With the arrival of frost and windy weather, as always, the afterthought comes to insulate the dog's kennel for the winter. This must be done quickly enough and at the same time with high quality, since many breeds simply do not tolerate severe cold and discomfort. In addition, not all modern materials can be used as insulation for a doghouse.
In winter, it is very tight without a booth
Do I need to insulate the dog booth in winter
It is widely believed that animals accustomed to living in the courtyard of a house fully adapt to weather conditions and temperature extremes, so often warming a doghouse for the winter can be perceived as a whim of the owners, a desire to emphasize their ostentatious care for the animal. In fact, a dog, especially a purebred, suffers from cold and heat no less than a person, while the risk of getting a cold is an order of magnitude, or even two, higher than that of its owners.
It will take a maximum of one to two days to make a do-it-yourself insulated kennel for a dog. The costs are minimal, and as a result, we get quite tangible benefits:
- The animal does not freeze and does not lose activity even in severe frost, let alone at night. As a result, the dog serves and protects property with great pleasure and in winter it hardly asks to enter the house;
- It becomes possible to keep the animal directly on the street all year round. If this is a purebred dog, then a playground and, at least, a warm booth will be required to the aviary.
Often, the owners simply cover the kennel for the winter with old rags, things, cover it with straw, bales of hay and tighten the whole structure with a film so that it does not get wet and scattered by the wind.
There is nothing wrong with insulating the dog booth for the winter with straw, you will get a very warm room, but there is one obstacle. Oddly enough, but animals feel very much about their booth and often refuse to live, both among the pile of junk and in a plastic booth bought in a supermarket with insulation made of foam granules.
If you have nothing at hand, you can bale the kennel.
The best option would be to make an insulated dog booth with your own hands, photo.
The classic version with insulation of the kennel with PPS sheets. The corners at the entrance are nailed so that the dog does not tear the lining with a chain
A solid structure will stand for more than one winter, the animal will immediately appreciate the work done for it, it is quite possible that the kennel for the winter will become a source of pride not only for the owners, but also for the dog.
Film heaters for booths
More recently, film booth heaters based on infrared far radiation have appeared on the market. The main advantage of using such heaters is that they are heated evenly over the entire area to a temperature of + 60 degrees. The long-wavelength infrared radiation is as close as possible to the natural radiation of the animal's body. Your four-legged friend will not only warm, but also get a wonderful effect - an excellent immune system.
The conductor strips in the ultra-thin system are connected in parallel. If one or more strips are damaged, the heating system still works. Due to the high thermal conductivity of the carbon used and the maximum heat transfer of the film, these heaters are the most economical devices.
Before you start equipping a dog booth on the street, you should take into account the peculiarities of the country's climate.Not every breed is suitable for outdoor living. Even if the dog is adapted to the harsh winter, its booth must be insulated. Another important point for the safe stay of the dog in the kennel is its bedding.
There are general tips for choosing and arranging bedding for your four-footed friend:
- It is necessary that the bedding is appropriate for the size of the dog.
Kennel insulation rules
There are two radically different approaches to solving the problem of warm housing for a dog for the winter. In the first case, you can simply insulate the kennel from the inside with a suitable or available material. It is clear that the material for insulating the kennel must be absolutely harmless to the animal. True, at the same time there is a certain limitation on the thickness of the insulation, since the living space decreases, and this is extremely important for any dog. If in winter in such a kennel it is warm, but cramped, then there is a chance that the dog will break - tear the walls and bedding, trying to increase the internal volume of the booth.
The second option involves making an insulated kennel, like for a large dog, choose a size with a margin so that the next generations of dogs can use the kennel in winter and summer. Imagine the surprise of the owners when the dog, having received a large booth, collects bedding in the warmest corner of the kennel, ignoring most of the room.
The size and design of the kennel for the winter
Both approaches are clearly wrong, you need to build and insulate the kennel for the specific size of the dog:
- The height of the inner part is usually taken equal to the width of the kennel. The dog should stand upright, and the ceiling, even after insulating its surface, should not touch the withers of the animal;
- The length or depth of the kennel is chosen so that the dog can lie down and stretch its front legs;
- The entrance to the kennel is usually done with a sill, so that snow does not accumulate in winter.
