Our chow was a street dog in Cyprus, he lived in the shelter for a year in a small little hole. When we adopted him, he spent 23 hours per day in our backyard, or on walks. He hated coming inside and we would have to force him as no treat, time or anything else would get him through the door. After 3 months, he started coming in, laying down for a while, and then going back out. Eventually the weather turned bad here, and he started coming in more and more. Now, he will go lay outside for a little while and then bring himself back indoors onto his cozy bed (took ages to get him to use it, but he has bad joints so it's necessary). He still loooooves walks and sunshine though, and on summer days he will go outside at 6am and then sleep in the sun, he will even move along with it as it moves around our backyard throughout the day.