New Kennel ideas

[yoteslayer]

Im wanting to build a 4 run kennel. Im tired of the muddy mess my dogs are dealing with right now. The ideas I have so far are limited but I kind of know what I want.

I will build a 2'X2' dog house on the back of each run. This may be one box with a lid and a divider that will serve two runs. The lid is for bedding and feeding purposes.
It will have a sloped tin roof Starting at maybe 8' and slopping back to about 4'.
It will sit on a concrete pad. This pad will be about 25' long X15' deep. 3' will be a sidewalk in front of the doors
The runs will be 6' wide and 12' deep. Is this to large? Small?
Im thinking 2' doors on the front of each run.
The concrete will slope back towards the back and to one side for spraying the kennel down.
I will build a wood fence for a wind block on the north and west sides of the kennel.
Im thinking about using 4x4 treated posts to staple cattle panel wire to for dividers. Is that galvanized fence a good thing to use? what do you reccomend?
thinking factory chainlink fronts so I have good gates on the front.

Im looking for ideas to make my kennel better then what i have in mind. I dont want an above ground kennel. Im wondering what I should do with the water and waste that runs off when the kennel floor is sprayed down. I want to be able to wash it into a drain or something and not have to haul it away, just not sure how I could do this.

Any Ideas or pics you guys have id love to see them.

Thanks

[ray s]

If you are setting post on concrete , even treated post, I suggest that you put "standoffs" under each post. This will stop moisture absorption into the Post.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_155993-72913-CP ... facetInfo=

[yoteslayer]

Thats a good idea, I also thought about putting 6" pvc around the posts for protection against urine, and for easy washdown of the floor. Still looking for ideas on how to get rid of the waste and washdown water. I dont really want it to run off into the yard, but i dont know what else to do with it.

[Slaux]

Your Kennel plans sound good. Always good to ask around, look at photo's, other kennels, etc. No matter what, you'll always find out you'd have done something a little different if you could. Put as much thought and planning into it as you can.

I built my "last" kennel a few years ago. It is very nice, heated, running water, etc, drains and septic fields for the waste water, but if I could do it over again there are little things I would have done that would have made it even better.

Your pad design sounds good, as does the pad / sidwalk. You will want to slope the sidewalk so the water, urine, etc flows. I have a similiar pad, with a 1/2" slope for every foot. If I did it again I'd give 1" slope per foot. My pad is 8' wide, with a sidewalk similiar to yours. I have kennel runs on three sides of my kennel house, with trough's that we made by laying lengths of four inch solid pvc pipe into the wet concrete when we poured it (A 4"x4" or 4"x6" would work well too). The troughs all flow into one another, although at the end of each trough I have floor drains which each go out to seperate drain fields via gravity. Basically, just put the troughs into the sidewalk you already have planned, about 8" on the "outside" of your exterior kennels doors. These drains are the best thing I ever did, all the water and stink goes out into the drain fields. I don't wash any stool or hair down the drains as over time it would plug up my septic fields.

The one other thing that I would do If I could do it again would be to put a 10 gallon holding basin where my drains are. Basically, they would look like a small concrete septic tank at the end of each trough. At the bottom would be a PVC female drain. You can place a male pvc pipe into the bottom of the drain, fill it with all of the urine, water, droppings, pull the pipe and everything would than be flushed via gravity to a septic tank. I would use a plastic 55 gallon barrel for the septic tank, and than have a drain field off of that.

This may sound confusing and expensive. It's not. It is actually very easy to do, and cheap. No more expensive than what your doing already. PVC pipe is cheap, you can get barrels for free and it would only require very little extra concrete and just a little ingeinuity. The septic fields don't need to be large either, six feet square, three or four feet deep filled with washed gravel, rock, or clean sand is all you need.

One other thing, seal the concrete with some kind of sealer, otherwise it'll hold and retain the urine smell. With sealer on it, it won't smell at all. Put a flat, hard finish on the concrete under the pens so the urine and feces can be blown off easily with water. Put a fine brush finish on your sidewalk, otherwise you'll be going on your keester when its wet.

If you go to the "Leerburg" website owned by Ed Frawley you can take a look at the kennels on his site. He is a into Police / Sport dogs, but has alot of good advice on his website. Take a look at his kennels, he gives alot of good advice on what to, and what not to do. You'll see how he built his troughs and holding basins. Pretty slick. Now if I could only figure out how to post photo's I'd put some on here for you. Unforunately I haven't got that one down yet....Good luck...Steve.

[yoteslayer]

Thanks alot steve, great tips!! The drainage of the waste is what im most concerned about, I wanna do it right the first time. I look at my plans every night and make a change here or there as I think of stuff. Ive got about 6 weeks befor eI can start this project so im trying to get a good plan before I start. Ill check out his website for some ideas!!

[Crow]

Here's a link to a pretty simple septic system for a kennel. It's actually for a kennel slightly larger than you're planning (bigger dogs anyway) but just like any septic system I'd rather have a little bit large than small. The drains are a good idea & I've been planning a kennel for years now, just not got the scratch to build it yet. I think I would probably replace the metal can they suggest with a plastic barrel though, seems like it would last a lot longer with the urine & things. Also when I install mine I'm planning on running more field line than they suggest. Again a little more is better than a little less IMO. Also I think I would bury mine more so it wouldn't freeze as easily in the winter. Here's the link:

http://gundoghousedoor.com/articles/san ... kennel.php

[yoteslayer]

Yeah I saw this picture. I thought the same thing about the tin garbage can. I have access to as many plastic barrels as I want. I priced some 1x1 square tubing at the local welding shop. Its 18ga and I can get it for about .94 a foot. Im thinking I am gonna buy cattle panels for between the runs and attached it to 5' tall 8' long sections of the 1x1 tubing. If I paint these after putting them together do you think rusting will be a big issue?

[YoungPup740]

Just built.

[yoteslayer]

Looks good!! I kicked around an above ground kennel but decided I wanted a slab.

[Rainman]

Youngpup,
What are the deminsions of your new kennels?

[YoungPup740]

12x6 outside and box/runs are 2x6 box in rear is 32x24 Sorry didn't see your post for a while