My yellow lab is a garage dog. Right now she has an old couch she sleeps on, but because winter is coming I’m looking to build her a dog house she can sleep in that would be in the garage. My garage doesn’t get super cold, but on the coldest days it gets down to around freezing. I thought it would be nice to heat the dog house if possible in case she gets cold she can go in her house. Any ideas?
DT
Put a light in it. Used to be enough to keep the old pump houses warm.
I have a dog house in my garage too. I built it in under my workbench and it has a dog door directly to the exterior into the outdoor kennel area. I have 4 inches of styrofoam under the plywood floor over the concrete slab within the dog house too. All house walls and the lid are also insulated in a similar manner. My garage will be like a deep-freeze in mid-winter, so I insulated the kennel very well. Anyhow,… on the plywood floor of the dog house, I’ve installed an electrically heated PVC floor pad. The pad simply plugs in when it is time for heat and it’s thermostatically adjustable from a low temp to a higher temp. The only thing I don’t do or have during heating season is a thick insulated pillow or pad for the dog. I guess I’m afraid it may cover the heated pad too much/hold too much heat and cause other probelms (melting/fire?). So like I said, when heating season comes, the dog pad goes away. The dog will then have the option to lay right on the heated plastic pad or off to the side at that point. Google it and you’ll see many brands of heated pads like this. I guess they are also used on farms for birthing animals such as pigs, lambs, etc. I think it works fine. …The dog certainly deos not complain. 
Ahhhh, this IS something i know a LOT about…
IF you are going to risk electricity, the lite bulb is sufficiient. The pad is PROBABLY safe.
I suggest a SMALL curl-up space and a LOT TO THE TOP of marsh grass. Let the dog heat the space with it’s own body heat. Safest and more than enuf especally if htere is a wind break for the house.
This is what i’ve done with 40 dogs for 25 years.
Now, you can go with propane and i’ll introduce you to the guy who carbon monoxided 8 dogs.
Or the guy who thought that wind vents were abusive and smothered both of his dogs.
OR
OR
OR.
the stories go on and on and on…
One thing only…a fowl brooding lamp from fleet farm. Keeps the dog at 70 ( give or take). It is safe by design and less than20$. All bird breeders use them,all the time
at 70 degrees my dog would go did a hole in a snow drift rather than sleep under that thing!
small space with straw or a piece of plywood with foam board under it the dog will heat the area with its body heat, it will probly be warmer than your own bed in the house.
Quote:
I suggest a SMALL curl-up space and a LOT TO THE TOP of marsh grass. Let the dog heat the space with it’s own body heat. Safest and more than enuf especally if htere is a wind break for the house.
This is what i’ve done with 40 dogs for 25 years.
i also have labs and have used similar ways to keep them warm best, cheapest and safest way.
I really want to underline SAFE here.
I hear 50-200 stories of dead dogs each year.
The bulk of them are heat stroke losses from over exerting unfit dogs.
The next group are winter kennel heating stories.
All sad, all short sighted.
Much smarter to stay away from electricity or other heating methods when denning animals are involved…
Also, when you are constructing the kennel box, make sure you have plenty of holes at the TOP of the box to vent the MOISTURE LADEN WARM air. Just the opposite of what we would do as humans. DRY is vastly more important than warm…
Thanks for the replies so far.
DT
My Drahthaars have the Hound Heaters in their dog houses and they work very well. Before the Hound Heaters I used the infrared units from K9-Kondo with fine results for 10 years, but when it was time to replace them I went with the Hound Heaters because they have a nice thermostat system. I highly recommend them. 
I used a heating mat designed for piglets.
put it on the back wall of the dog house so she could lay against it if she wanted to or get away from it if she was hot.
If it is safe to use around pigs, it will be safe for a dog.
http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft1_hog_management-ft1_brooders_heat_mats;pg106120.html
Quote:
Ahhhh, this IS something i know a LOT about…
IF you are going to risk electricity, the lite bulb is sufficiient. The pad is PROBABLY safe.
I suggest a SMALL curl-up space and a LOT TO THE TOP of marsh grass. Let the dog heat the space with it’s own body heat. Safest and more than enuf especally if htere is a wind break for the house.
This is what i’ve done with 40 dogs for 25 years.
Now, you can go with propane and i’ll introduce you to the guy who carbon monoxided 8 dogs.
Or the guy who thought that wind vents were abusive and smothered both of his dogs.
OR
OR
OR.
the stories go on and on and on…
X2, it’s a lab and all you have to do is get it out of the wind and provide it with a small enclosed place with a little padding. I used carpet for a pad, anything else will get chewed up and torn to pieces. The only time you would need to have more heat would be if you were having pups.
Another vote for no heat. My golden sleep indoors, but stays outside in a kennel during the day. He has a dog bed inside a small, uninsulated dog house, and he curls right up in there. If it’s 30 below I’ll keep him inside, but I have no concerns about leaving him out with temps near 0.
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This is what i’ve done with 40 dogs for 25 years.
Wow…..that is an average of 1.6 years old. I’d try something different 
I’m just kidding…lighten up Francis 
Quote:
Quote:
This is what i’ve done with 40 dogs for 25 years.
Wow…..that is an average of 1.6 years old. I’d try something different
I’m just kidding…lighten up Francis
Have you ever read a dog discussion that didn’t get a little “heated?”
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