Outdoor dog house heater?

[2manyrocks]

There's a YT video where the guy measured 725F surface temp on a ceramic heat emitter bulb. I have used an infared bulb in the garage in the open air to help knock the chill off the dogs before. Throws off a lot of heat, but I'm concerned about these high surface temps inside the dog house I built. I think maybe it's three feet tall inside. Too close to the dog and too close to the wood ceiling, I think.

 

[Jstpssng]

I wouldn't trust a heat lamp. They have caused too many fires and you say it's a hyper dog.
My hat is off to you for taking this on.
It's going to take a lot of work on your part to get him through this, yet it's not the dog's fault he has worms and likely had an idiot for their previous owner. A lot of people got pets during the covid era who are now finding they don't want them. Up here rhe shelters are getting overrun with dogs.

 

[2manyrocks]

The dog was literally jumping on the walls in the meet and greet room. Took her outside to play ball for 20 -30 minutes. She briefly slowed down to catch her breath and then kept at it.

The "owners" were from out of county and asked the shelter to take her because they said were changing homes or something. The shelter wouldn't take her because they didn't reside in the county. Then the dog was found running loose in the county shortly thereafter by county animal control.

Post covid, my estimate is dog food costs have gone up something like $20 for 50 lbs of Walmart dog food to about $30 by the time sales tax is added. 40% of the dogs in the shelter were owner surrenders in 2023. So I think a lot of the shelter overpopulation is driven by inflation.

The last shelter dog I had came with whipworms. I really don't want to have to deal with them again.

 

[lman]

We have a GSD that uses a dogloo full of clean straw. We put him in the garage at night so he won't play with the coyotes. He's 12 now and slowing down but still patrols the horse pasture fences.

 

[2manyrocks]

Our outside dogs come in the unfinished part of downstairs when it's too hot/cold outside, but one is a very territorial female Malinois who won't probably accept a new dog anywhere near her space. So that takes away the downstairs as an option and even if she were healthy, the shelter dog would have to be separated from the Mal outdoors.

One PSA about using heat lamps is there are ceramic bulb holders that can handle the heat, but those plastic bulb holders intended for use only as utility lights are unsafe to use with heat lamps. I just mention this because I watched one YT video where someone went to walmart and bought utility lights to use with heat lamps to heat his dog house, and that's not a good idea, but probably happens a lot.

 

[Gem99ultra]

Situation is sad. The shelter has given her Panacur for the whipworms. Problem is the life cycle of whipworms is such that she will need to be treated for the next several months, her poop will have to be cleaned up to prevent reinfection, and I don't know that the shelter will keep her until she is completely free of whipworms. They are at or above capacity, and they are a city/county shelter which isn't totally no-kill.

She has been at the shelter for 3 months getting passed over for adoption because she is hyper. I suspect she is hyper due overstimulation at the shelter and having a lot of energy that isn't being burned off. They have a large fenced exercise area, but I suspect the odds are that the ground has plenty of whipworm larvae in it to keep reinfecting her. My suspicion is her options at the shelter are either she doesn't get exercise or she gets reinfected. If she doesn't burn off her energy, she will continue to be hyper and that makes it difficult for her to get adopted.

The separate kennel is the only spot I have where she can be kept isolated from my other dogs until we can make sure she can't transmit whipworms or anything else to them.

I've gotten too emotionally invested. Not sure I'm thinking this through very well.

Logic does not apply when it comes to helping a friend, i.e. the dog you' trying to help. Keep doing what you're doing. What goes around, comes around.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I wouldn't be too fixated on "ease of cleaning" the doghouse. What's your thinking about that? It's not like a birdcage or a horse stall that's going to need to be cleaned out. I'd make him a nice warm bed inside and not be concerned about needing to clean it. Most important that it's dry and NOT drafty and NOT too big so the dog's body heat can keep the enclosure heated.

We haven't had outdoor dogs since I was a kid. Our dogs would call the ASPCA on me if I made them sleep outside.

Seems to me that the shelter people are pushing a dog on you that's not ready to go to a permanent home and can't be kept with your family or other dogs. Is this really the only option? An old dog that's not used to being outside is not going to do well out in the cold.

Sometimes the rescue/shelter people don't make the best decisions for the animals in their care. They try to save EVERY animal regardless of quality of life and inevitably exhaust their space and resources. I don't question their intentions -- it's just one of those bottomless problems that can suck you in deeper than you would have thought possible if you're not careful. (Timewise, money-wise, lifestyle-wise, etc.) My common-sense veterinarian thinks about quality-of-life first when considering options.

