DIY dog house

Content

1 The optimal location for installing a dog house
2 Preparing a drawing and calculating the dimensions of a dog house
3 We take into account all the nuances and design features of the dog house
4 We prepare materials for construction
5 Let's start assembling a house for your pet
6 Some useful tips for improving your booth

In private property, the role of a yard watchman is played by a dog. It is an instinct for dogs to protect their territory, and the animal will cope with its job under any conditions. However, the owner must also show respect for the pet by providing it with comfortable housing. Now we will look at how to make a doghouse, what calculations are needed to construct a drawing and other nuances.

The optimal location for installing a dog house

Before you make a dog house with your own hands, you need to think about where it will stand in the yard. The dog must be able to see the entire home area, which means the kennel will be located in a visible place. The house must be made not only comfortable for the pet, but also beautiful so that it does not spoil the aesthetics of the yard.

To ensure the most positive living conditions for the dog, the kennel is located in the yard, adhering to several rules:

The doghouse is positioned so that the wind does not blow into the house through the hole. Strong gusts accompanied by dust storms will prevent the dog from performing its duties. Here you will have to observe where the wind most often blows from and position the booth correctly.
The place should be partially illuminated by the sun and have shade. This will give the dog the opportunity to bask in the sun, and during extreme heat, hide in the shade.
The location for the kennel is chosen taking into account the landscape of the yard. Lowland is the worst choice for a doghouse. Melt and rainwater constantly accumulate here. The dog will often be wet, dirty, and mold and dampness will settle inside the house.
Typically, a dog house is installed near the entrance to the yard and house. This allows the dog to control the most important objects without allowing strangers near them.

Advice! Don't place the doghouse close to a path where people often walk, and don't hide it behind the house. This arrangement prevents the dog from adequately assessing the situation. He becomes irritable, which is why there is constant barking in the yard.

Having decided on the location of the dog kennel, they begin to think about its design so that the house is most aesthetically combined with the interior of the yard.

Preparing a drawing and calculating the dimensions of a dog house

The presented photo of a dog house shows an example of a developed scheme for determining calculations. After all, you can’t just knock down a box, as many people think, and let the animal live there. A tight kennel will restrict the dog’s movement and prevent him from turning. A house that is too spacious will be cold in winter.

To determine the optimal size of the kennel, it is necessary to measure the length of the lying dog. When the dog stretches its paws forward, you need to have time to measure it with a tape measure from the claws of the paws to the edge of the tail. 15 cm is added to the reserve, and the optimal width and depth of the booth is determined based on the result. Why should the width be this way? Yes, because dogs love to sleep not only along, but also across the booth.

The roof of a dog house with your own hands is most often made with a pitched roof, since the animal loves to lie on it. You can make a gable structure, but it will make the house heavier. Usually a gable roof is placed on a small doghouse to increase the interior space. However, this option is only suitable for a cold booth. A ceiling is made inside the insulated house, so it will not be possible to expand the space due to the gable roof.

In any case, the height of the dog kennel from floor to ceiling is determined by the height of the dog at the withers, adding 15 cm as a reserve. The size of the opening is made 10 cm larger than the dimensions of the dog so that it can pass freely and not squeeze through a small hole. It’s easier to make a rectangular hole in shape, but you can also cut an oval one with a jigsaw.

In the photo we have presented an approximate drawing of a dog house, where the dimensions are indicated. Naturally, they will have to be individually calculated according to the size of the dog. In addition, such a house with dimensions can be changed in the internal layout. The appearance of the structure will remain unchanged, but its dimensions will increase due to the division of the internal space by a partition into two rooms. This type of dog kennel is considered all-season. Another hole is cut into the partition through which the dog will climb into the sleeping area in winter. In the summer, the dog will most often lie in the vestibule, watching through the central hatch everything that happens in the yard.

Based on body type, dogs used to guard the yard can be divided into three types. This will help calculate the size of the booth if you cannot measure the animal.

So, the approximate size of the house for each type of dog:

small dogs – 70x55x60 cm;
medium-sized dogs – 120x75x80 cm;
large dogs – 140x100x95 cm.

The dimensions of the house are indicated in order: length, width, height.

The video shows drawings of a dog house for your reference:

We take into account all the nuances and design features of the dog house

In order for the construction to be successful, do-it-yourself dog house drawings must be correctly displayed on paper. The diagram indicates all dimensions, components, shapes of workpieces, roof and manhole parameters.

Advice! To prevent the floor in the dog kennel from drawing dampness from the ground, the house is installed on pads. You can simplify the task by attaching four 100 mm high legs to the bottom of the bottom.