Recommended sizes
Important! An exception may be the scheme for long-haired and northern breeds. For example, you only need to insulate a husky booth with an open entrance. Animals easily tolerate low temperatures, but react painfully to musty air indoors. In addition, huskies are extremely curious by nature and just love to lie, half leaning out, peeking out of the booth, observing what is happening around. In this case, a curtain or curtain covering the entrance can only interfere.
As an example, when making your own hands, you can use the drawing of the insulated dog booth below.
Warm booth with double walls and removable roof
The structure consists of two buildings - internal and external, in both cases, wooden lining and sawlog were used. As conceived by the developers, it was supposed to insulate the kennel with filling thermal insulation, but later this kind of materials was abandoned due to strong dusting. It turned out to be more rational to insulate the kennel with an ordinary padding polyester folded in several layers.
Usually dogs do not tolerate unfamiliar smells, so you have to accustom them to one or another material. For example, for a mongrel living near a house under siding clapboard, the smell of building cladding may be quite familiar, so the kennel can be insulated with roll material and trimmed with siding.
For large dogs, the booth must be insulated with the installation of an additional wall or screen that closes the entrance to the kennel from the wind. For a shepherd dog or for an alabai, you will have to make a flooring and a roof, which will also need to be insulated. A simple addition to the existing kennel reduces the cooling of the interior space several times, even without a canopy.
The dog's kennel will need to be regularly ventilated and cleaned.
A large long-haired animal emits a fairly large amount of heat, so there is no particular reason to warm the booth like a puppy.In the presence of a warm bedding and ceiling, as well as with a normal diet in winter, the insulation of a booth for an adult shepherd dog can be limited to one layer of felt or a woolen blanket. For young animals and small short-haired dogs, the walls of the kennel have to be insulated with PPS foam up to 50-70 mm thick.
Choosing a heater
Most dog breeders still recommend insulating their pets' home. Even if some of the heat goes away all the time through the hole in the booth, insulation is very important. Of all the animal breeds that exist in the world today, only a few can tolerate the harsh cold without any problems. In particular, we are talking about Caucasian shepherd dogs, huskies, huskies and malamutes. However, if you are the owner, for example, of a Doberman or Rottweiler, then making the booth insulation with your own hands is a paramount task.
What needs to be considered when choosing a material for insulation is that it is non-toxic and safe. It should always be remembered that the most sensitive organ of any dog is the nose. Therefore, if the booth after warming does not smell as it should, the animal may simply refuse to enter it.
As for the material for insulation itself, today for these purposes the following are most often used:
- Sawdust or wood shavings. As practice shows, this material is the most environmentally friendly and safe for the pet's body. Sawdust should simply be poured into the space between the walls. The main disadvantage of this material is that the wood itself is quickly exposed in wet weather. In addition, sawdust settles quickly, so after two, or maybe even one cold season, you will notice that the material will simply sag in winter.
- Foam plastic can also be used as a material for insulation and heating, although judging by the reviews, this material is ambiguous. Some people argue that it is harmful, others believe that it is unsafe, although people have successfully used it for cladding houses. The main advantage of foam is that it is not afraid of moisture and practically does not rot. But there will be little sense from it if the booth is unheated. Also, if you decide to insulate it with your own hands, then you need to remember that the material must be securely insulated so that the dog does not scratch it.
- Rock wool is also a good option, but many breeders also argue about safety. As practice shows, the thermal insulation properties of mineral wool are quite high. As in the case of foam, the material must be protected as reliably as possible from the pet's paws. But it is important not to overdo it and not make the walls of the dog's home too thick.
- You can also use Penoplex. Penoplex itself is a fairly new material for insulation. It has been proven to be non-toxic in structure, and overall good enough to be sheathed in a doghouse. On sale you can find penoplex of different thicknesses and sizes.
- As for felt, it is praised by almost all dog breeders and specialists, this material is considered one of the best. With its help, the walls and the roof of the doghouse are upholstered. Moreover, if you do it yourself, then this process will not take much time. In addition, the material is completely safe for the animal.
- For these purposes, roll insulation can also be used. It is also quite convenient in terms of installation, but also quite effective.
The choice of insulation for the dog booth
The selection of a material method for insulating a kennel is faced with two big problems. First of all, the insulation should be relatively harmless, not cause allergic reactions and aggression on the part of the dog. Secondly, the material should not absorb moisture and lose its heat-insulating qualities over time.
