Heated dog house?

[chopped]

This ight sound nuts but my two dogs are short haired and this weatehr takes a toll on my letting them out every minute. They have a dog pen (quite large) And a small house in it thats 4.5 x 4.5 foot roughly.
The door is the stumbling part it would have to be easy for then to enter and exit yet seal faily tightly.I would also insulate it some.
I assuem an electirc heater with good metal mesh around it would work. I already have 120 15 amp to the gate. so I could extend that out to it.
I was just wondering if anyone has gone this route?
Thanks...:thumbsup:

 

[radman1]

I have 2 dogs that sleep in a 4x6 dog house. Lab and german shorthair. The walls and floor are 1.5" styrofoam with wood covering. The roof is fiberglass batt insulation. I use an electric heat pad on the floor with capeting over the top.ASL Solutions Dog Palace Floor Heater-Large These can be found at farms stores, pet stores ect in different sizes.

The door is a simple plexiglas hinged at the top. About 12"x18". It is actually 2 over lapping peices bolted together. On a 10-15F day, it is probably 50F in the house. Don't get the door too air tight or condensation will build up in the house. I have a 1" gap at the top of the door so it can swing freely. I origanlly put a rubber strip at the gap, but got condensation. The heat pad has its own thermostat and will shut off when temps get above freezing.

 

[DG 225]

I built a puppy welping box lat year to have a good place to raise puppies. We put in an outdoor thermostat with two heat lambs. We keep the thermostat on 70 degrees and it has worked great for the puppies and mother dogs.

 

[DanD78]

You can find very nice swinging pet doors at most pet stores or look in McMaster-Carr for plastic strip curtins.

Dan

 

[jimmyj]

I'd just buy a dog door but if you decide to make your own put magnets on the door and the door frame to keep it shut. As was mentioned, it should not be completely air tight.

Be careful what kind of electric heater you use, it has to be safe if the dogs push their bedding up against it. An in floor heating pad as mentioned or a safe light bulb rig would be my recommendation. 4.5 x 4 should be big enough for a heat lamp but follow the instructions carefully.

Good luck!

 

[wdchyd]

Chopped,

I don't know what part of NE you are in but I have a great situation with my hounds (short hair also)....Going on three years now...

I have an insulated heated doghouse with a hinged commercial door used as a roof/cover......2' x 4'.....

This heater makes it work great....... http://www.gundogsupply.com/hound-heater-dog-house-furnace.html ....with a remote thermometer installed inside the doghouse (the type with a battery that you can read inside the house up to a few hundred feet away) and a heated water bowl (110 vac) purchased from Cabela's.....Cabela's: Heated Water Bowl

Any time of day (or night) I can monitor the temp inside the doghouse without waking them up just by using this system ......

I did change the bedding from hay/straw to pine/cedar chips just because of the potential for fire with a strand of hay or straw getting in the heater mechanism.......Also I added a rubber flap door for ease of entry/exit for the dogs...

Between the heater/thermostat/water bowl and a clean, dry, secure place this pen works great for my two hounds......even in the worst case of cold & snow my furbuddies are safe and sound......

Many times I've checked on them in the middle of the night for peace of mind that they are not freezing in the doghouse......the thermostat is set for 50-55 degrees and it never gets any colder than that.....Even in subzero temps...

Some times I show off the dog pen and some people say "Wow, that's a nice setup ".......

I probably bring them in the house overnight a couple of times a month usually during rainy/raw times to dry out and get spoiled......

 

[crbr]

Some times I show off the dog pen and some people say "Wow, that's a nice setup ".......

I probably bring them in the house overnight a couple of times a month usually during rainy/raw times to dry out and get spoiled......

Pics?

 

[rjmack]

heat tape under the floor?

 

[Regneufeld]

2 dogs in an insulated box makes it quite cozy already, I would use some type of floor heat, a heat pad for animals would be the best idea in my opinion as stated above.

 

[DuckHunterJon]

Not a dog house, but our chicken coop is 7x7x8 and I heat it a couple hours a day with a 250 w heat lamp. When it dips into the teens outside, it will be 40-45 inside if I run the light 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours at night. It is well insulated (4" in walls, 6" in ceiling, and 8 - 10 of pine shavings on the floor). The light is up in the peak of the roof, screwed in so it can fall into the shavings.

What ever you use - just be double sure it's safe. Good luck.

 

[Milton Burro]

I had a dog when I lived up north and for a door, I used the heavy plastic flaps like industry uses for fork lift doors and I heated it with a 40 watt light bulb encased in two clay pots duct taped together.

 

[wdchyd]

Chopped,

Here's a pic of the inside of the heated doggy condo........the hound heater is on the right and the thermometer is just inside the sheet metal cover on the left....

The wood shavings are about 4-5 inches thick.......

 

[dirtydan]

I made an insulated dog house when I lived in Norh Dakota. I used styrofoam , had a magnetic pet door and used a 100 watt light bulb for heat. Even at -30 it was still in the 40's inside. Worked quite well.
Dan

 

[andymil]

A former neighbor burned his garage down using light bulbs to heat his doghouse.

I use about 10 feet of self regulating heat trace, 8 watts per foot, to heat my outdoor cathouse. I attached it to a piece of 1" foam board in a spiral pattern with wire ties and covered it with an old beach towel. I just use a piece of heavy cloth over the door. This has worked very well for me for the last several years. I've been using a thermostat outside the box so it's not on when the weather warms up, but I think I will move it into the box. I set one up for a neighbor and the cats love it.

 

[brt]

I found that the commercial clear plastic door doors get real hard in cold weather and one of my dogs refused to use it when it was cold. Go find some cheap clear plastic automotive floor mats. They are thinner and stay flexible. And they only cost about $4 a set. Cut to fit and the dogs will love it.

I recommend the Hound heater. Have 2 of them.

 

[Tracker401]

When I had dogs that stayed outside all the time, I simply filled the doghouse with straw and used a 100W standard light bulb to add the heat. Dog door was an old piece of carpet. Dog used to lay in the house, nose outside in the cold air...go figure. When I built the house, i spaced down a piece of metal dryer duct from the top of the house to keep heat from the light bulb away from the wood. Cheap/easy!

Tracker401

 

[chickenman]

HerpSupplies.com - Ceramic Heat Emitter / Exo-Terra - Ceramic Heat Emitter / Exo-Terra* The Exo Terra Heat Wave Lamp is a radia...

i have one of these (75 watts) hanging in my ducks house

they come in different wattages

the advantage is they give out no light and hang from the roof

 

[shaley]

Amazon.com: Kat's 24100 100 Watt 4"x 5" Universal Hot Pad Heater: Automotive
You can place it in a steel stove pipe to keep the surface temperature down and spread the heat.

 

[Jay4200]

I assuem an electirc heater with good metal mesh around it would work. I already have 120 15 amp to the gate. so I could extend that out to it.
I was just wondering if anyone has gone this route?

I run one for my dogs, but occasionally have circuit overloading problems. If the heater is on while they watch their 55" plasma TV, when they make frozen daiquiris, the blender blows the breaker.

JayC

 

[wdchyd]

I run one for my dogs, but occasionally have circuit overloading problems. If the heater is on while they watch their 55" plasma TV, when they make frozen daiquiris, the blender blows the breaker.

JayC

??..the dogs have a 55" plasma AND daiquiris..??

I'm going to live with YOUR dogs........:laughing: