[Satam]

I think you're right that for a dog to live its best life it needs the ability to spend a lot of time outdoors with relative freedom. Our labrador had the chance to live like that in an excessively very large garden for his last 4 years. I'm glad he got that, I think it made his life much better. Looking back, when he stayed with us in an apartment he must've been depressed.

[gretch]

In the US, people tend to look at me weird when I tell them my dog lives outside. Some of them probably think I’m a heartless or uncaring dog owner.

When I first adopted him, I tried inside first, and he was unhappy and anxious, and so much of that went away when he was chillin outside.

I think humans often wrongly project their own preferences onto dogs.

[vundercind]

Totally normal in the country, in the US. No fence or anything, either, if you’ve got enough land.

[mejutoco]

Not saying it is your case, but I want to add:

I think it also depends on the mental stimulation. Hiking I see many country houses big gardens. The dogs in them are rarely walked, and bark at anything that passes in ftont of the house all day long.

I think a dog that lives in a house but gets proper stimulation and walks is happier that thosr garden dogs.

[grahamjameson]

I would like to expand on this and suggest that this applies to humans as well.