Outdoor dog house heater?

[oosik]

Yander hit the nail squarely on the head - post #2. A shelter that protects the animal from the wind and driven snow. LOTS of straw. Check it weekly and eliminate any that may be damp. Replace eliminated straw with fresh, dry straw.

If its an inside dog - for God's sake keep it inside. If it's an outside dog - I would seriously NOT provide any type of heat within the shelter. If it will be bitter cold - bring the dog inside.

A heated shelter for an outside dog can cause them to loose their winter coat. This is not good. At the very least - it can lead to a case of pneumonia.

 

[oosik]

Another often overlooked point. Straw in your dogs shelter - with time - is likely to turn the dog's hair yellow - you know, straw colored. So......if you have show dogs - like Eddie Walker - with light or white hair - this might be a concern.

 

[2manyrocks]

Their hair color is not a concern, but I saw two ladies walking today at the walking track. One had pink hair that reminded me of a troll doll from the 1970s.

 

[2manyrocks]

Besides the heating question, the other issue that is a concern to me is preventing the spread of whipworms.

From what I understand, a minority of dogs have whipworms, and once they go into the soil, there's no getting rid of them. That makes me wonder what kind of flooring I should really have instead of a basic dirt floor? The concrete floors in kennels in dog shelters are in many cases coated with epoxy so that they can be properly sanitized. Over a period of time, I would think a dog could be cured of whipworm provided the kennel floor is kept clean of poop and properly sanitized and the whipworms are treated with the proper dewormer over a period of time.

The reason I bring this up is after seeing another shelter dog today with runny poop and mucous. The shelter worker said she thought it was due to stress and diet after 3 months in the shelter. I'm more cautious about this, but don't know since no fecal exam has been performed.