Kennel Heating

[Headless chicken]

with the weather turning colder I’m looking at ways of keeping the working dogs warm. Currently one in the kennel but the pup will join her soon so this will help a fair bit.

It’s a standard wooden kennel with a lay area and run. Food and water in the run.

Collie has no weight on her so don’t want her to burn calories staying warm. Currently on deep straw bed but wondering if a heat mat with vet bed on would be better? Thinking of putting some draft excluding strips on the entry hole to the bedded area.

 

[Ballygreenan]

Would an infra-red heat lamp work?

 

[anzani]

Why not clad outside of kennel with Celotex insulation foam board?

 

[Downton_shep]

How big is the bed area?
A small insulated box area is best.

 

[Gordy1]

Electric underfloor heating pad???

 

[Spartacus]

Might not get it soon enough for this cold spell but these are well liked kennels https://www.kmdogtrailers.co.uk/dog-cabins

 

[Keepers]

Is this with a kennel with the large back area as a sleeping part rather than a box?

I know this sounds stupid but how do you tell if the dog is cold during the night? Does she feel cold in the morning or are they slower to want to get up?
My dogs always feel dry and warm in the morning so I assume they are warm in the night.
But my kennels are changing shortly, currently are the nz type with small insulated box’s at the back filled up with straw.
Changing to a larger kennel and run, but the back part is the traditional walk in large sleeping part. so I assume this is going to be a lot cooler than they are used to?

 

[Downton_shep]

Is this with a kennel with the large back area as a sleeping part rather than a box?

I know this sounds stupid but how do you tell if the dog is cold during the night? Does she feel cold in the morning or are they slower to want to get up?
My dogs always feel dry and warm in the morning so I assume they are warm in the night.
But my kennels are changing shortly, currently are the nz type with small insulated box’s at the back filled up with straw.
Changing to a larger kennel and run, but the back part is the traditional walk in large sleeping part. so I assume this is going to be a lot cooler than they are used to?

Basically yes. In a smaller box their own heat is trapped, keeping them warm.

 

[steveR]

Electric heated pad. NOT the soft quilt things, but the metal units. Petbed??? Use naff all power, a few watts at most. IR lamps are greedy beasties!!

About 600x300, which look small, but worked well for my old Lab. I cut a sheet of plywood and nested the pad in it, so it was all one level for her to lie on. Which reminds me, the local Plice dog handler "borrowed" it... must get it back... Nowadays, the outside Lab sleeps in the GSHP plant room in luxury!

 

[Dry Rot]

Small is better, insulated small is better still.

I had 'fox boxes' for whelping bitches with walls, floor, and roof all double skinned with expanded polystyrene sandwiched between ply, but even that was not warm enough for new born pups in the Highlands, so I cut a hole in the roof of the box (that could be closed up) to shine a heat lamp through.

Old quarry belting suspended by hinges along the top makes a good swinging door. Internal height of the box needs to be slightly lower than the dog's head, so it can creep in, to keep the bed clean as a dog likes to lift it's head to empty. Insulated floors are important or there can be condensation below the straw which will suck the heat away quicker than anything. If nothing else, I'd insulate the floor.

Dogs do adjust to dry cold. What they can't stand is damp, fluctuating temperatures and draughts. Dry fur is actually a good insulator, unless the poor dog has been "modified" by selective breeding for the show bench! Feed extra and they'll manage the cold. My Swedish kennel maid's sled dogs shun the kennel and just curl up in the snow, nose to tail, but dry snow is a good insulator.

 

[HarryB97]

Heating mat and insulate the box. Also be worth raising the floor off the cold damp ground

 

[A1an]

I have infa red heat lamps on a stat, they automatically turn on at 3 degrees. The beds are a sandwich of 6mm ply and 50mm celotex . The walls are insulated . The doors have strips of conveyor belt hanging at the door, except the middle kennel, that dog destroyed it

 

[Dry Rot]

A wooden whisky barrel supported off the ground actually makes a very good kennel. Cut a hole in one end with a chain saw and screw a couple of battens to stop the boards falling out. Put your hand inside on a cold day after a dog has slept in it all night and you'll be surprised how warm it is. Dogs love them as the curve fits the body.

 

[Headless chicken]

This is what we currently have. The run area has an old calf mat so soft but cleanable and keeps a bit of cold off. The box is quite large really too large for a very small collie maybe 10-12kg at best. The box does have a wooden floor to it but is on the floor. Maybe I best get some celotex and then cover it with ply and add a heat mat?

Does anyone put a light in the kennel for them at all?

Or maybe I’d be better off getting something built properly? This is our first working dog that properly works and we’d be lost without her so we now need to reward her accordingly. She’s out all day I should add (5am-4/4:30pm maybe later)

 

[roscoe erf]

Put a wood burning stove in will help you keep warm when your in the doghouse too

 

[unlacedgecko]

Small is better, insulated small is better still.

I had 'fox boxes' for whelping bitches with walls, floor, and roof all double skinned with expanded polystyrene sandwiched between ply, but even that was not warm enough for new born pups in the Highlands, so I cut a hole in the roof of the box (that could be closed up) to shine a heat lamp through.

Old quarry belting suspended by hinges along the top makes a good swinging door. Internal height of the box needs to be slightly lower than the dog's head, so it can creep in, to keep the bed clean as a dog likes to lift it's head to empty. Insulated floors are important or there can be condensation below the straw which will suck the heat away quicker than anything. If nothing else, I'd insulate the floor.

Dogs do adjust to dry cold. What they can't stand is damp, fluctuating temperatures and draughts. Dry fur is actually a good insulator, unless the poor dog has been "modified" by selective breeding for the show bench! Feed extra and they'll manage the cold. My Swedish kennel maid's sled dogs shun the kennel and just curl up in the snow, nose to tail, but dry snow is a good insulator.

My dogs are plenty warm enough, but I can get a bit chilly on these cold winter nights. Where can I get a Swedish kennel maid to keep me warm?

 

[Longlowdog]

Perhaps the easiest way to retain heat is to put the bed in a small area at the far end of a U bend shaped box so the wind doesn't blow directly across the opening. A raised, Kingspan insulated floor, a small entrance and perhaps insulated sides and roof if you live somewhere where it gets really cold will help.

 

[Dry Rot]

If you have the right dogs, you become famous, then you have to fight them off! This was my Swedish kennel maid. I am sure she won't mind me posting as she has teenage kids of her own now. We are still in touch.

And the answer to you next question is 'No'.

 

[unlacedgecko]

If you have the right dogs, you become famous, then you have to fight them off! This was my Swedish kennel maid. I am sure she won't mind me posting as she has teenage kids of her own now. We are still in touch.

And the answer to you next question is 'No'.

Are sheepdogs popular in Sweden?

 

[Dry Rot]

Are sheepdogs popular in Sweden?

Not sure. The last photo she sent me was of herself with some of her German black-and-tan terriers with a line up of dead badgers!