By Cindy Filmore
Where will your sled dog sleep tonight?
Chances are (if he isn't curled up on a rug in your living room, or across the foot of your bed !), he'll need a comfy doghouse to call his own ! From a deluxe, custom built, cedar log home (seriously, they are out there !), to a simple recycled barrel, you have as many options as your imagination and pocket book will allow!
I could wax lyrical about the cedar log home. Think about it : they are naturally flea, tick, and louse repellent, made from a renewable resource, and might even give you a little bit of practice with building your OWN log home some day. But, they are also relatively permanent, as they are heavy, and not very portable so moving your dog kennel is a bit of a chore. And, while the cedar-shake shingles look lovely, they are prone to chewing (and probably not really comfy for laying atop of !)
A wooden dog house is a popular choice, and even if it isn't made of cedar, can offer many benefits. They can be built from a single sheet of plywood (the New England Sled Dog Club has some nifty plans for such a dog house), and can include such options as a removable roof (to make cleaning easier), insulation (for short- or fine-coated breeds), and even holders for food and water dishes. These dog houses have a flat roof, which make a nice spot for your dog to take a nap, soak up some sunshine, or avoid spring's prevelant mud puddles !. If you are so inclined, the dog house can be made on legs, so that it is up and out of the snow, mud, and muck.
If you have more time, fewer dogs, or lots of lumber, you can always make a sloped and shingled roofed dog house ! These are often made to mimic the owners house (ie, a white-sided, red roofed, minature model of YOUR house !), and do make for a neat looking dogyard. But, they are often difficult to clean out (when the bedding needs replacing), and can be heavy and cumbersome if you need to move your yard at some point. Mind you, I still think they look cute .One of our dogs had a HUGE one donated by a neighbour. Complete with black shingles, and a lightbulb socket both inside the dog house and outside, it stands 5 feet tall, although we don't have electricity hooked up for fear the dog demands a satellite dish and a sound system. It is nearly impossible to move without 3 men and a tractor, looks totally out of place in our dogyard, but is oh-so-cute !!! Cleaning it is not a problem, either, as I can safely crawl inside (heck, I can nearly stand up, I'm just over 5 ft tall myself !)
Plastic barrels are another popular solution. Easy to work with, cheap to buy (you can pick them up for $5 or $10 in our area, or free if you happen to know someone who is getting rid of their home-made dock), these are probably the most recognizable sign of a dogsledder ! If you are driving along a country road, and happen to see a bunch of blue barrels, I bet one of your first thoughts is "look !!! Sled Dogs !!!"
While you CAN simply cut the end open, wash the barrel out, let it dry, then insert straw, your dog would really appreciate you securely fastening his new barrel to some sort of platform. The best method I have seen is a barrel, mounted on a skid, and then placed about 2 feet above the ground on 4 posts (one on each corner). This offers the dog a dry area to lay in the spring mud season, a cool place to seek shade during the summer, a deck to laze on in the warm fall rays, and you are already 2 feet above the snow line for winter ! Of course, other options are as simple as 2 - 2x4s bolted to either end of the barrel so that it cannot roll away or putting the barrel inside a wooden frame so that it doesn't roll astray + the dog can use the top of the frame as a platform to lay on. Cleaning is easy - plastic barrels can even be pressure-washed if needed, and bedding pulls right out when they need it freshened up !
If a row of blue barrels, lying along the ground isn't quite how you'd imagined your dog yard, maybe upright barrels are for you ? Simple to make, stand the barrel on its' end (bung-end down), and cut a door about 1/2 way up the barrel. If you use a heat gun (to bend the plastic), and cut the door so that the flap is attached at the top, you can leave the door as an awning, keeping rain and snow out. Once you have cut the door, you can fill the barrel with about 1 foot of sand (roughly 120 lbs). This weights the barrel down, keeping it from being knocked over, and straw can be put in on top of the sand. The sand allows for some drainage, especially if you remembered to put a couple small holes in the bungs ! When we experimented with this type of doghouse, I found that it was easier to dig a hole that would hold the barrel, about 1 foot below ground level. The barrels I had also had a fair sized hole in the bottom, so that water would not gather in the bedding, and I added about 6 inches of sand, then lots of bedding. The only problem I had with these houses was when a well-meaning relative came to help us move the dogs to their summer yard. Before I realized what they were doing, they had decided that ALL dog houses should be moved, and proceeded to try to remove the upright barrels from their holes. I never managed to get them back in just right, and I was so miffed at the persons' inability to read my mind, that I never bothered to try this system again. But, they do give the dogyard a neat appearance (when correctly installed), and are relatively easy to keep (scooping out old bedding is pretty simple). The only draw back is that larger dogs find them pretty cramped.
So, think it over. Nanook might look spiffy in a nice cedar log home. Or, maybe your back yard would look cute with a row of white vinyl sided bungalows ! What ever you choose, make sure he's got lots of bedding, access to clean water, and all the love you can spare. Don't worry about the night-light, though. I really think those are over-kill!
Take care,
Cindy