Our Buildings

Welcome to our kennels.
This is a sneak peek behind the scene look at our kennels.
Although we would love to say that our dogs live all their days in our home that is just not the case.
We however, have normal lives and we try to alternate a couple of dogs in our home at a time giving each one of them one on one attention.
You still see dogs in our beds, on our couch, curled up with us out on the front porch and out with us on family gatherings.
There is always a dog near our feet here.
Just because we have a kennel does not mean our lives do not revolve around our dogs because they truly do.
To us this a better solution to place dogs out here instead of a wire crate while we go somewhere.
Even if it’s a quick lets go to Walmart, they are not confined in a wire crate, they can relieve themselves as well.

Our puppies never ever are in the kennel, live outside or anywhere other than in our house and they are in our house until they leave for their new home.

We have two buildings that are the exact same located next to each other on our property.
Not everyone will allow you to see their kennel in person, but I thought I would share with you what ours looks like so you understand that our dogs are well taken care of.

We bought them pre-built but don’t let that fool you as we have put in thousands of hours into these buildings as they were pretty much just the shell.

Each building is 5ft x 10ft on inside and 10ft x 10ft on the outside and for a couple of cockers per run that is more than an ample amount of space for them.

This is what you will find when you first walk in.
You will see there is a tower heater to keep it nice and warm in the winter months, in the summer you will find a window a/c in there.
The heater is a Lasko oscillating electric tower heater and this will heat up 300 sq ft which is double the sq ft needed to be kept warm.
The window a/c units are 6,000 BTU which covers 250 sq ft. which is over the max needed to keep it cooled.
Between the heaters and ac units plus it is very well insulated it doesn’t take much to keep it cool or warm in there.

You will see the hanging 5 gallon water bucket, it is a gravity-fed water system.
Since the water is inside, the water stays at room temperature and it will never freeze or be too hot to drink.
Each run has automatic stainless steal water.

Walls
The floor and walls R23 insulated, then a layer of sheetrock, then 4×8 sheets of Plas tex waterproof walls.
The ceilings are also waterproofed with heavy-duty plastic and then trimmed out with pvc molding.
There are two windows in the building, one on each side.

Floors
Each side has a built-up box that is level with the dog door.
In the box, we put a gutter and then screwed 1/2 inch OSB and then put 1/2 inch of solid plastic from Iowa Plastics.
We then drilled holes in the plastic where the gutter is.
If the dogs have accidents we can wash it down and out of the building.
At the end, the dog door frames are also wrapped with 1/2 inch plastic.

Electrical
Each building has its own electrical panel with two GFI plugins minimum of 4 ft off the ground.
One is for the heater and night light and the other is for the a/c unit in the summer and an alarm clock radio.
Each building has an interior light and vent fan.

Lighting
You will find one interior light plus the night light on the inside.
Out front, you will find a porch light
Outback you will find two spotlights.
The buildings are very well lit at all times.

Security
Recently for the safety of our dogs, we installed security cameras on each of the buildings, one in the back and one in the front.
Additional cameras inside so we can see in there too!!
Plus we have multiple trail cameras all over the property constantly recording.
A Ring doorbell, and other security cameras around our house.
Living right off of a highway you never know…  So, YOUR ON CAMERA! SMILE!
You never know when animal rights people, another breeder, or even a puppy buyer have ill intentions.
I had a friend who had her puppies stolen from her while she ran to the store, her webcam caught them!
It was a puppy buyer that ended up not buying a puppy but days later came back and stole multiple pups.
With technology, everything is being recorded and alerts get sent right to your phone in real-time.
If you are away you can still see what is going on at your home.

Each interior dog run is 5L x 3W x 4H
There are two inside areas per building.
You can get to the dogs from the top as the top lifts up.  You can also open the side door.
The front is made with a 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe with 1 inch coated welded wire.
Each inside run has auto water and auto feeder.
The top is plastic lattice cut out to go around the feeder and on a hinge so you can open it to get to the dogs.

