OT Poll... which, what and why

[S.R.Patch]

I've had my dog box on my truck bed hard cover the last 14 yr. Thinking about going to a camper-shell instead. What and why do you have what you have, pro & con.
Thanks for your input.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

I've got a dog box that was originally made by Dan's Deluxe out of air craft aluminum.It weighs 50 lbs. and because it's aluminum it has never rusted or oxidized and looks pretty much as it did when I bought it 15-16 years ago.It can easily accommodate 3 dogs to a side=6 dogs.It stays in the back of my pick-up basically 365 days a year.
I use my pick-up for a lot of different things ie hauling firewood for my daughter,hauling our kayaks and canoe to the lake, hauling produce for the food bank at church,loads of gravel, and mulch for the garden.It wouldn't be convenient to have a camper shell on the truck for me, as I take the dog box in and out once or twice a week.It's light enough that i can do it myself.
Be careful in what box you get as some of them take two men and a boy to load/unload.
One thing that I don't like is most of your pick-ups now come with a bed liner.If you get a big rain the back of the pick-up is like a small pond and the hay/straw/shavings in the dog box get soaked.
A lot of the guys around here are bear and hog hunters and they make home made rigs that sit on top of the pick-up truck box and turn the whole bed in to a big dog box.It seems to work great for the big hounds,not sure how it would work for the beagles.Plus once you have this on the truck you pretty much can't use the back for anything else.
Just my thoughts.
P.S.Lock your dog box in the truck bed somehow.Have heard of guys coming out of the woods to find their box missing out of their truck.Gimme a break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mjd]

I had shells on my trucks sense the 80s ,i like it in the winter so i dont have snow and ice all over the box but like shady grove said its not handy if your hauling anything else ,
Summer time gets hot in there so i leave windows open and tailgate down
I had a slider in bottom of bed like you had in your avalanche and it made it easier ,sometimes i put box toward rear of truck and pulled it out to edge of tailgate to load ,unload hounds or if i had to haul stuff id put box toward front
The glass in my shells would frost up inside from hounds in there in colder weather
I liked the hi rise shells better ,while at horse pulls ,parades,running dogs etc if its raining out i would put a chair under it and have room to sit ,or it offers shade in hot weather
Advantages it keeps everything dry
Disadvantages hounds steam up windows if raining or frost up in cold weather,hauling wood,gravel or whatever is a pain,make sure plenty of air flows through ive seen alot of suffocated hounds in shells ,i always parked where wind blew exhaust away from bed if setting idle weather theres a shell on or not ,ive seen hounds dead from carbon monoxide

[S.R.Patch]

Hey guy, thanks for the input.
Monte, I never though about the humidity and it frosting the the inside up, good air flow would be important. I remember one yr up on Drummond and we found Jim Campbell out on the eastern plains. He had a floor between his camper shell and the lower bed of the truck. The hound were on top where the windows were(for ventilation) and his gear was below, accessible by the tailgate.
I've about decided getting a couple of trailers. (1) for wood and gravel & (2) another for Hauling, hunting and travel, would be better, and just keep the vehicle for people and gear.
This is a new dog box a friend had made for his SXS, it's a great set-up utilizing the whole bed for hounds w/ a top carrier.
http://cdn.imageserver.c-m-g.us/rabbitd ... 532810.jpg
http://cdn.imageserver.c-m-g.us/rabbitd ... 532826.jpg
http://cdn.imageserver.c-m-g.us/rabbitd ... 532796.jpg

[Shady Grove Beagles]

He's got some nice looking kennels in the background too.

[mybeagles]

I just have a short chain in all 4 corners of the truck box attached to the tie down loops. Chain is short enough so dogs cant jump out but long enough for then to stand up move around and stick their nose in the breeze. If it gets too cold I put the topper on. There are creative ways with eye-bolts in the top of the topper to take a fiberglass topper off by yourself in the garage. Takes about 10 min to undo all the securement clamps but it works. No boxes, no mess. If dogs decide to get in some unimaginable rotten smell in the woods I just snap them on the chain and spray truck out later.

With dog boxes I could never keep the moisture and odors out which leads to fungus and skin issues. Condensation, dogs pee, wet dogs....It was a full time job wiping wet dogs down in the rain or cold after a run, changing bedding out, replacing rotten floors, chewed up, scratched up boxes. All my dogs seem to greatly prefer riding in the open box and readily self load and wait to be snapped in. With individual dogs chained in each corner its easy to get the Garmin collars on one by one without all the violent interactions I've witnessed over the years with guys trying to take one dog at a time out of the box. I don't ever keep over 4 dogs so if your running 10 dogs this method would take some planning to space out chains. The 24" chains can be used for a stake out at the trial. The 4 chains cost me $40 to put together and I've been using them for 10 years. Boxes get expensive.

Mybeagles

[Hare Chaser]

I have a Leer fiberglass "topper" or cap as I refer to it. As you can see I use a couple good size crates and the side windows ar sliders with screens. There is also a slider in the window in front that is accessible from the sliding rear window inside the truck cab. I get really good airflow when the truck is moving. In the summer I don't leave them in the truck long while it's parked if it's hot. This arrangement has served me well with the last 4 trucks I've had. I have trailers if I need to haul other stuff so this works for me.