Hey guys.....back again with another question, and a real important one too.

I live in Hobbs, NM, where summer temperatures reach 95 degrees on a daily basis, and sometimes 100 degrees. I have a 15-week old Husky, which lives indoors right now, in my three-bedroom mobile home along with my wife, two young daughters, and my cat, Gizmo. We don't have a front yard or backyard, because we are the only mobile home located in a residential area in the city. We have land out in front of the mobile home where we park our vehicles, and a little land behind the mobile home. My question is this: I would like to construct either a kennel or fenced-in area in the area where we park our cars for our Husky. I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on how large I should make this kennel-fence, do I need to grow grass or lay down cement for the foundation, and do I need a tarp to go on top to protect from the sun? We can continue to keep him indoors, but he constantly destroys couch pillows, carpet, and still having a hard time house-training him. The only fallback is how hot it gets here in the summer, and I don't want to put him out in the heat if he can't handle it. Please help with any suggestions!

I'd definitely be very hesitant to leave him outside for long periods of time in the summer, but I wouldn't want to leave any animal outside in that kind of heat. The run/kennel itself isn't a bad idea at all, but you need to make sure it's completely escape proof. There have been a couple of other threads on here about making them, and I'm sure others will chime in with their experiences. Also, I hear an awful lot of stories about people stealing dogs, and Huskies are very appealing to morons like that. Again, if you go the kennel route, make sure people (except for you guys) have the ability to get in. Also, have a shelter and good water source in there.

If you're worried about him tearing stuff up in the house, have you tried crate training? That will keep him from having access to things that he likes to destroy, as well as help with potty training. Here are some threads that might help you out:

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t918-crate-training?highlight=crate+training

https://www.itsahuskything.com/t920-potty-training?highlight=potty+training

I can't seem to find any of the recent discussions on building kennels, so hopefully someone else will come in and give their info. We honestly only let ours in the back yard with close supervision, and then crate her when we have to leave her alone.

http://www.k9kennelstore.com/index.html

For a a fenced in area aka chain link fencing seriously look into what the K-9 Kennel company has to offer.I bought from them WITH the *anti digging bars* and found it to be a wee bit lower in cost and I personally feel a better product. The kennel panels come in various sizes so you can pretty much make it as large or small as you want or afford. I mounted mine as a 2 sided setup against the back of my garage and side of the house. Plus if you were ever have to move you could tear it down and take it with you. (lot a work though, but better then leaving your chain link fencing behind)

No matter where you live dogs should always have protection from the sun and with NM heat thats a fer sure. Myself I have a large portion (75% +)of the kennel set up with those concrete paver blocks you can get from Walmart & landscaping places. Leave a grassy/dirt area open for them to dig in its instinctive for them to dig to seek a cooler/warmer spot to lie in. The pup like water(?) consider one of those 4 ft. kiddie pools. (My Adobo loves it, Biko not so much.)

*Last comment: Adobo use to be the Queen of escapes, either climbing over the chain link or digging under it. Since I installed this kennel setup she hasn't succeeded yet. (from my front yard with lead set up well thats a different story.)*

What's shipping like from them Len?

I live in South Texas--we get 100 degrees DAILY in the summer. Kya is NEVER in the house during the day. And not by my choice. She refuses to come in.

I build a covered awing, low LOW to the ground bc she likes to climb under the house where it is cool. The awing gave her the cool she needed. We also have 3 baby pools around the yard, one under the patio.

While I definitely don't think they should be left out for LOOOOOONG periods, Kya will normally stay out for several hours at a time bc she wants to. If your girl doesn't want to come in, I'd make sure you have a SECURE fence, adequate water, and plenty of low shade and hay or mulch. This tends to keep the ground cool for her to lay on (under the awning)

this is just in addition to the other comments.

If you're seeking an alternative to leaving the puppy inside because of destruction, you really should look into crate training. Building a kennel outside is nice, but with that kind of heat (I live in Fl, it's hot here too) I never would recommend leaving them outside in that.

My dogs don't mind being outside but I never have them out for more than a half hour at a time when it's hot outside. They seek shade and are usually under one of the large umbrellas. Even with that as soon as I open the door they run inside and seek the coolness of the tile and cold water.

gladahmae wrote:

What's shipping like from them Len?

Shipping from Ogden, UT was $195, back Oct 2010.

The whole thing for me was just under $1200 with shipping.

5- 8' panels
1- 4' door panel
1-65" panel
Matching anti-dig bars
2 sets wall mount brkts.

I meant to mention this in my original reply and accidentally left it out. Since we're on the topic of Huskies and heat, do NOT ever let someone talk you into shaving your boy. It's sadly all too popular in warmer climates, and it's horrible for the dogs. You will catch crap for it, people will insist on it, you'll be accused of being abusive, but don't do it. Shaving should itself be considered abusive, it ruins the coat and strips them of all protection they have against bugs, heat (and cold), sunburn, etc.

blueeyedghost wrote:

I meant to mention this in my original reply and accidentally left it out. Since we're on the topic of Huskies and heat, do NOT ever let someone talk you into shaving your boy. It's sadly all too popular in warmer climates, and it's horrible for the dogs. You will catch crap for it, people will insist on it, you'll be accused of being abusive, but don't do it. Shaving should itself be considered abusive, it ruins the coat and strips them of all protection they have against bugs, heat (and cold), sunburn, etc.

Its an easy way to determine if the person be it a vet, groomer, etc. knows what they are talking about. If they insist shaving is good they don't know sh*t.

Here4thePics wrote:

Its an easy way to determine if the person be it a vet, groomer, etc. knows what they are talking about. If they insist shaving is good they don't know sh*t.

Amen. Aaron's brother and sister in law got the notion that shaving their Golden was a good idea since they're stationed in Okinawa. We (politely) chewed them out for it and I think they got the idea. We haven't seen any more shaved Golden pictures pop up on Facebook.