Please hold the hate mail -- we've had one or more "rescue" dogs for the last 30 years and they're part of the family. I'm just responding to your first post that it doesn't sound like you are confident that you have the best setup to care for this sick dog. Too many people get pushed or encouraged to foster animals that aren't really a good match for their family, situation, lifestyle, etc. It's impossible to play ball with a dog and not get attached -- I get it.

Good luck whatever you do.

 

[EddieWalker]

I admire and respect what you are doing to save this dog. I have 6 dogs and if I let her, my wife would have a lot more!!!

My dogs like the cold. They are big, heavy coated Akita's. We have to bring them in at night because they are sound asleep on the concrete outside when it's 40 degrees out there and it will be in the 20's or 30's in the morning. The reason we bring them in is that they start barking at what's roaming the land at night. Otherwise, they would prefer to be outside in the cold.

My mom rescued my brothers Kelpie, which is a small dog with a very short coat. She spends the night inside with my mom, but she spends all day outside. It doesn't matter how cold it is in winter, she wants to be outside where the cats are. She is obsessed with chasing the cats. There is a fence between her and the cats, but the cats torment her by walking up to the fence, which makes her happy by chasing them along the fence. This goes on all day long and it's what she lives for. You cannot bring her inside during the day, she wants to be outside no matter the temperature.

I like the idea of a heating pad. They are affordable and should be safe for long term use.

I'm not sure if I like the idea of the heating pad taking up all the floor space inside the dog house. I think it's good to have options. Make the dog house big enough for the heating pad to cover half the floor. Probably the back half.

 

[2manyrocks]

I agree with CH4Ohio that cleaning the doghouse isn't anywhere as important as providing adequate shelter from the cold.

This shelter dog is energetic, but it will be a hard transition going from a comfortably heated shelter to outdoors after just being spayed. Our temps today are 39F high and 23F low overnight. If they had spayed her a month ago, she would be over the spaying by now. But this tends to be the situation with many of the government run shelters in my area where they wait for an adoption before spaying unlike some other humane shelters further away that spay or neuter before putting dogs up for adoption.

I have a dog heating pad, but have no idea if this dog is also a chewer. There is adequate floor space in the wooden dog house for the dog not to have to lay on the pad if she chooses. My first inclination is to only provide straw in the dog house since I don't know if she would chew the heating pad, but if I sound uncertain, it's because i am uncertain.

 

[bmaverick]

I may be adding a shelter dog shortly that I found out has whipworms and is supposedly over having had kennel cough so I will need to isolate her from my other dogs for several weeks. I'm thinking I will have to put her in a 10x10 outdoor kennel away from my other dogs that will have a roof and concrete floor, and be closed on two sides, but open on the other two.

The nighttime temps are in the 20's probably for the next month, maybe some colder spells in the teens.

I have a wooden 3x6 insulated dog house made of 2x4 construction with insulation in the roof and walls, and a couple of different sized dog igloos. The wooden dog house has a light bulb inside a metal coffee can for heat. The plastic igloo would be easier to clean for sanitary purposes, but has no heat. Both dog houses have clear plastic flaps over the doors.

Somewhere, I think I have a small plug in ceramic heater wall heater that I used some years ago when one of my now passed older dogs lived in the wooden dog house. He wasn't hyper so I didn't worry about him knocking a heater loose.

I am hoping someone has some better suggestions for heat. The dog appears to be a medium sized lab mix and is hyper. My concern is finding a way to keep her warm safely.

This is how we've done it for years. Dogs are outdoors, not inside pets here on the farm.

In the garage each dog has a box or walled kennel.
It has no gate nor door like the image. It will vary depending on dog(s) and owner.

Inside the box is their heated mat.

Use outdoor heavy gauge extension cord.

Buy a Thermo-Cube.

Robot or human?

This SAVES on your electric bill in the winter season and you will recoup the cost easily.
And you can also plug in the doggie heated water bowl.

Then this Thermo-Cube plugs into the garage outlet protected by GCFI outlet in the circuit or loop.

DO NOT heat the air. Your meter will spin and spin and spin for you to pay out the nose !

IF your dog is NOT a chewer, nor trained to be one, you can insulate the inside walls with a blanket or foam padding.

Our dogs wooden grates have removable tops. So in the summer, the heated pad comes out and the top is open with a grate. This keeps it cool in the summer.