# Indoor/outdoor Kennel



## chadmonger (Jul 28, 2011)

Hello! Looking for some suggestions or other input. We are currently building a house and I am starting to finish up my plans for the indoor/outdoor kennel in the garage. There will be a doggie door in the side door so the dogs can go in and out as they please. 

Questions:
How should I do the indoor portion? 
(Wood, chain link, pre fab kennel, etc)

How should I do the outdoor portion? (Wood, chain link, height, ground covering, etc)

Any other ideas or similar experience/pics would be great 

Indoor portion will be approx 6'x18'
Outdoor portion will be approx 8'x30'

Thanks!!


















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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Lucky dogs - that's huge! We have a chain link pen in the garage for the dogs, I think it's around 8 x 6. We have Kuranda beds for them. There's a dog door to an outdoor run that's along the side of the house, with a chain link gate at either end. There's a wood fence around our entire yard, (what people in other parts of the country call a "privacy fence", but we just call a fence.  ), so that's down the other long side. The gates keep the dogs out of the main part of the yard, so they can't dig up the plants, and on the other end it separates them from the garbage and recycling bins. I think the run is about 5 ft wide. 

We built the pen into a corner, so there are chain link panels on two sides, and walls on the other two sides. Here are some pics:

Dena outside



















Keefer inside


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Built in tub/showers for the dog in the garage/breezeway are a great idea!

Built-in Dog Shower Design Ideas, Pictures, Remodel, and Decor

dog-shower- use as boot wash instead | For My Pet's

mudroom dog bath | For My Pet's

Dog room | For My Pet's


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## chadmonger (Jul 28, 2011)

Looks awesome! Do the dogs go potty on the cement? I am debating on cementing the whole pad or just a portion and then pea gravel for the rest. 





Cassidy's Mom said:


> Lucky dogs - that's huge! We have a chain link pen in the garage for the dogs, I think it's around 8 x 6. We have Kuranda beds for them. There's a dog door to an outdoor run that's along the side of the house, with a chain link gate at either end. There's a wood fence around our entire yard, (what people in other parts of the country call a "privacy fence", but we just call a fence.  ), so that's down the other long side. The gates keep the dogs out of the main part of the yard, so they can't dig up the plants, and on the other end it separates them from the garbage and recycling bins. I think the run is about 5 ft wide.
> 
> We built the pen into a corner, so there are chain link panels on two sides, and walls on the other two sides. Here are some pics:
> 
> ...


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

chadmonger said:


> Looks awesome! Do the dogs go potty on the cement? I am debating on cementing the whole pad or just a portion and then pea gravel for the rest.


Yep, you can see the hose down at the far end, there's also a drain on the other side of the gate, we scoop up the poop and hubby hoses down the run every day.


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## GatorDog (Aug 17, 2011)

I like the cement as the ground cover so far. We have also use wooden decking before and gravel as well, but the cement was easier to clean. Gravel would be ok as long as the ground underneath couldn't be dug up. Bug again, the cement takes care of that issue too.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

I would LOVE a built in dog bath. Also a grooming table / vacuum area


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## chadmonger (Jul 28, 2011)

I think I will go with cement for the whole thing and then I will not have to worry about them digging or getting dirty. That way I will not have to bury the fence at all since they will not be able to dig under anyway. We have a wooded lot. Would you suggest chain link for the outside or a wood fence? 6 foot?


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## chadmonger (Jul 28, 2011)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Keefer inside


Can you post another picture of the inside but further away? I am having difficulties envisioning how chain link works with the cement floors and not being able to set the posts? Especially how the gate works. Thanks!!


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Sure, let me go take some more pics. I can tell you how he did the connection on the floor though - he drilled holes in the concrete, and then secured strips of wood (with Tapcon concrete screws) to the floor, along the edges of the chain link panels, and then bolted the panels to the wood. 

You can buy pre-made freestanding kennels, but this worked better for us since we wanted to build it into the corner with just two sides of chain link, allowing access to the dog door. Plus, it gave us more options on size. We have two gate panels on the front, and one larger panel plus one gate panel on the long side.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Okay, here you go - a wider shot of the front, showing the gate: 










To the left of the gate is another gate panel making up the rest of the front of the kennel. We have a cheap Ikea cabinet in front of that part, with storage for dog supplies inside and space on top to prepare meals. We also have stackable containers for their food on top of the cabinet. 

Here are some detail shots:

This is to the left of the gate, showing how the panel attaches to the wood, which is secured to the floor. You can see the edge of the cabinet as it butts up to the kennel.










That pole goes all the way up to the rafters, and is secured to the wood overhead in a similar fashion, to give some structural integrity.

