Hello, was wondering if anyone had suggestions on premade outdoor dog kennels. I'm moving to the country and it will be harder to get home from work mid-day. My thought was to leave my dogs in kennels when the weather is good enough. Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks!

I work some insane hours so it's impossible for me to keep the dogs on a regular schedule for in and out and work. I use three kennels for my four dogs while I'm away from the house and it's worked just fine. Add a good/great dog house and you shouldn't need to worry about weather much unless you have toys. The only limitation on this is since you're in Colorado parts of that state are flash flood zones in Spring when the tornado season goes through the plains.

If you have small dogs I suggest leaving the kennel in the garage both for their protection and health. Larger dogs with better coats seem to do fine outside. In summer in Colorado heat will be your enemy, if you switch out the base of your dog house from straw in winter to slate, tile, or some other mineral base you'll do wonders on keeping your dog cool. I've seen a variety of things people come up with to deal with Colorado heat. Better yet is to put your dog kennel in a position that will only get a couple hours of morning sun in the day and is in the shade for pretty much the rest of the day.

My first suggestion is concrete bases. Alot of people skimp this at first because of the cost which is a huge mistake. You can use the extra large patio blocks but they simply won't be as nice or clean from years of use. I find the best kennel breakers will at least be deterred by there being nothing to dig.

Second is I suggest getting the best kennel you can afford. I suggest staying away from wood in general. From my years in Colorado springs the dry rot there is insanely difficult to work with. Iron is a good choice if you have very large dogs, otherwise heavy duty cyclone type fencing ones work well too. I am of the personal opinion the kits you can get at home depot and the other hardware stores are simply too light weight for most dogs over 40 lbs.