Registered: Mar 2007
Location: Forsyth, GA
Posts: 452

I was wandering what everyone does to keep there hound warm in the winter. What do ya'll northern folks do when its 0 degrees up there for a few days? Do you do anything to keep the wind off the dogs?

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Registered: Jul 2006
Location: St. Olaf, Iowa
Posts: 548

it gets to be 0 degrees for more than a few days but pleny of fresh straw in their dog houses all winter keeps them warm and I also stack square bales around the outside to keep the wind out and it helps insulate their houses.

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Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Ashtabula County, Ohio
Posts: 2494

make sure they have good straw and put a mate over there door to keep the heat in... but where they can get out of the house too.

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Registered: Jul 2006
Location: Turtle Mountains, ND
Posts: 1023

In my area we occasionally see temps 20-25 below for a few to several days in a row. Throw in the wind chill and its tough on dogs. When I was a kid on the farm, I'd make a dog kennel in a barn and stack hay bales for a dog house. Also would have to water the dogs twice a day because it would freeze quickly.

My current strategy was conversion of an old wooden grainery into a four compartment kennel. I insulated it, added windows and a walk door, put in flap doors for the dogs, wired it for lights and heat. I keep it at roughly 38-40 degrees in the winter. On windy days when it's very cold the temp will drop to 30-32 and the waters will start to freeze. IMO, the extra care improves my dogs health increases their useful lifespan.

Also, having a setup that is comfortable for family members to care for my dogs makes it easier to get help when I go out of town on business.

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Registered: Nov 2006
Location: Recklessly running down the hallway of life with scissors in both hands
Posts: 148

Just remember plenty of food possibly twice a day especially if you are hunting them as well. Water a couple of times...freezes fast unless you use the heated bowls. Anyone use those...how do they work? Get chewed up??

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Registered: Mar 2007
Location: Forsyth, GA
Posts: 452

right now i've got 55 gallon plastic barrel with pine shavings in them. it very seldom gets below 20 here. sometimes the wind chill will get in the teens. it never last long though. like a desert down here. thanks for the info

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: Corry,Pa
Posts: 801

Fully insulated boxes with straw bedding. They're own body heat will heat the box enough to keep them comfortable. I've had the same heated water dishes for over 3 years now and they still work fine.

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WATTS FLATS REDBONE KENNELS
Owner: Adam Frary
Home#(814)664-9694
Cell#(716)338-7372
Home of:
(R.I.P.) GRNITECH CH 'PR' WATTS FLATS FATTY PATTY
(2006 Overall Southern Redbone Champion)
(GrNtCh winner and High scoring dog Sat night with 1100+/75-)
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(2006 Qualified for UKC World)
(2006 Autumn Oaks GrNtCh cast winner)
(PKC Money Winner)

GRNITECH GRCH 'PR' WATTS FLATS JUMP'EM UP JEB HTX-3 (DNA-P)
( Out of Patty and Lash's Rowdy)
(2008 Qualified for UKC World)
(1st Place GrNt and Overall High-Scoring Dog at the 2009 PA Governers Cup)
(1st place NtCh and Overall High-Scoring Dog at the 2008 NYS Battle of the Breeds Hunt)
(1st place Reg. Ny State Spring Championship)
(3rd place Reg. 2008 National Redbone Days, Fri night)
(2nd place Reg. BBOA Zone hunt)
(PKC Money Winner)

(R.I.P.) GRNITECH 'PR' WATTS FLATS MUDDY CREEK MAGGIE HTX-2 (DNA-P)
(Out of Jeb and Hiedi)
(2013 Qualified for World Championship)
(2015 Qualified for World Championship)
(2013 Ohio Gov Cup- NiteCh winner and Overall opposite sex winner)
(2014 National Redbone Days High-scoring female and 3rd place overall Thurs night)
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Last edited by WattsFlatsRedbo on 12-05-2007 at 04:16 AM

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Registered: Mar 2007
Location: Forsyth, GA
Posts: 452

thats a pretty nice setup. little too expensive for me though. lol

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: Corry,Pa
Posts: 801

Lucky for me I'm a carpenter and more than half of the building materials for my kennel was free. Extras and scaps.

