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THE CONSTRUCTION OF A KENNEL Borrowed from the Sporting Bull Terrier The following article is a description of a kennel suitable for the convenience of twenty-five dogs and as many puppies first should be considered the location This should be high and dry, a side hill giving the best results so that excessive rains will not form pools of water in the kennel yard Select your site and stake it oft ten rods square Get cedar posts nine feet long set them in the ground three feet, one rod apart, taking special care that corner posts are firmly anchored Dig a trench from post to post eighteen inches deep. Next get some No. 12 galvanized wire, lay this in trench and staple to each post, drawn tight with wire stretcher After this wire is drawn tight all around the yard at bottom of trench, then stretch the second wire just two inches above the lower wire, then the third, and so on until you have nine rows of wire two inches apart Next throw the earth into the trench, leaving the top wire exposed By taking this precaution you may rest assured that your dogs will never trouble you by digging out of the kennel yard Now get forty lods of good, lehable kennel fencing, which should be six feet high, and a two-inch mesh Fasten it to the posts firmly, the lower wire meeting the top wire previously fastened from post to post. The foundation of the kennel building should be next considered. This should be of stone, 18 inches thick and three or four feet high, 16x60, which will furnish ample room. Have an opening at each end of the wall, two by three feet, to allow the dogs to run in during hot days or stormy weather. Next lay the joists, then the studding, which should be six or seven feet high. Have a good pitch to the roof. Before putting on siding or shingling, get some good building paper, covering all sides and roof. For this purpose there is nothing finer made than "Cobot's" sheathing, a superior building paper, two layers of paper between which is woven eel grass, one-fourth of an inch in thickness. This paper will keep out heat as well as cold, is germproof, and cannot burn on account of the salty nature of the lining Place this on roof boards before shingling if a thorough job is wanted. Next put on your siding. Have three windows on each side, 30x60 inches, with two sash that will slide by each other, which are much handier than ones that raise. A well-lighted kennel is much more healthful than a dark one. Have door at each end of the kennel. Have a brick chimney built at each end of the kennel. In summer time you can use the chimney in cook room with short length of pipe; in cold weather you can run a stovepipe the full length of the building to the other chimney, which will warm up the interior at no great expense while the food is being cooked. Next put up a partition at each end of the building 10x16 feet, one to be used for cook and wash room, the other for office. The floor on the wash room should be built on a slant to allow all water to run away freely. You will now have a space of forty feet between office and cook room which will be used for kennels or stalls for the dogs as follows: On each side of the building from office to cook room make a solid bin or box of matched flooring three feet high and four feet wide; the framework of this stall should be of two-inch strips one inch thick; have them cut three and four feet long, nail firmly at corner, one of each size; this will form a square; now draw a line from one end of room to the other on each side near wall; this will line up your framework perfectly. Nail one end of the frame to each studding, the other corner to the floor; now proceed to put on your matched flooring. Nail the front solid, the top should be on hinge to get at the dogs and clean out easily, so only nail firmly the first two boards near the wall, then have the balance of the top work on hinge. Now divide this long stall into small compartments by placing a partition of matched flooring at every second studding or four feet, the studding being set two feet apart; have the top sawed across every four feet so that each stall will have a separate door at top. which will give you ten separate stalls on each side. Now have an opening cut through the siding, 12x18 inches, for a door in each stall, opening into the yard; have this at one end of each stall instead of at the center, so your dogs can lay away from the doorway in case of heavy winds or hot or cold weather. In winter weather for day protection have a common grain sack or carpet tacked on inside over the door to keep out cold and severe draughts For night protection a dog should have even more than this, for a dog, like a human being, enjoys comfort at night. For this purpose the simplest and best method is to have a sliding door on the outside. This should be made of matched flooring, four inches wider and longer than the opening, and have this door made so it will slide easily up and down by placing a screw eye on top to which is fastened a good heavy cord, having this cord pass up and over a pulley through a hole into the building, so that the door can be raised or lowered at will from each side of the building. After the stalls are made you will have a large room, 40 feet long and eight feet wide, where you can keep a sick clog, or bitches in season, or use it as a store room for crates, etc One side of the kennel and yard should be kept for matured dogs, the other for puppies and bitches in season, or for bitches with pups In order to protect pups and bitches in season, get some wire fencing and divide off one side of kennel yard same as their stalls, nail one end of fencing firmly to building, or to a post set at building, and have this fencing go straight out to the post at outside fencing, which composes your main kennel fence. This will give you ten separate yards that are four feet wide and about forty feet long, sufficient for the puppies until they are old enough to go in the main yard with the matured dogs. Bitches kept in an enclosure like this are absolutely safe from stray stud dogs, neither can they get out, as has been the source of much annoyance to many owners of bitches in season. Do not neglect to place eave troughs on the building, and have a large tank to catch the water so that you may always have a good supply of soft water for washing the dogs. The handiest tub to wash dogs in is made of clear pine boards, 14 inches wide, 6 feet long Make the box tight and paint it. With a box like this you can work all around your dogs in washing. Place this tub near the tank, have the tank elevated, so that after washing you can give the dog a good rinsing from the tank, which should have a faucet and short piece of hose at the bottom. Remember that the kennel yard should be plowed up or spaded over about once a month; this will keep the soil in a sweet and sanitary condition Do not forget that a dog likes to lie under the spreading branches of a shade tree, and that it will add to their comfort to have a generous amount of trees set in the yard as well as a row around it. For this purpose there is not a handsomer or more thrifty, fast-growing tree than the Carolina poplar, not the tall, lanky Lombardy poplar, which is an eye-sore and nuisance. The Carolina poplars can be secured from any nursery at from 15 to 25 cents each when ten feet high; these will make large trees in three years The kennel yard should not be complete without a good water supply, or a pump or well, so that the dogs can have a fresh drink several times a day. An earthen dish of good size is best for this, and have it sunk in the ground to keep the water cool. If convenience is wanted and small expense not objected to, it would be well to have a one-inch pipe run from the pump to each of the yards leading to each dish, at the pump you could have a connection that would fill each dish independently, or fill all at one time, this would avoid the bother of carrying water in a pail to each dish. An excellent kennel for one dog can be made from an old kerosene barrel, which should be burned out to do away with the disagreeable smell before using This can be done by placing a handful of shavings at the bottom of the barrel and setting them on fire. After the oil has been burned off the inside, turn the barrel over with open end to the ground, which will smother the flames. If you give your dog an ordinary box for a bed, it is a good plan to line it with tar paper, which will act as a disinfectant and also have a tendency to make the place uninhabitable for fleas and other vermin A piece of carpeting should be placed at the bottom of the box for the dog to lie on. | |||||
