I have discovered a really functional and efficient set-up for a new dog kennel and dog house. I struggled with where and how to best arrange my dogs house and kennel. The issues I was considering and felt were priorities were;

1. Close to the house would make it easier to let my dog in and out.

2. I wanted as much room to run as possible for my dog.

3. Cleaning the dogs kennel and dogs house would be easier if a water hose was located nearby.

4. I also wanted to incorporate the dogs’ house into the dogs kennel without using room inside the kennel.

5. I wanted a location that would enable the dogs’ view of the street and entrance so he wouldn’t bark as much, and at the same time would enable me to admire the nice house I got for him.

6. Any other ways I could minimize the work of caring for my dog as far as this setup is concerned?

After many changes on the drawing board I settled with what seemed to be a plan that would accomplish all of my concerns. It would start with the location. I chose to put the kennel on the side of my house, attached to it, with a door and water hose nearby. I placed the kennel END section with the door directly next to my house door. Since it is attached to the house I gained another 8' in length so the dog can really run. The house also protects the dogs’ house and kennel from some of the wind and rain.

I set the two 4 ft. kennel END sections as the ends of the run and the two "long" 8' kennel sections running parallel with my house connected to each other and to one of the END sections. To gain another couple of feet in the length of the run, I placed the dogs’ house at the end of the SIDE sections nearest the kennel door and house door, and attached the fencing to posts at the front of the dogs’ house. The dogs’ house faces towards my house door so I can see my dog while he’s in his home.

Another configuration that would have suited my situation is with the dogs’ house between the two 8 ft. sections of dog kennel. I just preferred the dogs’ house to be close to my house door but I believe my dog is happier this way because he is so close to the entry point of our house, he can hear us inside and everyone who enters must walk right past him. Now he usually gets a lot of attention from our guests. It is also very easy for us to hear him as he jumps on his kennel gate when he wants to come in or if he notices something that worries him. For a smaller dog, a pass-through door would enable him to go in and out whenever he wants. You could also pass his food out that way.

I tried the set-up out for a month to be sure I didn’t want to change it, after this I made a concrete slab with a 4" grade draining away from the house so it would clean up easily. At the same time I anchored fence posts in the ground on the sides of where the dogs’ house would be and attached a section of plywood above the dogs’ house so nothing can pass through that area. With this method no holes needed to be drilled in the dogs’ house.

A few things I added after the initial build for convenience and efficiency are;

• A flex hose to the end of my house gutters downspout that ends at the kennel edge so that the slab is cleaned with every rain.

• An altered spackle bucket with part of the sides cut out for his food dish, this can be lowered from a window so I don’t even need to go out the door.

• Some shrubbery around his house to keep the sun from overheating him, which also makes the whole set-up look fantastic.

The dog kennel is now 18'x4' instead of the original 8'x4' The square footage is now 72' instead of 32' or even less if the dogs’ house was inside the kennel. Since the rain water does such a good job cleaning, I only have to do a major clean up every 2 weeks instead of the usual every few days. Even feeding him is much easier. For obvious reasons you should feed him near the window or dog house door.

This set-up gives him more room to run, and me, more time to play with him. I hope this experience can benefit some of you. I would love to hear about your dogs house or kennel ideas.