keeping dogs warm when its this cold

I have my beagles in small wooden dog houses, with cedar shavings as beeding. I perfer the wood over plastic, it is warmer and dont sweat as bad. Also try to have more than 1 to a dog house

 

I use cedar shaving but when its really cold I put hay in them and 2 dogs to a house

 

2 dogs to a house and cedar shaving here

 

I use the cedar shavings too. But notice that the dogs seem to push them out of the doghouse. Maybe I should try to put a board across the bottom of the door?

 

we double the dogs together for body heat with cedar shavings in the box and we take mud flaps and cut em down to fit the door to keep the wind out

 

My kennel is covered with lights in the center of each pen which I place Heat Bulbs in that are directly over the dog houses ( about 48" from the house). My houses are large molded dog houses. They each have a large dog bed pillow. I also put metal on the North end of the pen to block the wind.

 

All that bedding wont help much to keep the wind out and heat in.....
You need to add a door flap somehow..That keeps the body heat created by the dog inside the house..all the heat is being lost through the open door...
Try the mudflap thing...old farm conveyor belts, something that will not absorb moisture....and dont be afraid to drill into the doghouse to attach them..
your dog will be better off for it.
good luck.

 

Here is my set up



Dog Houses are wood frame with 1/4" insulation board and harbboard siding. Lift top for easy cleaning. 4" off ground so when the ground temps get real cold it is not adding to the challenge of warmth.



I wraped all of the kennels with a blue poly tarp (next year will be canvas). I have a single tarp accross the front that rolls up. When it snows, temps get below 20, or the wind is blowing pretty stout, I let the front down and the hounds are protected from the elements.

When we were at -35 deg wind chills... I pur my propane tent heater in the center area and it stayed nice and comfortable in there ...

 

I like your setup. How often do you guys get that cold in arkansas? I live in Il and there are times when its cold here i dream of moving south to warmer weather. I may have to dream farther south!

 

This is the first time I can remember it ever being THAT cold...
we quite often see low dbl digits... and with the humidity here it seems colder. so winters here are as miserable as the summers...

the tent heater is a Mr Heater that attaches to a 20lb propane tank. I could have put a cot out there and slept comfortable... but this was one of the times I was not in trouble so did not need to :clap:

 

excellent dog houses to keep them warm

Sorry, we're trying to keep things family oriented.

 

I have a Seneca Triple Run kennel....with poly doors and light bulb heaters in each box.

 

i use heat lamps and her is a couple of pics of my kennel

 

thanks it took a lot of hard work but i think they are worth it

 

I put industrial grade thermometers in different types of dog houses with temps in the teens.

Plastic barrel with door flap, no hay and 2 dogs= Outside temp. 16 in barrel 17
Same barrel 2 dogs and hay= outside temp. 16 in barrel 18

Wood box about same size as the barrel above had the same temps.

These temp. were recorded at about 5:30 am before going to work when the dogs had been in the barrels or boxes all night and still in them when I took the readings. I took reading every morning for about a month. The difference in outside and inside air temps. were very consistent with the reading I gave earlier.

Hay or shavings will give them some insulation between their bodies and the floor but that's about it. After a few days the hay or shavings get wet and then they are laying on a cold wet floor.

 

Heat

Here in va it dont get that cold single digits a few days a year but me and all my buddies we mount outside lights from lowes for $10 that have a thick glass cover and put a sixty watt light bulb in them, and the temp stays in the 60 degree range and with at least two dogs per box they are pretty cozy or they act like it. Last december I whelped pups with a 60 watt and a 40 watt bulb in my whelping box and the temperature in the box at floor height was in the 85 to 92 temp range .

 

Hay below 30 degrees

 

pair um up and put pine straw in their box