# question on dog house?



## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

I am building a dog house for my 2 english pointers and have a question.
I am not from Utah so I'm not sure just how well a dog holds up to the cold.
So, the way I built this house is by making the enterance a 2' long tunnel on the side of the house and then it opens up where they can lay, figured the long tunnel will keep the wind out.
I made it out of 1/2 inch OSB plywood and I sandwiched 1 inch foam house insulation along the walls and ceiling. The floor is the plywood with 2 inches of soft foam and then carpet.
So, the walls and ceiling are 1 inch of wood and 1 inch of insulation. 
I made it big enough for both of them to move around in it but not so big that the body heat will not warm it up.
Will this thing keep them warm or do I need to put a little heater it in.
I put a heater in the other house I had made for them last year when they were puppies but now I'm thinking they can handle a little cold?


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

i think the main question is whether the dogs will ruin all of the insulation, I know my labs would, I have to reinforce all of the osb that's end is exposed or they will chew it like crazy. For my labs, there is no insulation and they do well together. On the really cold nights I put them in the garage, but back on the farm, the uninsulated dog house is all they had and did fine.


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## TEX-O-BOB (Sep 12, 2007)

Now just add a half bail of grass hay to the inside and hope they don't eat all the carpet and insulation.


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## bwhntr (Sep 12, 2007)

Give them some straw or grass hay in there and they will be nice and toasty!


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## hoghunter011583 (Jul 21, 2008)

The insulation is between the osb. So it is the osb, insulation and then another sheet of osb. They can't get to it cause if they could it would be torn off the house in a matter of minutes. The carpet will prolly not work so I'm going to get some hey like you guys said. All the outside corners have boards over them to keep the osb from being chewed up!!
DESTRUCTIVE little dogs!!

Thanks guys!


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## bwhntr (Sep 12, 2007)

My English Pointers live outside all year including all winter. They never get too cold as I make hay caves in my hay barn. They crawl back inside the caves and it keeps pretty warm.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

I have been part of building nifty dog houses with buddies- what I saw was a lot of waste of lumber- etc.
The dogs spent as much time outside as inside because it was too **** hot.
I build one that has a side entrance and lift off top and some straw in it. My dog sleeps fine.
No double walls- no insulation just 5/8 plywood and 2 x 4's. Mine is out of 90% of the wind but like I said my buddies put at lot of time , $$$ and effort into theirs and wish they hadn't.


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## TAK (Sep 9, 2007)

Grass hay and a 55 gal barrel! They sleep like babies all cozy and warm! :mrgreen:

You can fancy them up to if you want and make so they don't roll around... then after they chew that off they learn to balance on top! Hell all of the dogs can sleep on the barrels!

let me let you all in on something... I have had dogs almost like a full week now and always they have made their homes outside in a kennel. Smaller spaces are better and bedding that can not be torn or eatin is better, carpet is about the worst to put in there, hard to change out and it will get bugs, wet and mud/dirt and become nasty. I have read that Cedar Chips are treated with something that is not good for dogs, yet keeps bugs/spiders out. I like pine shavings, but have to change very often. The best I have found is some good ol GRASS HAY, trying some alalfa from my field. Not sure if I like it so far.
The biggest thing I have found is dogs do better with a bottome that is rounded and not flat. The dog igloo put sores on many of my shorthaired dogs and later notice big calaces. For the last few years I have only used the barral and have not seen one sore or a calas.

I forgot... straw. Straw breaks down and can cause sores in the dogs feet and nose, legs and such. If breaks down super fast and is like tiny shardes of glass. But I understand it to be warm because it is hallow?

Well if that is the case what about some cat tails or bull rushes?


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## Matt B (Sep 10, 2007)

Any idea what the cedar chips are suppose to do to the dogs TAK? My buddy built a house like first described, he made it so the roof comes off. Each winter we dump about a half a big bag of the shavings in there. Two of them sleep snug as a bug in a rug..........that is in Cache Valley during the -30 to -40 times.


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## Packfish (Oct 30, 2007)

I have read that some think the make up of cedar that repels bugs may also be a toxin to a dog- though it seems most don't think that- I'm also a Cache Valley guy-In the artic circle of Cache Valley. Been straw for me for a long time but after this next cleaning I will probably go with grass hay because I have a lot of it and I do think that there can be a problem with straw. When I get home from work and they come out to see me in the dead of winter they aren't cold in the least bit.


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## Artoxx (Nov 12, 2008)

I built mine with your basic square design and a sloped roof, with a good sized door right in the front. The top comes off and is shingled. The entire inside is insulated with 1 1/2" high density foam covered with carpet. They have chewed the flap off the door, so it is wide open now, and they have done some damage to the interior, but for the most part it is just like I built it 5-6 years ago. I often wonder if they were not too hot in there with the door flap. When I built it I only had one dog, and the door flap stayed intact the first year and a half or so, then I got my GSP and they were fine for the first few weeks or so, and then they got together and ripped the flap off. Now they snuggle up inside all winter long and one or both of them frequently sleeps with it's head out the door. :mrgreen: 

So I think that your design will be fine for keeping them warm enough. If all else fails, you could wire a small caged light bulb (say 20-25w) in there really easy and it would add enough heat to solve the issue, but I think that would be overkill.


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

Either Gudog Magazine or PDJ had an article about the cedar wood awhile back. They mentioned that it's only a very small percentage of dogs that are affected, but some dogs can actually lose their olfactory nerves due to a reaction with the cedar stuff. That wouldn't be good for a hunting dog to lose its sense of smell! Cedar does repel ticks and fleas and is better than pine for the majority of dogs that don't react to it.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

I have tried putting hay and straw in the dog houses and both times the dogs pulled it all out of the house immediately as did the neighbors as if it bugged them somehow??


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## lehi (Sep 13, 2007)

My german shorthair just chills in my basement and smokes weed during the winter. :mrgreen:


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## TAK (Sep 9, 2007)

Huge29 said:


> I have tried putting hay and straw in the dog houses and both times the dogs pulled it all out of the house immediately as did the neighbors as if it bugged them somehow??


Ya have to have a lip on the house so they can't "Dig" it out. All mine will fluff it, do like 300 circles, fluff some more and then dive into it.


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