Mineral wool
Of all modern heaters, fiber mats, panels and roll materials are categorically not recommended for insulating a dog kennel. There are many reasons for this limitation, for example, phenol-formaldehyde resin used in the manufacture of mineral wool, as well as stone dust, from which there is no escape, cause severe irritation of the mucous membranes of the eyes and larynx.
Minwata emits a lot of dust, you need to think ten times before trying to insulate a dog's kennel in this way
You can, of course, build and insulate the kennel according to the method shown in the video:
It is unlikely that the Alabai, for which the booth was built, will feel comfortable in winter. If you arrange a kennel and try to insulate it according to science, then it is better on the basis of expanded polystyrene.
Styrofoam
Immediately it is necessary to clarify such a characteristic as the vapor permeability of the walls for a dog kennel. It can be zero, and the dog will feel great, since the huge entrance and slots under the roof provide normal ventilation and removal of water vapor. Therefore, insulating a doghouse with foam is one of the most optimal solutions to the problem.
If you let the styrofoam sit under a canopy in the open air for a couple of weeks, then the remaining smell of the solvent will completely evaporate, after which the expanded polystyrene can be laid on the inside of the case and the joints can be glued with polyurethane foam.
Roll type heat insulators
It is necessary to insulate the dog house with the most accessible and simple materials, for example, the remnants of the substrate for the laminate, isolon and even the usual padding polyester. The material is sewn onto the walls from the outside, if the frame is wooden or plank, you can use a furniture stapler and staples.
At the corners, an overlap must be performed with gluing the joints with ordinary tape. This is done not to combat water vapor, but only in order to fix the overlap of the canvas and make the insulation more durable. If the dog's kennel is spacious enough, then it can be insulated from the inside of the room. After that, the layer of insulation will have to be sewn up with clapboard or wooden lath, otherwise the dog will tear the foamed insulation in winter.
Felt
Excellent material for thermal insulation of any premises. If insulated with natural felt, then before laying the material will need to be treated with an insecticide against parasites and fleas. If the felt is thin, 3-5 mm, then it is better to insulate the kennel from the inside, you can also sheathe the outer surface, but in this case you will need to make a ventilation gap from the slats, vapor barrier, lay a thick felt layer and a plastic film that protects the insulation layer from getting wet.
Insulating with felt is much faster and easier.
Required tools and materials
An old mattress can become a finished bedding. However, this is not the most practical option, since dogs have a habit of tearing tissue with their teeth, but it all depends on the nature of the pet. For the same reason, you should not use rags to insulate the booth. Moreover, in winter, when the dog lies down on them with fur, the material will absorb moisture from the snow.
The following fillers can be used as flooring:
- hay;
- shavings;
- felt;
- mineral wool.
In addition, for work you will need:
- scissors;
- nails;
- plane.
Do-it-yourself warming of a dog booth for the winter
Most often, it is necessary to insulate the apartment of the yard dog already in winter, when it is impossible to delay or postpone the process of warming for obvious reasons. A dog's kennel, planned and built with intelligence, should be easy to disassemble. The roof, sometimes the back wall of the booth, is usually made removable, therefore, before insulating, you need to disassemble everything, thoroughly clean and dry.
Bottom and flooring
It is considered the most difficult to insulate the bed or the floor inside the kennel. Almost all dog breeds are extremely distrustful of changing the bedding and any attempts to warm, change, remake it. The dog can tear the insulation, throw it out of the kennel and defiantly lie down next to it. Therefore, the floor has to be insulated in two ways:
- A sheet of extruded polystyrene foam is laid under the bottom of the kennel, which is often used to insulate the walls and foundations of buildings for the winter. EPS sheets 50 mm thick are laid under the kennel, preferably in one piece, without seams and joints;
- Soft materials are laid on the floor, it can be an old woolen blanket, you can fill in a layer of sawdust.
Best of all, if it is a thick Velcro mat, which is easy to get out in winter, clean it from snow, accumulated debris and put it back in place. Therefore, the owners often sew special mattresses with a top made of thick felt, with an inner insert made of thick foam rubber and a rubberized fabric at the bottom.
Be sure to lay the film under the felt or sawdust
Wall insulation
For the vertical surfaces of the booth, it is best to use regular foam. If the dog lives on the street all the time, and it does not have the opportunity to hide in the summer kitchen or in the annex to the house, then it is best to insulate with prefabricated plates that can be easily pulled out if necessary.
