I've been thinking of transitioning my dogs to being more outside and have been kind of on the fence about it. They need some decent dog houses that would keep them warm in the winter ( when it gets TOO cold they would be inside) and cool in the summer ( same for if it get TOO hot). But wondered if any one has suggestions of the names of some good quality dog houses that you have personally used yourself?
The people in my neighborhood just build doghouses out of the leftover materials from their houses. My dog's house at my ex's house was built by my ex with spare lumber and roofing leftovers. If you know someone handy, just have them build your dog a little shed.
We live in a tropical country but I cannot imagine our dogs to be in a dog house during the cold months. We have 3 dogs and they all live inside our house. During summer like now, we have our air conditioner running during the day. And for the cold months, we dress up our dogs to keep them warm somehow.
I like to have a dog house for shelter for my dogs in case they are outside when I am not home. We built our own from shipping pallets and they have worked quite well. You can find shipping pallets off of freecycle and craistlist if you look. That is where I got ours. We paid nothing for them! You can sometimes find doghouses for free on craistlist if you are patient enough to look every day.
Do the dogs want to be outside? They may get sad/depressed if you leave them outside by themselves and don't interact with them as much anymore, especially if they are used to living indoors. Plus, by leaving them outside, you may also run into the issue of them catching fleas and other health issues. Not to mention their dog food and water bowls can attract all sorts of bugs, or even some critters such as raccoons or rats. At least when they are indoors they are free to roam around as they please, whereas if you leave them chained up outside, they're stuck in the same spot all day.
Why buy a dog house when you can build one yourself? It's relatively easy. Don't have the tools? You could borrow them from a neighbor. All you'll need is some wood, nails and roofing material. Nail them together and you've got your doghouse. How much money would that save you?
