My Insulated, Heated and Chew Proof Dog House Build

As soon as I bought a house I knew I needed to get some bird dogs to keep me and the wife company. We both work during the day and I didn't want to let two puppies tear up my new house while we were at work. I bought one of the metal kennels from Costco. Ended up having to pour a concrete slab to put it on. I did this myself, but that's for another thread. The kennel works great for the spring and summer. However, I am in Eastern Washington and it gets pretty cold in the winter. I needed somewhere for the dogs to get off of the cold concrete. and out of the wind.

I ended up finding a nice dog house on Craigslist for $75. Built out of standard home building materials with a carpeted floor.


At this time I only had one dog. The dog house worked great but really didn't provide any real shelter. I got a new puppy right before winter and wanted to make sure he could stay warm while I was at work. After a couple beers decided I would improve the design.

I got some 2 in foam board insulation for free so I bought a sheet of 3/8 in plywood and some 2x4s. I ripped them down to make 2x1.5in studs, cut the insulation to fit, and sheeted it with plywood to keep the dogs from eating the insulation. I insulated all walls and the ceiling.

I left the back wall alone so I could add something I found online called the "Hound Heater". It has a thermostat, never gets hot enough to start a fire or burn a dog, but works great to heat up the dog house.



I thought it was perfect until the new puppy decided to eat every corner of the house he could get to. My rectangular door also became an oval from his chewing.

Back to the drawing board I went to make the dog house "chew proof."

I acquired some aluminum sheet metal to wrap the house with, and found some aluminum angle iron at the local recycling place for $0.70 a foot. I had to replace the entire front wall of the house before I started the metal work so I cut a smaller door to keep the heat in better and trimmed it out with aluminum U channel to keep the chewer at bay. I used liquid nails and staples to attach the sheet metal.


I cut the angle iron to fit on all of the exposed corners and screwed it on. I think it turned out pretty nice and it is holding up great. All in I've spent around $200 and a couple cases of beer.