If you know us or read our blog, you probably know about River. He’s  our darling fur baby, a 1-year old German Shorthair Pointer. He requires a lot of exercise, and James hated keeping him in a crate all day. And when we got home, he was just bursting with energy – he was like a tornado. We recently moved out to the country and decided to build him an indoor/outdoor dog kennel! Somewhere where he could seek shelter, stretch his legs, go to the bathroom and chew on sticks – safely and securely.

We did some research, but couldn’t find what we were looking for. James has a vision for this sort of thing and he whipped out this dog kennel in less than 2-days. Got a jumper? A digger? We’ve done the problem solving for you! Check it out. Here’s what you’ll need:

Supplies

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• Fence (we used Stephens Pipe & Steel dog Kennel, located at Tractor Supply)
• aluminum welded wire fence (we used a 2in by 4in, like this one)
• aluminum fence wire ties (similar to these)
• galvanized steel tent pegs
• doggy door (we bought this one by Ideal Pet Products)
• U-bolts with washer
• 2x4s timber
• OSB board
• door hinges
• sliding lock barrel bolt x2 (similar to these)
• wood nails or screws

I (Brooke) am not going to pretend that this was my brain child. James really tackled this project. So I’m going to pass it off to James!

Gather the Materials & Set Your Plan

Alright! So, first, I went to Tractor Supply to pick up the fencing material, but I couldn’t fit it all in my SUV and I had to rent a U-haul. The fencing material comes as a 4-peice set, including a door and brackets to attach each side together. If you live in a warmer climate, you could place a dog house in the corner and call it good. But, we live in Michigan and we wanted to attach it to the barn so River would be able to come in and get warm. I bought an additional panel so that I could utilize the barn as a wall and have a larger outdoor space. More on the outside later.

Indoor Space

I chose a corner of the barn (because I didn’t want River to have free-range of my barn), and decided how big I wanted the indoor enclosure to be. I laid down two sill-plates (two 2x4s on the floor), and cut one end on each to a 45-degree angle, so they would come together. Nail these to the sides of the barn/wall and then nail together where they meet.

Going up from there, you’re basically going to build a studded wall using the 2x4s. I nailed the studs to the sill-plate, and then I nailed the top of the studs to the floor joists, or beams, of the second story in our barn. I also added a few horizontal 2x4s to add strength to the walls.

This is the bones of your wall. Now, just cut the OSB board to fit the bones. You can have this cut at Home Depot if you know how big you want your enclosure. Nail or screw the OSB board to the studs from the outside of your enclosure.

Determine where you want your door. I doubled-up the studs surrounding the door, so that I would have a sturdy frame and more surface area to screw the hinges in as well as the OSB board. For the door itself,  I used OSB board. I also enforced it’s strength with 2x4s around the perimeter.

Screw the hinges on the door itself. Then place the door in the door frame standing it on something that elevates the base above the door frame. You don’t want it resting on the bottom of the door frame of you may have trouble opening and closing it. I used an off-cut of OSB board, about 1/2 inch thick. Then, I screwed the other side of the hinges to the studs of the door frame. I added two sliding locks* on the left side of the door.

It’s pretty spacious in there! That’s a large crate and a large mat. In the winter time, we plan to add a small oil heater in a cage to heat the space. Our barn is also insulted, so that’s a plus.

Update for Winter:

Winter in Michigan is not a joke!! We easily stay below freezing, and many weeks can be in the single digits. We installed a small oil heater, and use River’s old play pen as protection around it. James also installed a wall to divide the space into two sections.

This way the heat is less likely to escape out the doggie door, and River doesn’t have any cold wind blowing in. I threw in an old rug and James elevated Rivers mat on a wood pallet. Now he can be cozy all winter!

Related: Top 5 Tips for Surviving the Puppy Years with a German Shorthaired Pointer

Doggie Door

We bought this doggie door from Amazon, which comes with pretty clear instructions on how to install it, though I tweaked it a bit base on our barn siding. Our barn has steel siding and insulation. I had to cut a whole in the side to fit the doors dimensions. I used an angle grinder with a 1mm cut-off disk. If you don’t have one of these, you can rent one from Home Depot. I also caulked a few of the areas around the doggie-door because of the shape of the steel siding.

Outdoor Space

This was the easier part of the dog kennel to put together. The dog kennel specific fencing stands about 6 ft high, and is pretty heavy. The panels fit together easily using the panel clamps and bolts, which come with the fence. Like I said, it also comes with a door so you don’t need to worry about installing a gate. I attached the ends meeting the barn with U-bolts, and secured them with washers. I used two on each side.

River’s a digger. We were definitely concerned about him digging under the fences and escaping. We thought about burying the fence, burying chicken wire… all sorts of things! But they required too much work. We finally decided on laying down a section of galvanized welded fence on the grass. Be sure to use galvanized or aluminum so it doesn’t rust out.

We secured it to the bottom rung of the fence using aluminum wire ties, and then used tent pegs to secure it to the ground. Using wire cutters, we cut out two foot wide strips, and laid them on the grass around the perimeter of the fence. Cut as close as you can to the joints (where the horizontal and vertical wires meet), to prevent sharp edges. I then used an angle grinder to smooth any bought edges.

We did not cover the whole outdoor space. So far, no digging! River has shade from several huge apple trees, but if you don’t have a few trees you may want to think about adding a roofed section.

My mom was visiting us in Michigan and decided River needed a “feature” and also knew that River loved stumps. So she dug a hole in the middle of the outdoor space and recruited one of Brooke’s cousins to roll a huge stump into kennel. This way the stump is secure, and we catch River sitting on it and watching critters all the time.

We slowly introduced River to the kennel, having him stay in there for 1 hour then a few more hours. We’re comfortable leaving him during the work day, knowing that he has room to stretch his legs and be outside, which is his favorite place to be! (And just to clarify – we only put River in here when we are away. When we’re home he is out running along beside us).

UPDATE: For days when we are going to be gone for too many hours, we recently discovered Rover! Rover.com is a website where you can search dog sitters or walkers in your area! We have found that it is SO much cheaper and more convenient than a typical doggy-day care. We found a woman near us, who also has a german shorthair pointer. She will pick up River in the morning FROM OUR HOUSE, take him on her other dog walks or to the dog park, then DROP HIM OFF AT OUR HOUSE. I mean, we love her.  And River loves her. We think you’ll love Rover, too. Use our referral code:www.rover.com/refer/brookh19754/ for $20 off your first stay! 

Anyway, hopefully you can take some of these ideas from how we build out indoor/outdoor dog kennel and apply them to your own!

Also, if you are a Dog Mom, make sure you check out The Dog Mom Co., for dog mom tees, stickers, and mugs! I love their stuff and the GSP Mom Sticker is my favorite! Use coupon code: 0103 for 10% off your order!!

Got a new puppy? Check out our most popular post: Top 5 Tips for Surviving the Puppy Years with a German Shorthaired Pointer and our Tips to Training your German Shorthair Pointer: Second Year

If you want to check out Rover.com, use our referral code:www.rover.com/refer/brookh19754/ for $20 off your first stay! 

Happy Building,

 

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* This post contains affiliate links. That means, I may receive a commission for the links in this post – at no cost to you! See our Disclaimer page for details*