Whether you’re looking to keep your adult dog outdoors permanently or temporarily, a nice warm dog house can help to ensure they stay comfortable. While you can buy pre-made dog houses, they can be expensive. What better to save money than to create your own warm house for your beloved pooch?
Building your own dog house also enables you to get creative. You’ll find lots of great design inspiration online, along with step-by-step tutorials on how to do it. To give you a head start, below you’ll discover some general guidelines and tips you can follow when building your dog a warm house. Once you’ve read up, head over to Petside for more inspiration.
Things to consider in its design
There’s a lot of things you’ll need to consider when designing your dog’s house. These include:
- Size
- Location
- Raised or flat
- Overall design
It’s easy to think that the bigger the dog house, the better it will be for your dog. However, it’s important to remember that dogs love smaller spaces. Think about how they sleep when they’re with other dogs. They typically like to sleep on top of one another and in smaller spaces. This is what makes them feel secure. So, make sure the bed part of the house is just large enough for your dog to stand, turn around and lay down.
You’re also going to need to factor in the location of the house. You’ll want to place it out of direct winds to ensure it stays warm in colder weather. You also need to decide whether to build a raised or a flat bed. The warmest option is to build it on a raised platform. This won’t just help to keep it warmer inside, but it will also protect the house from weather damage.
Of course, you’ll also need to decide on an overall design theme. Will you be building a standard dog house, or are you trying to be a little more creative? Take a look online for dog house design ideas.
Choosing the best materials
Once you’ve got the basics planned out, you’re going to need to decide which materials to use. Wood tends to be the best option as it’s easier to work with and you can find it at an affordable cost. Just make sure you choose high-quality timber to ensure the house will last for many years.
You’ll also want some form of insulation. Ideally, it’s best to work with large weatherproof foam sheets. These can be placed between the walls of the dog house, as well as in between the roof. If you’ll be using glue to build the house, you’ll want to make sure this too is weather resistant and ideally, that’s a pet-safe glue. Besides the materials, you’ll also need some equipment such as a nail gun, hammer and saw. You can pick these up from companies such as SGS.
Building your own dog house does take a lot of research and effort. However, it’s the best way to ensure your dog has a warm house to stay in outdoors. You can also use it as an opportunity to get creative. The above are just some of the steps you’ll need to follow.