In winter, with the onset of frost, you can easily remove the roof and lay the foam in the walls of the kennel. Usually the slabs are cut with tongue-and-groove piles to avoid cold bridges. At the end of winter, the insulation can be easily pulled out of the frame, thereby improving ventilation inside the booth.
Ceiling and roof
To insulate the upper part of the kennel, it is best to use roll materials, the same polyethylene foam. The roof and ceiling are most often affected by condensation, so other materials cannot withstand moisture saturation and freezing. If the winter is harsh enough, then the roof can be additionally insulated by placing an old blanket or several pressed bales of hay on its surface.
How to insulate the entrance to a doghouse
If the kennel is built according to all the rules, with an additional partition in front of the entrance, then there is no particular need to hang the entrance to the booth. Many dog owners are reinsured, especially if the winter is harsh and the frost can reach 25-30 ° C with strong winds.
An old blanket or jute will do, in a pinch, PVC film
Advice! In such conditions, it is better to give the dog the opportunity to spend the night in the hallway or utility block. The curtain at the entrance will not warm the kennel, and the risk for the dog to get sick still exists.
The curtain or curtain at the entrance is usually made of very thick plastic wrap or rubberized tarpaulin. If you insulate the kennel, then you need to be prepared for the curtain material to freeze to the wall. Therefore, for winter, the curtain is cut into ribbons:
- For small dogs, 4-5 vertical cuts are made, thick polyethylene will not freeze at the joints in winter, the animal can easily leave its kennel in any weather;
- For tall dogs, the curtain is slightly bent and cut with two side cuts. As a result, the curtain turns out to be quite tough and does not flap in the wind, which is especially valuable for keeping warm in the winter.
It is clear that the curtain will need to be changed periodically, so it is attached to the outside of the kennel's facade. If it is already covered with snow in winter, then the dog will always be able to push out the snow and fabric and get out of the booth.
Does the doghouse need to be insulated?
Do dogs have enough coat to stay warm in winter? Let's make a reservation right away that at this time of the year, dogs are definitely freezing, especially if they are not long-haired, and the booth can not only freeze, but, for example, leak, drafts can appear in it.And if your dog is really your best friend, then treat him properly and make sure that he has the appropriate wintering conditions.
First, it is checked whether the booth is located correctly, or if it needs to be moved. The basic requirements are listed below.
- If possible, the entrance to the booth should be located where there is calm (that is, the minimum wind movement).
- Ideally, the house should be made of natural wood.
- In case of atmospheric precipitation, water should not flow into the booth, therefore, two options are possible: place the structure on an elevation or take care of high-quality insulation.
- The dimensions of the house should fit the size of the dog: it is important that he is not cramped in it, but excessive spaciousness is also inappropriate.
- It is impossible for the kennel to be unprotected from the sun, but excessive shading is also unacceptable - look for the "golden mean".
How to insulate hives for the winter
Earlier we talked about how to properly insulate the hives, what materials should be used in this case, in addition to this article, we advise you to read this information, read about it here
When insulating a booth, you need to act as when insulating other structures: all the nuances are taken into account, including wind protection, protection from moisture and cold. Internal insulation is advisable for structures that can be easily dismantled / reassembled.
Note! If the kennel is already ready, and there is no way to disassemble it, then give preference to external insulation. In this case, a final finish will be needed so that the booth looks good on the site.
Finally, for greater confidence in the results, insulate everything at once - the roof, walls and floor.
Dog kennel heating
With the advent of modern safe heaters, many owners are trying not only to insulate, but also to install heating for the kennel. Such a decision will be successful for dogs living in the country and outside the city, where a sharp cold snap in winter can turn into a tragedy.
Heated kennels are placed either on the floor or on the ceiling
A home-made heater made of cable or graphite film, installed on the ceiling of the booth, can be considered a good option. It is clear that heating does not solve all problems, it is still necessary to insulate the kennel, but for purebred dogs that do not differ in special health, the presence of cable heating of the ceiling or floor can be extremely important in order to survive the winter.
It is best to use a self-regulating two-core heating cable. In winter, in the coldest weather, it easily delivers up to 200 watts from every ten meters of wire laid inside the booth. This is enough to insulate and heat the kennel to a positive temperature.
