The problem I have is this: In the last sentence of your first reply you accused me of trying to save money over the health of my dog when that wasn't even my question.

"Save a buck somewhere else and get your dog a doghouse. It deserves one."

And the reason why I asked about dog houses is because WHEN it gets cold here in Houston(for all of two weeks) she will be outside during the day many times and I wanted to know if others have bought houses that their dogs never use and if they would do it again or go another route I might not have thought about.

I also have a doggie door to my garage, but I don't let her use it because I control where she sleeps, when she goes in and out, and any other area of her life where she might try to usurp pack structure.

I don't mind spending money, I just don't like wasting it.

I can post the exact words from the Texas code again and it will say what I posted before: there is no hard definition of "shelter". It's done that way on purpose so there's wiggle room for either the court or officers to be lenient or be hard asses with an individual accused of breaking some ordinance, but I'm sure you already knew that. I have federal, state, and local law enforcement officers that are a part of my family. If I needed advice on the law I would've asked them.

Edited by Mike Morrison (11/03/2007 05:32 PM)
Edit reason: to add the quote

Let's go back to the topic, which, as I understand it, is whether a doghouse is superfluous for the occasional use of an indoor-sleeping dog who already has an outdoor crate with a roof and floor but doesn't use it.

I love that Dogloo.
http://petsafe-warehouse.com/dog_crates/dogloo.htm

I don't have one because my dogs are never in the yard without me, but if they were that's what I would get. I like the insulation from heat as much as the rain conduit and "moat."

Mike, I really don’t think that David meant anything personal about you or your manner of keeping a dog. It sounded to me that he was answering your question from his point of view and experience.

And here is mine. I bought a Dogloo for mine and they never used it. Period. So we had a contractor buddy make up a rectangular house (for the legal ‘shelter’ aspect) but with a flat slightly sloping roof. My female loves to sit up there and sun bathe and it is up off the ground and out of the mud (I have a personal issue with dirty dogs, call it OCD ). I often put a scrap of carpet up there or a cow mat and either toss it or wipe it regularly. Inside has shavings but they still never use that, at least they are willing to let the cat claim it as hers!

Like you, I keep them both inside for various reasons the vast majority of the time. So I don’t really care if they use the ‘shelter’ aspect of the house. But in answer to your question, they never did change their behavior towards a dog house, just the way it was used

Good luck with what ever you choose. Sounds like you will do what is right by your dog!

 Quote: jessicakromer

Mike, I bought a Dogloo for mine and they never used it. Period.

I didn't buy Dogloos, but rather I built my own houses that are plywood on the outside....1" foam insulation....and plywood inside. The roofs and floors are the same except for 2" foam insulation. I fill them with straw or shavings in the winter and the roofs are hinged so I can change it out. In the summer we move them into the day runs since the weather is HOT and the dogs never use them and we put them in the indoor kennels during the winter months.

Reason being is due to extreme winter temperatures here. Below zero wind chills are very common. All the dogs use them when they are really cold or not inside, however, my bloodhound digs a "cave" in the drifts when it snows and he would rather be in there. It actually gets nice and toasty.

I would find your "codes" and go from there. If the dog chooses not to use it, then there is really nothing you can do, but at least it will be there if anything happens or she decides she needs to "come in out of the rain" when you are not home.

Dogloos are great, or you can build a decent one at a minimal expense.

Are you saying that the dog gets on top (like Snoopy) but not inside?

Maybe the dog doesn't like the limitation put on her view by the walls?

Just like Snoopy, although I’ve never seen her on her back up there, ha ha!

Like you said, I think she likes the view from up there. I always thought of it as "Rox's Throne." She must feel like the Queen with all of her subjects looking up to her.

Anyway, it always makes me smile to look out and see her up there with the kitty curled up in the doorway below.

Connie and Carol,

I have thought about building my own wooden hatch for her much like you described but Houston is sooo humid and wet most of the time that wood on the ground or even on top of a pallet or bricks gets hit by mildew and rot and is a magnet for termites around here...they'll build up thru brick or concrete(I have a 6'X4' slab in the backyard already)to get to the wood.

The plastic houses are the way to go down here in that regard but the way Brenna ignored her crate that she sleeps in half the time inside the house the night of the above mentioned thunderstorm I put her out into, I just wondered if there were other better possibilities I could investigate.

You folk get a lot more problems with climate over there and of course the USA being so big and the weather pattern so different in areas of the country, must make it a lot harder for you people than we have it
In fact over here regards weather it seems we get off very light, But we do gwet a lot of rain but thats a good thing i am beginning to learn that you have a lot of things to put up with to keep your Dogs and Fair play to you all

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

Are you saying that the dog gets on top (like Snoopy) but not inside?

Maybe the dog doesn't like the limitation put on her view by the walls?

When I was a kid we had an outside dog that had the whole yard to herself and a big 5x5ft (4ft tall) wood dog house custom made for her. She would always hop up and sleep on the roof and I'd hop up there and join her

When the pups were 8 weeks old they had 4x6ft kennels in the grass with a dogloo in them, they got more joy out of climbing over the dogloo's than they did sleeping inside them. Watching a puppy sliding over the top of a dogloo is hours of fun

You could spend $50 and put in a "doggie door".