This is the top of the gate, (from the inside of the pen) where it attaches to a piece of wood secured to the wall:










Bottom of the gate, from the outside: 










Far wall, where the panel attaches to the wall to the left of the door to the dog run:










It ain't pretty, but it's solid and functional!


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## vomlittlehaus (Aug 24, 2010)

Keep in mind winter weather and ice. You would not want to be hosing down in winter. Also ease of snow removal (i.e. can you get a snow blower in there?) Will the cement pad be higher than the ground and drain away from the house? The dogs can be out there for exercise, but can also be let into a yard or grass area for potty. Will their garage area have a heat source? Or an insulated dog house in the garage? Height should be at least 6 feet.


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## chadmonger (Jul 28, 2011)

Cassidy's Mom said:


> Okay, here you go - a wider shot of the front, showing the gate:
> 
> 
> It ain't pretty, but it's solid and functional!


Thank you!! Those will come in handy when we finally get into the new house!


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## chadmonger (Jul 28, 2011)

*Update*

Here are some pics of the "finished" product. Still needs a bit of finishing but is working for now.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

That looks awesome! 

While your house is new, I would be inclined to put a matching roof and a strong ceiling fan over the run area. It would help keep down bugs and give you some summer cooling the dog can't reach. That way your dog can choose outside on rainy days.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Looks nice!!!! I live in GR too! The only thing that would concern me is it looks like some areas have no top or bottom rail. I have one escape artist dog who is about GSD size, but a much lower drive dog and can be over/under/through a chain link fence like that in seconds. Luckily my GSDs do fine with visual barriers and don't test them as much, but I did have to replace the chain link in my yard with something heavy gauge and with sturdy top and bottom rails and my escape artist has not escaped since.


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## chadmonger (Jul 28, 2011)

Liesje said:


> Looks nice!!!! I live in GR too! The only thing that would concern me is it looks like some areas have no top or bottom rail. I have one escape artist dog who is about GSD size, but a much lower drive dog and can be over/under/through a chain link fence like that in seconds. Luckily my GSDs do fine with visual barriers and don't test them as much, but I did have to replace the chain link in my yard with something heavy gauge and with sturdy top and bottom rails and my escape artist has not escaped since.


Thanks! I will definitely be adding at least top rails and will consider bottom rails as well. Very happy to have a secure kennel for the dogs while I am at work. We just moved to the Lowell area actually - more room for the dogs to run around!


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## chadmonger (Jul 28, 2011)

Added some bottom supports last night that should do the trick. I drilled holes and used fence ties to strengthen the bottom and prevent escapes. Thanks for the tips!


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## K9Kona (Mar 27, 2013)

This is what I constructed this past weekend. I added two more panels to my kennel to widen it by 5' so it is now 10'x15'. Not including the kennel panels, I have around $425 into this so far. I plan to put some type of screen or possibly some type of fence around the outside to keep the leaves and snow out. I do have a indoor kennel as well that is underneath my workbench, but I'm considering putting a larger kennel in the garage as well.


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

Kona, that's an awesome set up!

OP, your kennel is looking great too. I agree with Lies on making sure you have top and bottom rails. The wood that you just added to the bottom will probably work, but may also soon get soaked with urine and very stinky. It may also invite chewing. If you can put in metal bottom rails like prefab kennel pannels have I think that would be best.

I also agree with adding some sort of roof/top for shade as well as rain and snow protection.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I would suggest, lifting whatever you use to shore up the bottom by a good four to six inches. This will allow the water to run off, when you hose it down or it rains.

Also, if that is concrete, you might want to cut it so that when it cracks due to the changes, it cracks where you want it to crack, and looks uniform. Of course, that may not matter if you do not have yucky weather extremes where you are. Or maybe you already have?


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## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

He's in MI. He definitely has yucky weather extremes. Some expansion joints in the slab would have been a good idea, but are sort of moot now as I don't know if there is a feasible way to add them after it is poured. Pre-cracking it where you want might help, but you'll still get cracks. Concrete in a climate with extreme freeze/thaw cycles is going to crack. There's nothing that will prevent that.


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## chadmonger (Jul 28, 2011)

Chris Wild said:


> He's in MI. He definitely has yucky weather extremes. Some expansion joints in the slab would have been a good idea, but are sort of moot now as I don't know if there is a feasible way to add them after it is poured. Pre-cracking it where you want might help, but you'll still get cracks. Concrete in a climate with extreme freeze/thaw cycles is going to crack. There's nothing that will prevent that.


There are cuts in the concrete, you can see it better in the first set of pics


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