The American Beagler Forum

I have a 10 x 12 shed that the dogs are in, and they have a free run to the outside pen whenever they want. I would like to heat it in the winter when the temperature get real cold. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Thanksl

You could use electric heaters hung high enough so the dogs couldn't hold of them but this might get expensive.

I'd build smaller boxes into the side of the building for the dogs to go into...put a 60W light bulb in each dog box/house. To heat a 10X12 shed would be pretty costly and tough to regulate. A 60 watt bulb keeps the dog house in a Senecca kennel pretty warm, I use a thermostat on my power cord so the lights come on automatic when the temps get down to 50 degrees which works great.

I do have dog boxes in the shed and three sides of each box is insulated. The dogs don't have free rein in the shed. I have read articles in the past where people use heaters with a thermostat. I will only use the heaters when it is very cold.

PABeagler wrote:I do have dog boxes in the shed and three sides of each box is insulated. The dogs don't have free rein in the shed. I have read articles in the past where people use heaters with a thermostat. I will only use the heaters when it is very cold.

This is what I use for a thermostat, you can set it at whatever you want....the good part about it is it's automatic.....if you get a really warm day in the winter it shuts down....gets cold during the night on a day that was warm and it pops on. It works excellent.
http://www.amazon.com/Lux-Heating-Cooli ... B000E7NYY8


For heat I use one of these in each house....you can use up to a 100W bulb but I've only needed 60W bulbs to keep my Sennecas nice and cozy

http://www.amazon.com/Cooper-Lighting-V ... 581&sr=8-3


You can get the 'hound heaters" if you'd rather not use light bulbs but the light bulbs are a much cheaper way to go and they work great.

Put the light bulb into a brown clay flower planter pot, attach it to the floor or a board, works great, will not burn the dog, does not give off light, nice heater..

mine is 12x20 & i have a woodstove in it. it was 6 deg. yesterday morning & i was out there in a t-shirt. dont use much wood. its insulated good.

My dogs have a 2.5 x 4 insulated corner box in an 8 x 12 shed, with a swinging metal dog door out to the run. I feed inside the box year round and when it gets cold, I have insulating foam cut out to cover the swinging top of the bed (framed wire for air circulation in the summer) and use a hound heater inside to keep them around 50 degrees, as I've found my big male drops weight like crazy when it's cold regardless of how much overfeeding I provide. I also move the water bucket inside for winter so I don't have to worry about water freeze.

Barnold1, what is a hound heater?

My kennel is 12x24 I use a vent free blue flame propane heater it works great. In New York the temps get pretty cold and my kennels stays between 45-50 degrees.Make sure to insulate your building makes a huge difference.

Why would you consider heating at all? Dogs are very capable of handling the cold. If you heat their home and then put them in the cold, seems to me there would be an adaptation factor? It was a -5 F here yesterday and I had 2 four month old pups in separate but well made and unheated dog houses. They fared just fine.

PABeagler wrote:Barnold1, what is a hound heater?

Not Barnold1 but this is the hound heater
http://www.gundogsupply.com/hound-heate ... rnace.html

Bucks,
The main reason I heat my kennel is the dogs always have fresh water I hate breaking frozen water bowls. I feel the dogs do just fine when out hunting.

Great Frank, I comment not to be argumentative but just to show alternatives. I put a little water out for them in the morning and a little when they come in from hunting in the afternoon. I use 8 X 10 inch bowls and never have to break ice. The learn to drink when offered water and to lick the ice in between.

I would only heat the shed on an "as needed" basis. Say when the temperature is in the single digits. Real cold weather is tough on the older dogs (i.e. 10 years old or older).