[WillowTheWhisp]

I can see where you are coming from because I've spent time on a farm in Ireland where the dog/dogs were always free to come and go as they pleased just like yours. They very rarely came into the house and if they did it was only when they wanted to, but they were usually somewhere close by when they weren't scrounging off the neighbours and giving the impression they never got fed!

I've also lived in town and had a pet house dog who was taken for long walks on a lead in areas where he needed to be on a lead and allowed to run free where it was safe for him to do so. He always ran back to me and eventually would trot along side of me, "asking" to go back on the lead before we started heading for home.

Just like it takes all sorts of people to make a world I guess it takes all sorts of dogs too. I believe most house dogs are happy provided they get enough outdoor fun and excercise.

I think bobthedj's dog is young and could well have got lost, but there is also the possibility that he's been kidnapped.