trying to housebreak them, I can definitely see why they don't like it when we're not there.