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Dog Housing

Where will your dogs live?

Your dogs can live in the house, if the other human residents agree.  Most sled dogs like living outside.  Each dog should have its own house and area.

You should never allow your dogs to run anywhere they please at any hour of the day or night.  You have no control over what they are doing and you will not know if they are in trouble.  If you think you can just open the door and let them run loose, you will find that very soon you don't have any dogs.

If you plan to keep your dogs in a fenced kennel, check the style of fencing.  Sled dogs are very good at digging and jumping.  You may need to bury part of the fence underground or put concrete around the edge of the run to keep the dogs from digging out.  The fence should be 6 feet tall to keep them from jumping over it.

Many mushers use a chain arrangement.  You can get an old truck axle at a junk yard.  In a hardware store or from a dog supply source, you can get a large heavy metal O ring, S hooks, chain and a swivel snap.  To put it together, you need to connect the O ring to the chain with the S hook and hammer the S hook ends closed.  Attach the swivel snap the same way at the other end.  Put the axle through the O ring and pound it into the ground.  The chain should be about 8 feet long and the dog must be able to reach his dog house. Dogs are sometimes staked close enough to play but not get their chains tangled.  Many mushers say that the dogs learn not to tangle their sled lines easier if they are used to being chained up.

In some places, there may be laws about how to use chains or what size fences are allowed. You can call the Town or City Clerk to find out more information.

Dog Houses

Plan where to put the dog house.  You will want to be able to see your dogs from the house.  Think about which direction the cold winds and rain will come from and face the open side of the house away from that direction.  Summer breezes and shade are good.

The  ground should be flat.  Do not pick an area that is often wet.  It is best to have varied type of ground surface.  You may want to put down a small concrete area, but too much concrete can make the dogs too hot in the summer.  Some mushers put down gravel, but some dogs will eat gravel causing internal problems.

Any grassy surface will quickly wear down to dirt as the dogs trot around their area.  Dogs like to dig cool places in the summer, so locate their houses where you can allow them to make a few holes.

There are many types of dog houses: square, round, even log houses!  Each dog's house should be large enough for the dog to climb in and turn around, but not much bigger.  The purpose of the house is to lie down.  In winter a smaller house is easily heated by the dog's body heat.

Many mushers use a large plastic barrel for each dog.  Look in the phone book yellow pages for food processing factories and ask if spare barrels are available.  Do not use a barrel if you think that dangerous chemicals were stored in it.

Dog House Base and Bedding

It is good to attach the barrel to a wooden pallet to lift it off the ground.  If the pallet is big enough, the dog also has a place to lie down up off the ground.  This is especially good when the ground is muddy.

Whatever type of house you pick-square or round, wood or plastic-the dog should have some bedding in the house. In winter many mushers use straw.  Put a thick layer on the bottom and heap it up along the sides.  Some dogs like a little extra in front to keep the wind out of their houses.

In summer, some mushers use cedar chips instead of straw.  Most insects do not like cedar but the dogs do.  When cedar chips get wet, they do not dry quickly and are uncomfortable for the dogs, so do not use them in winter.

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