This is the auto feeder that we made.
It is attached to the front gate system, see left photo above you can see it installed.
It was made from a 4 inch PVC pipe.
We bought a cap for the top so no bugs can go in.
What you don’t see is we drilled a couple of holes at the bottom of it to let out the crumbles
There is also a cap at the end too.
It easily can become detached so we can wash it.

In the back
We also extended the deck out an additional 5 ft making it 10 ft long, we then applied 3 layers of Thomson water sealant on top of the deck and wood poles so that no odor or feces could penetrate the wood.

We added a 2nd dog door to each building, we could have bought the same building with a 2nd one already,
but we wanted to install it ourselves to make sure it fit the dimensions that we needed.

We lined the deck with a very thick black plastic and then where the seems overlapped we laid down another plastic piece to hold it down.
Trying to make sure that the deck is waterproof and poo/pee resistant.

We 1st figured out where the tenderfoot flooring would lay and installed 1 1/2 inch pvc pipe to the deck giving the space for pee/poo to drop.
Then we installed the flooring by stainless steel fender washers and very long-coated screws.

Here is an example of the back of our kennels.
The panels are not cheaply made, they are made from Behlen Country
They are primed with a rust inhibiting zinc primer and top coated with our premium powder coat paint.
Made of 1 5/8″ tubing and 6 gauge 2″ x 4″ mesh. Configurable to any size dog or lawn and recommended for residential use only.  This setup is way better than any type of chain link fencing!

In October 2021 we added ribbed steel to the outside to protect the dogs from the elements.
This is more pleasing to the eye than tarps which can rip, tear and be chewed on as well as less replacement.

We found these buildings in South Dakota and the only way they sell them is rent to own as that is how they get their money is on the interest made.
We personally didn’t want to spend the time to make framing ourselves and it was becoming fall 2018 so we just bought

them and revamped them to our liking.

It was a quicker and easier solution even though it still took thousands of man hours and they were worked on by our whole family.
We pay $320.00 per month and the total cost is $10,000 which seems high but they were complete when we bought them as the buildings are on skids and we can move them anywhere.

We chose to add everything else to them and make them up to our standard.
When we bought them the inside was nothing but 2 x 4’s and plywood which would have quickly been destroyed.
In 2019 when both the state inspector and vet did their inspection they both were very pleased with the buildings,
both put into notes how nice the buildings are and well kept the dogs are.
We also spent thousands per building just in building materials and that is not even counting the labor that we put into each of them.

 

that space.
Only the dogs that are in that inside run will ever go in the outside run part.
Example 2 dogs in the inside, only 2 dogs on the outside, obviously it’s the same two dogs.

 

When doing these buildings we wanted to make sure how many dogs can be housed in each of them, it was not just some random guess.
Before taking them totally apart and rebuilding them.
We went off the measurements required by the regulations of others already set in motion.

Using this chart as a guideline.
One of my longest cockers is 20 inches long.

Step 1.
20 inches + 6 inches  =  26 inches

Step 2.
26 inches x 26 inches =   678 square inches

Step 3.
678 square inches / 144 = 4.70 square feet

Step 4.
If you look at the chart you can also go where it says what the required sq feet should be as they have already done the math.

Notes:
Our insides are 3 x 5 that is 15 sq ft, 3 dogs can fit in that required space, roughly 1 sq ft left over according to these guidelines.

Our outside runs are 5 x 10 which is 50 sq ft, 10 dogs can fit in that required space.
We obviously are not going to put 10 dogs are any # of dogs near that number in

I am simply making a point on the required space that is needed by regulations that were already in place prior to these buildings.

They passed both the vet inspection and state inspection and are up to federal standards if need be.

Goals:
In the next year or two I hope to get them on top of a concrete pad, also have about 1/2 acre or more area around them for the dogs to run and play in.

Note:  If you purchase a puppy and come to our home, you will not be able to go back to see our kennel and our dogs.
You can see our dogs photos on each of their pages, and if asked we may bring them to see you.
You can see the buildings when you arrive on our property.
Our kennel and our dogs are not on public display as we do not want to risk our dogs getting parvo, fleas or any other type of disease that can be carried in by your person.

Our dogs are our family and you will find them not only out in the kennel but
in the house being loved on and getting one on one attention that they so deserve by every member of the family.