The pup loves it outside. He will sit on the deck for hours on end just watching the people on the hiking trails or laying in the sun. Even when it's cold and rainy, he loves to be outside.

The idea was to have him as an indoor dog, and we'll still raise him that way. But, since he loves it outside so much, I need to get him a dog house if I'm going to leave him out there for any period of time.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I saw some nice wood ones at Farm for $100 and under. Does anyone have one of these? I highly doubt a "dogloo" type thing would go over at the association at my new house unless I could disguise it, even if it was in the back yard. Whatever I get must look good, be durable to the weather and moisture, and be easy to open and clean. Insulation would be a plus, and the capability for a door would be good also.

This site has a good selection. Anywhere else?

http://www.doghouses.com/?source=googleaw&kwid=dog%20house&tid=exact

John, try this link http://www.k-9kondo.com/ These are very well made and have been around for a long time. Norman

John,

It's kind of a fun project to build one. There are some nice plans on http://www.doghouseplans.com/ . I looked at the pics from this site as a baseline and improvised from there. Only thing I wish I'd done was not use cedar (see thread http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/188452/page/3#Post188452 )

I think I spent about as much as one of those K-9 kondo Large dog dens though...

I think I am going to end up building one. I was thinking that I could put a dog door on the side of the garage out the yard and avoid it, but I was out at the future house today, and the garage walls are all concrete and the floor is 3 feet below grade.

I think I'm going to build a slanted roof style one. The left side will have the opening to the outside, and there will be a divider down the middle with a doggy door to the right side, which will be insulated.

He's going to be mostly an indoor dog, and eventually will be left free in the house after he's properly trained and I feel like we can trust him. Luckily, I work from home when I'm not out of town, so I have plenty of time to spend training and watching. It doesn't do a lot of good to have the dog in a crate while someone is breaking in.

In any case, I need to figure out the materials to use. I wasn't going to use treated wood, and after seeing the info on pine/cedar, I won't use that either. But I don't want to build something that's going to require a ton of maintenance. I know a guy that builds ICF concrete homes. I'll see if he can snag me some narrow ICF forms and build the thing out of concrete. The forms are made of styrofoam, so the insulation is built in once it's finished. Then I'll side it with CBF11 concrete siding and weld together an aluminum roof on hinges for easy access. It sounds like overkill, but I could probably do the whole thing for less than what it would cost if I used lumber. It most definitely will not be movable once built, but I shouldn't need to move it. I'll build the floor out of concrete, and then get some of those 2x2 foot 3/4 inch plywood panels with the plastic eggcrate stuff on the bottom to keep him off the direct concrete.

It will probably be a couple of months before I have time to get started on it, but I'll toss up a website with the construction info and pics once I start. By using ICF forms, it should decrease the construction time by about half.

Hi John, sounds almost like you are building a dog house that resembles the one Ed recommends: http://www.leerburg.com/knlpup.htm#doghouse
Only making yours out of concrete instead of wood. I didn't see where you live, but I think this plan would be good hot or cold.

The cool thing about building it from ICF is that the blocks just snap together in whatever shape you want. You snap the rebar into clips, and then just fill it with concrete. Since the block are styrofoam, the insulation is all built in.

I live in a cold climate, so something like this would be perfect. I just need to design the ventilation so it doesn't fill with condensation when he's in there during the winter.

I would think a concrete dog house, above ground, would hold the cold just as it would be a heat sink in the hot weather.
Also, ventilation would defeat the ability of containing the dogs body heat in the cold. JMHO!

John, if you want to go all out, maybe consider using some radiant heating for winter. You could use the stuff you put in slabs or under tile and set it while you're pouring your walls. Probably a portion of one wall would do. I've seen some low voltage ones that look super easy to install as well (only downside to the low voltage is finding a spot for the transformer).

Unless you use some sort of gasket at the roof/wall juncture you would probably have enough gaps and therefor air leakage to keep condensation from forming. I would be more concerned about keeping moisture from precipitation out than condensation (which obviously a good roof would do). Depending on how you join the walls to the floor, you would want somewhere for potential water to exit just in case so the dog isn't sitting in it. Also maybe consider lining the interior to cover up the foam in case he chews...

Yes PLEASE post pictures or a website. Would love to see!

 Quote: John Stopps

I was thinking that I could put a dog door on the side of the garage out the yard and avoid it, but I was out at the future house today, and the garage walls are all concrete and the floor is 3 feet below grade.

Could you cut a hole in the concrete wall, insert a heavy steel frame, install your dog door, and build a ramp to the floor?

Radiant floor heat is wonderful. I would put it in the floor and not a wall.

The house has radiant floor heat. And one of the boilers is just inside from where the dog house would be. I could tee off of one of the lines and snake it under the floor in the dog house, put a solenoid valve in line, and connect it to a thermostat in the house with a remote temp probe.

I am also looking into the option of cutting a hole in the concrete in the garage and building a ramp up to it. It will have to be 3-4 feet above the floor. The garage has radiant floor heat also, so this might be a better option.