I am building a barn and have a place for dog pens/kennels that my dogs will be spending some of the time in. What size and kind of kennels do you recommend? I have three dogs and was thinking of making one larger and one smaller so if need to separate at sometime? The area is 10x24 and will have a covered roof as cement floor with a drain. Also one of them can climb a four foot fence, so I guess I need a six foot?

I'm thinking 4 5X12 pens. You always need an extra pen.

Climbing dogs need a top. Lost several due to no top.

I'd go two 5 by 24 kennels with a top on one of them. I have 4 by 16 and they are fine.

They like to jump up on things. I'd go with the barrels other than what I now have.

I made the last three 8X16 and they're fine. Used 16X5 horse panels 2"X4"mesh. Easy to work with and durable.

Put a roof on every kennel you build. Dogs that don't climb can learn to climb. If your current dog doesn't climb, your next will. Always plan on being able to separate dogs you may have injuries, dogs in heat, and bullys. Build as many kennels as you can, choose dog houses with roofs and remember dogs ALWAYS CHEW UP WOOD. If the kennels are in the barn barrels are fine for houses. I presume you thought of building a run on the outside so that they can go out and come in.

My dogs kennel in house at night. This is more of a place to hold during day, before play time and night time.

Is cyclone way to go or does it matter? Kind of like the cattle panel idea.

Dogs do not circle their kennel. They run from front to back, so you want it longer than it is wide. Professionals put the drain at the back, because they are too lazy to walk to the back to feed them. Thus, they have to wash the droppings all the way to the back. I like the drain about 6 feet from the front. I feed them near their boxes, they dump by the gate and the back stays dry. My dogs seldom dump in the kennel. I let them out each day.

Some dogs can unravel cyclone if it is not tight. You need a frame bar running along the bottom of the kennel--don't leave the bottom of the fencing unbraced. Cattle panels are a large mesh and some brands are strong but brittle. You want something that doesn't corrode fast--urine is hard on the bracing of most fences and will rust some types of wire. My hurricane fence kennels have been up for 18 years, but I have had to do work on some of the gates because urine has rusted the braces and frames. BTW you want a latch you can secure with a clip. Some dogs learn to open gates.

I've had a few gate openers. Get females and you wont have the rust problem.

Ditto on females

Powder coated Priefert panels get my vote. Easy to put up and breakdown and have seen no damage from male dogs.

My problem was not with my plans. The dang concrete man made my slab low on both ends, when it should have been high on the ends.

Ditto on females and gate openers. Used cattle panels first time and they lasted about 30 years. Only panels with males actually rusted, most of the rust was where metal post was driven into concrete. Powder coated imo are the way to go and extremely nice. Just built some with horse panels. Mesh is tight if washing down from outside kennel and welds need some cold galvanize or something to help stop rusting.

I had one in Houston that I tied into the sewer system, but I was reluctant to run that much water through my septic tank. I simply drained it out into my yard. Here's a peek.

listen to chet

A home kennel is a lot different than a free standing pro kennel. A lot depends on you situation. I built my house in a restricted subdivision. We couldn't show chain link. I only have one chain link panel separating my runs. Every situation is different. You have to work with your personal situation.

What about this?
Lucky Dog Uptown Welded Wire Kennel (6'Hx4'Wx8'L) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002R0F04M/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_RVHbzb7GQXYQ6

If you have fertile female's better go with something that a determined male can't chew through. I had a litter of unwanted pups because heavy galvanized chain link did not stop a horny hound dog. He chewed through it like it was chicken wire. I go to the roof with the heavy panels and leave a 2" space above slab for daily wash out. No climbing, no digging, no chewing.

Are yours the 4x4 squares?

2X4 mesh. 5' tall, 16' long. Easy to work with. Horse panels is what they are called here.

I built my kennels in 1993. They have served me well, but there are certainly some things I will do differently when I build a new set at my new house. My kennel is free standing and is about 100 yds. from my house. I put it this far from my house to minimize noise/ smell. Neither is a real issue so in my next kennel I think I will put it closer to the house. The "handier" your kennel is, the more you will mess with your dogs. It has 5 runs, each of which is 5' wide and 17'3" long. In front of each run is a 5' walkway that is 25' long (runs in front of all 5 runs). This walkway has a gate at each end. I can move dogs around into various runs without them leaving the enclosed kennel. Each run has a 5' gate that closes off the walkway when opened. The rear of the entire kennel is enclosed along the back (west) and both sides to keep the hot setting sun off the dogs. It also seems that a lot of our bad blowing rain comes from the west / northwest. My concrete has a nice slope from front to rear that really drains well. I got lucky with my concrete as it has no low spots that hold puddles and , believe it or not, there is not a single crack in the entire kennel after 24 years.
As many have said, there are several behavioral traits that most dogs share. A major one is that dogs tend to pee and poop at the end of the run furthest from the barrels / houses. This is where I made the biggest mistake. My dogs poop right in front of the gate, then dance in it as they jump and bounce at the gate when I come down to feed and clean. Additionally, I then have to wash the feces/urine from the very front to the very rear of the run. I have a drain behind the kennel and wash feces under the wall (2" gap)
When I build new kennels, I will make my gates on the end where my enclosed portion is, slope the concrete the other direction, and I think that I will mostly need to wash the furthest 6' of the run.
Since mu runs are separated by only a chain link fence with a 2" gap from bottom of fence to floor, it is impossible to wash down any one pen without the feces washing into the pen beside it. This is ok, but not ideal and I will consider a 8-12" concrete ledge between runs in my next pen. My run walls (chain link) are 6' tall and as I've never had climbers this has never been a problem. Next kennel will have ceiling or fence will go all the way to ceiling. I don't have gate openers because each gate latch has a quick snap.
Since I have 5 runs, I can easily have 5 dogs. At times, I have had 2 dogs in each run. At present. I use the first run to store food, leashes, meds etc. ideally, there would be a separate area for this sort of stuff. YOU REALLY NEED A STORAGE ROOM!. Additionally, it would be nice to have a special run to whelp litters, and possibly a special run for small pups (off the ground??)
Currently my dogs house in barrels, which I really like. Currently they are in stands with small metal legs. Legs are good, but will collect hay. In new kennels I will attach barrels to side fence in some manner so as to minimize anything touching ground. Also, changing slope of concrete will minimize need to wash under barrels
Also on my wish list is a 2-5 acre exercise pen (enclosed with new wire) attached to kennel so that I could let dogs out of kennel for extended periods and not have to stay with them. I simply do not have the time to give my digs as much exercise as I would like.
Most of the time, I enjoy the time I spend cleaning the kennel and feeding my dogs. In a strange way it is soothing, relaxing, and therapeutic. Each day, I try to give 1 of my dogs extra attention.









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