I'm about to build me a dog kennel for my first pointer up what is your recommendation as for what you like and dislike. Would you go with concrete or not or would you go half and half. if you go with dirt would you put down a limestone base or just let them stay on the dirt you already have. I think I'm going to cover half the pen and leave the other half open. How long and wide would you make yours? Like I said what are you like and dislikes, I own a construction company so this is going to be a winter time project for my guys and I.

I'll start, cement is easy to clean and keep dogs healthy. Slope to the front untill you have enough slope and slope some more. Must have a light brush finish or will be slippery for you and the dogs. I love Priefert panels, go together and break down in a two minutes, are raised off pad for easy cleaning. I use a green shade screen on top (not shown), lets hot air rise and gives good shade (70% of the sun blocked). Face the pad to the southeast, winter winds at back of house.

I have a large fenced area and the dogs are out 2-3 times a day so they dump in the yard and I pick it up. Makes kennel cleanup easy. If I wasn't able to run them that often I would pour a trough at the front of kennel pad to wash into but my gals will wait for hours till they get out to do their business. I use wooden insulated dog houses but thinking of going to platic barrels, have one but haven't put it together yet.

You need to have water line run out to the pens. A little bleach every couple of weeks will keep everything take it to the fair clean.

mine are on dirt, and I really don't have health problems with them but I am anal about worming. I like that they can dig down in the summer to the wet dirt to cool off. that being said if I had my choice they would either be on concrete or a raised floor of some sort. they are on dirt right now because there are several trees in their kennels that I want to keep and I haven't figured out a way to do that yet. my dogs all have a 20x10 pen at least with an eight or ten foot overhang. My preferance is to use one inch square tube and four inch square hog panel for the kennel, four inch by two inch would be as good or better. do not use the cattle panel with the bigger squares, they are big enough to let a got out or partly out.

Here is what I made a few months back. I have the cattle panel underneath the dirt bottom, no digging out. That is covered with cedar mulch which I have an endless supply of. Easy to clean and much softer than concrete.

Chet's set-up looks good. The only thing I'd add is a sunshade...

Angie

If you can afford it, I would go with the ones Chet has. I just bought the Chainlink panels from lowes that make 10' x 10' kennels, did my dirt work (make sure you have some slope) took chainlink & staked it to the ground (served as rebar) & poured concrete, I have 7 kennels, so I can tell you, to do it right, you need 40 bags of 80 pound concrete in a 10x10. (I like it to mound up just a little) It comes out to be about 3" thick, you aren't parking a car on it, so 3" is plenty. I have just a corrugated metal roof for a top & a box fan at the front of each Kennel to keep them cool. I went through my photobucket account & cant find any pics, so I will try to remember to take one this weekend, they are nothing fancy, but very functional. I have had dirt, gravel & mulch in the past & none are better than concrete for keeping smell down. Plus, no matter how good of a roof you put, it will at some point get some water & the dogs look miserable when they are stuck in a mud hole.

You are right about the shade screen, and though I mentioned it in my post that pic was taken in late fall when I let them have all the sun they can get through the winter. Here's the shade screen which is on all summer. This is a new shade screen I've not used before and with my experience this summer with heat and wind, I may leave it year round.

It depends on how your house and yard is set up, also if you live in a restricted subdivision, and the restrictions. I live in a restricted subdivision, and those shown on here would not pass the restrictions.

I had to put mine behind my garage with no chain link showing. I went with concrete blocks for the outside wall, and simply extended the roofline to cover the back half of the kennel. Other than that, I agree with the others who recommended concrete. My dogs spend most of their time in my back yard.

Well I don't care what any of you say! Mine works great and have yet to see a mudhole!

Gus i Actually like yours seems practical but i think i'm going to go with concrete for mine but for my father in laws that would work for sure

I was just funning! Everyone has their own ideas and that's great. Mine works for me. I keep at least 4 inches of mulch in there to keep it dry even when it rains there is no mud. When it is nasty outside our hounds come in the house. They are great with the kids and are pretty calm so it works out. Bird dogs are people too you know!

I am about to build new kennels using 3/8 inch pea gravel which will be enclosed in concrete. There will be 4 in. drain to flush liquids thru. the solids can be picked up with a pitch fork which allows gravel to drop thru.

I'm having trouble picturing this, but it's interesting. is it like a concrete square with gravel in the center? how does the drain work? is the floor under the gravel concrete?

I have used the cedar chips too, and liked it pretty well, easy cleanup.

Mine is on concrete under a metal building. Troughs at the rear that dump into the septic system. Preifert panels are hard too beat. I absolutely love the concrete sealer I put down. Makes clean up a breeze and the runs dry very fast.

I sloped my concrete to the back of the kennel with trough that sloped to one end, that way all the mess was in the back and I could take care of business at the end of trough.

Our kennels are under a metal roof on sloping concrete. The concrete slopes again with a trough into a small septic tank.
Very easy to clean up. I just had the surface lightly sanblasted because the original finish was to slick. We use
kennels from Behlen. These are hot dipped galvanized and simply the best built kennel you can find and well worth the money.
They still offer the original and cheaper powder coat finish but I would recommend the galvanized finish. I welded a dog house base out of 3/4 angle and expanded metal that I had hot dipped galvanized also. We use a plastic cable tie (zip tie) to secure the house to the base. The base serves to keep the house off cold concrete in winter and allows for easier cleaning.

http://www.behlencountry.com/products/kennel_panels

I dont post much here i jsut browse most of ther time. but here is my setup.

Nice, having a roof over it is the ticket. Looks great.

Thanks chet. you got two very good looking dogs there. Whats their breeding?

Thanks both Elhew top and bottom, half sisters.

WHAT SIZE IS RUNS.(MIM)

Minimun 6x10. Bigger is better if you have room and $.