Leavin' for work...

Thought I'd trow this out there before I go... I've got a good sized Girl.. (Amber). She's 40-50 lbs if I had to guess. This is our first winter together. She roams our backyard and has been thriving! (I've seen visable groth in the short time we've owned her).... ANYWAY!!!!
This is my question.. I've been trying to decide how she should spend the upcoming winter. I've talked to people that house them outside in an Igloo/dog house with heat admitters... AND someone said they've heard of people letting them hibernate. They'll put them into closetts, garages, etc... I'd really appriciate some feed-back on this one.

Also time frames??? Good time to start the "winter" season here in TEXAS and end it!

Many thanks! Laura