We have a 6 month old male GSD and have gotten some mixed messages from others in our area about were to keep him now that the weather is cold.
Currently we have an outdoor kennel with straw and igloo for him, thus far on the coldest days temps in the teens he has slept outside the igloo on the straw. So far he seems to love the cold, snow etc.
At night we have him in the house and sleeps in his crate inside.
We have heard he will not develop a good under coat due to his being inside in the heated house and there for we should keep him in his indoor crate during the day during winter.
Can anyone provide some insight on if keeping him outside during the day is not advisable when he is kept inside at night.
Ed, where do you get the grates you use in your puppy pens? What do they measure? Do the pups or their mother have trouble with getting their feet or nails caught in the holes?
Mine is very similar to Ed's also. The big difference is that I don't have the divider. The reason being is that I have a 6x25 dog run is along one side of the garage. Inside the run I have a dog door to go through the garage wall. Inside the garage is a 6x6 fenced area where the dog house is. The BIG consideration is getting the dog out of the wind and draft. IMO, those igloos fall WAY short of that.
Baton Thaqi Webboard User Reg: 03-04-2005
Posts: 93
Loc: Worcester, MA
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I borrowed the design from Ed as well and did build a similar doghouse. The divider wall I have made it detachable so I can remove it during the summer time. It wasn’t cheap. I have spent over $500 only on materials, but at least now I can sleep worry free about my dog freezing because of all the insulation that I have put in.
I don’t know how much truth is to it but I have read somewhere that having the dog sleep sometimes inside and sometimes outside it’s not good because he would not gain enough immunity against cold. I bring my dog in some evenings for few hours but he sleeps in his doghouse and is there also during the day.
Reg: 01-08-2005
Posts: 62
Loc: North Shore,Massachusetts
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$500.00 for material,that has to be some dog house! I also built a dog house using ed's design.It only cost me $9.00 for a roll of fiberglass insulation,the rest of the lumber i got at a construction site.If you are ever looking for scrap lumber stop by a few construction sites you would be amazed at the quality and amount of new lumber that is thrown away.Most of the job sites will let you have the lumber for free just make sure you ask before taking.I have been doing it for years.
Ed Frawley Administrator Reg: 07-11-2001
Posts: 2112
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John - the plastic Igloo is OK for summer months to keep a dog dry. We have one in the front yard of our kennel. They are not inter houses. The key to a good dog house is to get the dog out of the wind, have 12 inches of dry straw with 1 to 2 inches of styrafoam under it in a small sleeping compartment that can hold as much body heatr as possible. I am sure there are fancier dog houses but I have never seen ones I like better than the RCMP design I use.
Ed you must have missed my qestion so here it is again. Where do you get the grates you use in your puppy pens? What do they measure? Do the pups or their mother have trouble with getting their feet or nails caught in the holes?
Baton Thaqi Webboard User Reg: 03-04-2005
Posts: 93
Loc: Worcester, MA
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Quote:
$500.00 for material,that has to be some dog house! I also built a dog house using ed's design.It only cost me $9.00 for a roll of fiberglass insulation,the rest of the lumber i got at a construction site.If you are ever looking for scrap lumber stop by a few construction sites you would be amazed at the quality and amount of new lumber that is thrown away.Most of the job sites will let you have the lumber for free just make sure you ask before taking.I have been doing it for years.
Yes I was surprised too when I got to the register to pay for the materials.
Maybe I have overdone it with the materials but I also bought few tools that I did not have for building the doghouse.
I wish I knew before that construction sites give away lumber for free it would have saved me few bucks. Next time will try that.
For the insulation I have used a lot of styrofoam in between the sidewalls and the floor walls, and it has cost it me lot more than $9.00.
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