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------------------------------------------------
WATTS FLATS REDBONE KENNELS
Owner: Adam Frary
Home#(814)664-9694
Cell#(716)338-7372
Home of:
(R.I.P.) GRNITECH CH 'PR' WATTS FLATS FATTY PATTY
(2006 Overall Southern Redbone Champion)
(GrNtCh winner and High scoring dog Sat night with 1100+/75-)
(2005 Qualified for UKC World)
(2006 Qualified for UKC World)
(2006 Autumn Oaks GrNtCh cast winner)
(PKC Money Winner)

GRNITECH GRCH 'PR' WATTS FLATS JUMP'EM UP JEB HTX-3 (DNA-P)
( Out of Patty and Lash's Rowdy)
(2008 Qualified for UKC World)
(1st Place GrNt and Overall High-Scoring Dog at the 2009 PA Governers Cup)
(1st place NtCh and Overall High-Scoring Dog at the 2008 NYS Battle of the Breeds Hunt)
(1st place Reg. Ny State Spring Championship)
(3rd place Reg. 2008 National Redbone Days, Fri night)
(2nd place Reg. BBOA Zone hunt)
(PKC Money Winner)

(R.I.P.) GRNITECH 'PR' WATTS FLATS MUDDY CREEK MAGGIE HTX-2 (DNA-P)
(Out of Jeb and Hiedi)
(2013 Qualified for World Championship)
(2015 Qualified for World Championship)
(2013 Ohio Gov Cup- NiteCh winner and Overall opposite sex winner)
(2014 National Redbone Days High-scoring female and 3rd place overall Thurs night)
(PKC Money Winner)

+ Upcoming:
'PR' WATTS FLATS STATELINE SALLY
(Maggie X Moon)

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Registered: Jul 2003
Location:
Posts: 284

I turn up their thermostat.

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Registered: Mar 2006
Location: Petersburg, Tn. aka Redneck USA
Posts: 1184

I just hunt the hell out of mine. I figure if their moving around, they gotta be warm! lol

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Lumpkin, Ga
Posts: 8757

Thomas I make my own dog houses from exterior plywood. They are not insulated but are tightly built and have flaps over the door openings to keep out the wind. I face the houses South. They are 30X30 on the floor and the sides are 24" tall -- just big enough for one dog.

As mentioned before, the dogs' own body heat keeps them warn in a small tight house. I use burmuda grass hay for bedding. I have 2X4 runners on mine to keep them off the ground. I make a frame around the door opening of six inch wide material to further help with rain and wind. The tops of course are removable. I paint them with a good quality paint and repaint as necessary.

I have some houses that are over ten years old. Have had to replace the tops on some of them as wood will rot in time. You might be able to buy a good dog house for what it would cost to make these with material costs what they are.

I increase my dogs' food as they tell me.. Clean water is always available to them. Sometimes I have to break the ice for them but they will break it themselves if it's not too thick. If it's very cold and the water freezes very quickly I water them twice a day.

BTW...I'm from way up north....Stewart County Georgia!

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Johnny Williams

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Registered: Oct 2005
Location: dodge center mn
Posts: 3268

I use just the basic wood dog house, fill it with straw. Snow will eventually cover the side's to help insulat. Feed the dog's the same way alway's, once a day. Water the same, if thier thirst they will drink before it freezes. I cover the kennel, top and all side's with a tarp. Never use to when it was just a dog house. But here in MN it get's cold. Dog's will adapt one way are the other. Over 20 years never had a dog freeze or die from exsposure. That includes pup's. Heck I've had cow's drop calf's in a snow drift. Most animal's can adapt to any weather condition, as long as thier dry, have food, and water. Lot of times they dont drink it, pefer the snow. LOL.

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jeff j

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Registered: Mar 2004
Location: tioga co.pa
Posts: 1728

We use hay instead of straw ...We feed wet .water several times a day....

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Registered: Jun 2003
Location: Central Michigan
Posts: 6544

Healthy dogs are very well equipped to deal with the cold. Dogs are very hardy animals. When I was a teenager we used to get some very cold nights here right around -40. My father would wake me up in the middle of the night 2-3 am to check on the dogs. The dogs were in a simple uninsulated wood dog house. I would put a bale of straw against the west side of the dog house, and made sure they had plenty of good clean dry straw. There wasn't a time that those darn dogs weren't a whole lot warmer than I was when dad would wake me up. In fact, I used to think it was a good thing there wasn't more room for me to crawl in.

