So sad. You'd be surprised how many people have small dogs like that as "outside dogs." I groomed a matted schnauzer yesterday that lived outside I told them after I was done with the dog (had to be shaved down) that it better live inside. I've seen a lot of schnauzers, poodles, shih tzus, even yorkies, etc. that live outside...and I live in Utah! I remember a guy throwing a fit because we had to shave his silky terrier (matted) in the winter, and now his dog was going to freeze to death because it was an outside dog. Ugh, seriously, even with the dog having a full coat, its still going to freeze to death because silkies do not have the undercoat to keep themselves warm anyway! Their hair is like human hair.

I don't agree with "outside dogs" period, obviously as I have three huskies and a lab mix in my house but I know some dogs can live outside and be well cared for, and sometimes with working dogs and such its not feasible for them to be in the house. My dogs love being outside, Nebo would happily live outside, I have to drag him in the house at night he wants to go sleep in the snow. But seriously, if you're going to get a dog to live outside, get a bigger dog with a coat that can handle the weather.

Maybe you could offer to buy them a crate so they could at least put the dog in the crate in the house at night to sleep?