When developing a drawing, it is important to take into account the climate of the region where the animal will live. For northern regions with severe winter frosts, even a two-room booth will not be enough. The walls, floor and ceiling will have to be insulated. To do this, when drawing up the diagram, they provide for double skinning of the frame of the dog house so that a void is formed between the walls. This space is filled with foam plastic or mineral wool.

It is important to note that many large dog breeds are not designed to be chained. You cannot leave an animal constantly walking around the yard. It is unknown how the dog will behave with children or visiting guests. For large dogs, an enclosure is set up in the yard, and a booth is placed inside it.

We prepare materials for construction

In production dog house with your own hands made of brick, metal or wood. The first two materials do not retain heat well, do not make it possible to move the constructed kennel to another place and, in general, are difficult to work with. Wood is considered the best choice. You will need boards 20–30 mm thick and timber with a section of 50x50 mm. It is better to give preference to pine.Hardwoods will last longer, but without a powerful power tool it is very difficult to process oak or larch.

When you have an accurate drawing of a doghouse at hand, the boards and beams can be cut according to the calculated dimensions into blanks. Next, there is a difficult job of sanding the wood. It is necessary to clean the workpieces as much as possible from protruding knots, splinters and other defects.

When making an insulated doghouse for a dog, you must immediately prepare thermal insulation. After all, it will have to be laid immediately during the sheathing of the frame. The insulation must be protected from dampness by waterproofing. A piece of roofing felt, film or other material that does not allow moisture to pass through will help in this regard.

Important! When building a booth, you should not use materials with a strong chemical odor. A strong aroma will negatively affect your dog's smell buds.

Let's start assembling a house for your pet

The photo shows an option on how to build a doghouse from individual elements with a gable roof. Naturally, a drawing drawn up with one’s own hand will differ from the proposed diagram, but the basic essence of assembling the structure is the same for any kennel.

So, holding the diagram at hand, we begin to assemble the house:

The basis of the structure is the frame. It is made from timber. The first to assemble is the rectangular bottom frame. At this stage it is important to consider the dog's weight. Floors may sag under large animals. To strengthen the bottom, additional jumpers are placed on the frame.
Four vertical posts are installed at the corners of the frame. Additional supports that form the base of the manhole are attached to the place where the front wall of the booth will be. The top of the kennel post is secured around the perimeter with timber strapping.
Sheathing of the frame begins from the bottom.The floor is laid from a board, after which the booth is turned upside down. From the bottom of the frame we got a cell. If the bottom of the kennel is made insulated, then a sheet of waterproofing is placed in this cell, the space is filled with any insulation, and, having covered it again with waterproofing, the second bottom is filled with boards. The legs for the doghouse can be cut from timber or any round timber about 100 mm long. In a cold booth, the bottom from underneath is only covered with waterproofing.
The outside of the kennel frame is covered with boards. Inside, similar cells form on the walls as on the bottom. Using the same method, insulation can be laid here. It is easier to make the internal cladding from OSB board. If the booth is designed for two rooms, they put a partition inside and immediately cut a hole.
The completed main part of the booth is placed on legs, after which they begin to attach the ceiling. In the cold version of the kennel, it is enough to nail the plywood to the top trim of the posts. To make an insulated ceiling, two pieces of plywood are nailed to the bottom and top of the frame bars. Then a void forms between them, which is filled with waterproofing and insulation.
For a pitched roof, make a slight slope towards the rear wall of the house. If the gable roof option is chosen, triangular rafters are knocked down from slats and fixed to the upper frame of the kennel. A board is sewn on top, after which the roofing material is nailed. The dog will sit on the flat roof. Here it is better to make the roof from a hard material so that he does not tear it with his claws. Even roofing felt is suitable for a gable roof. It is easier to cover the gables with plywood.

At this point, the do-it-yourself dog house is almost complete. Now all that remains is to paint it and install it in its place.With the onset of cold weather, a curtain made of durable tarpaulin or rubberized fabric is nailed over the hole.

Some useful tips for improving your booth

Not all dog breeds can withstand cold weather. Sometimes just insulating the booth is not enough. To prevent the dog from freezing in winter, caring owners install electric panel heaters inside the kennel. They are produced in small sizes specifically for dog houses. As an option, even at the construction stage of the booth, infrared film, used for underfloor heating systems, is laid under the casing. Such heating consumes little electricity, and the pet feels comfortable even in severe frosts.

Making a dog kennel must be taken seriously. If the dog is comfortable in the house, he will thank the owner with faithful service.

How to make a dog house