Right now, I have plastic barrels inside a wood building with K-9 doors on the building. The barrels get plenty of dry straw throughout the winter. The dogs are watered twice a day. I use black rubber water bowls from TSC. The ice easily breaks from those bowls.

In fact, all those lap dogs that stay in-doors at night have a harder time physiologically speaking than the dogs kept outside. A dog's physiology isn't set up for dealing with such extreme temperature changes repeatedily throughout a day.

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Larry Atherton

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Registered: Oct 2003
Location: SW Missouri
Posts: 1405

Dog houses are constructed with the door off to one side rather than in the center, which allows them to escape with direct wind. Enough fresh hay and straw and they will dig what they don't need for bedding over the door themselves. Few of my hounds would tolerate a flap on their dog house door, even in winter when it got well below zero. If they have a low roof in the dog house and curl up they produce a LOT of heat, I use to put my hands in the houses to warm them up when doing dog chores

We feed twice a day in cold weather (with Redcell). Since most hounds I've had were crunchers with their water (rather crunch on ice than drink) I've always fed wet and twice a day in the winter (and summer when hunted hard). Dehydration is your biggest concern. I put warm water in their feed twice a day and make sure they have a good water supply. I do everything I can to make sure they get plenty of water.

I also make sure they have plenty of OUTSIDE activities to acclimate to the weather. Dog houses are really warm (sometimes warmer than the house) and lazy or older dogs can tend to bury themselves away for the winter except to hunt, eat, and potty. So I make sure that they have a couple hours a day in the elements with several short stays in the runs to play around with each other in the cold during the day.

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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Columbus, Ks
Posts: 5398

Smaller house compared to larger is best. A door or flapper also reduces air exchange. Plenty of straw to curl up in.

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Registered: Feb 2007
Location: Pomeroy, Ohio
Posts: 2843

A small box is the best and if you cut a sheet of plywood correctly you can make one dog box for about any size hound with very little waste of material. I use 3/4" Plywood and a box will last for years and is very tight with no drafts and then I just put straw in it and they are plenty warm. I also use a treated 2x4 around the bottom to keep it off the ground. I also feed wet feed in the winter and they very seldom take a drink of water when it is offered to them.

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Registered: Nov 2007
Location:
Posts: 258

I want to get a pic of my houses sometime i got them from caterpillar they are some type of shipping boxes.

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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Columbus, Ks
Posts: 5398

A good warm dog house will reduce the amount of feed needed.

It would be interesting to see the temp. difference inside the dog house when a plastic barrel is used compared to an insulated dog house similar in cubic feet of space. Same door or flap over the entrance and bedding material the same. Lets say the outside temp. is 10 deg. Similar size dog and the dog has been in the house for an hour or more. Which house will blue select if both are made available.

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Registered: Jan 2005
Location: BLOOMFIELD IOWA
Posts: 2439

Insulated dog houses with opening off to one side. Lots of grass hay. Lots of fresh water and feed. I do use electric bowls. Love them. With some pups I tie mine close to the kennel so they can't upset it and chew the cord. My old female will push the bedding up in front of her door to block any air. SMART! I bought a dog house from Danny Glista. Very nice. I also use tarps all around my kennel including the roof.

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Registered: Oct 2005
Location: dodge center mn
Posts: 3268

I used to have a dog that would not lay in hid dog house unless it rained. In the winter he would lay out side on a snow drift instead of the straw filled dog house. In the morning after a snow storm I would go out and find him almost buried in the snow. lol. He would get up covered in snow, and just shack it off.

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jeff j

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Registered: Dec 2003
Location: Central New York State
Posts: 231

My dogs are in home built insulated dog houses. They have insulation in the floor, the 4 walls, and the roof, as well as having a chamber they walk into and then taking a right hand turn into their quarters. I be them heavily with straw, and feed them with hot water soaked into their dog food. This way they stay hydrated. I have had dogs live as long as 14 in these conditions. Frequently they are out lunging on their chains during the day happy as ever. These dog houses are much better than simple plastic barrels that some people use. We frequently have temps down in the single digits and below zero. I also have the occasional busybody neighbor peering over my shoulder to see that the dogs are well kept. We need to stay on top of this stuff these days because a busybody can make it miserable for you if they turn you into SPCA or somesuch.

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