So, Misty has decided she likes our back yard after all and hasn't tried to escape from it for at least a month now. However, the fact that we're currently using a nice, long, strong tie-out for her in addition to the fence (until we can combine it with an invisible fence to keep her in the yard) may have something to do with her staying put.  

Anyway, Misty seems to love hanging out underneath the big maple tree in the back yard.  She'd stay under it all day if we let her.  I've seen at least one other Husky do this -- My mom's neighbor has a Husky named Bandit that likes nothing better than to sit outside underneath a willow tree in their back yard.  

My husband has been talking about getting Misty a dog house for the back yard and putting it at least close to her spot under the tree.  I'm not crazy about the idea because I think the point is that Misty likes to be OUTSIDE in the elements and would probably ignore the dog house.  After all, Misty isn't outdoors all the time -- She's primarily an indoor dog.  

The last dog I had with a dog house was Storm, my old Malamute.  He had a really nice dog house -- wood, windows, shingled roof.  He never went inside of it.  Instead, he preferred to climb on top of it and sit on the roof.  It turned out to be a big fat waste of effort, space and money.  If Misty were a working Husky, then sure, I'd get a dog house -- but she isn't a working Husky.

How many of you have dog houses for your Huskies?  Do your Huskies actually use them?  If your Husky does use a dog house, what kind do you have?  All opinions/feedback are appreciated.

Oh, and here's Misty sitting on her tail.  She's always sitting on her tail.  Makes her look like she doesn't even have a tail.

She's adorable.

Grant thinks he's working by sitting under various trees all morning and watching for intruders/prey while I drink my coffee. He will sit in the rain. We may get snow this week and he'll sit in it, I'm sure.

I'm getting him a picnic table and probably, like your Malamute, he'll sit ON it. He sat on the dining room table as a puppy, and I must say, I've never had to train a dog not to sit on the tables before Mr. Cary Grant, my physical comedian.

Not sure how helpful this is, but I do love how Misty sits on her tail!

We have one - we also put up a 100Ft overhead runner for his tether. He's an indoor outdoor dog (mostly indoor in this cold and very windy weather, very different this year, usually he loves being outdoors and we can't get him in)

Any way...we do have invisible fence around 4+ acres. Our backyard is also fenced with chain link on 3 sides and wood privacy fence on the street side. The runner and his doghouse are in the backyard. When we leave the house, he goes on the runner and sleeps in his dog house. We keep it filled with a thick, thick layer of straw. He loves it. I'm not comfortable leaving a dog inside when we are not home - my first husky many many many years ago totally destroyed our apartment. Also - just after we got Ami, there was a horrific news story of a husky badly burned in a house fire while in a crate. I can never quite shake those pictures.

This is not the greatest of pictures...actually rather lousy but I had to take it from in the house since as soon as I opened the door he would wake up and come out! If you look really carefully, you can see his overhead runner attached to the pine tree. The other end is on an oak tree and there is another big pine between the two.

I'm one of the oddballs here that don't let their dogs inside the house (the horror!). They have a kennel in the garage (40 square foot) with water, beds, and toys. This kennel has a doggy door to the outside kennel which is a fenced in area that is about 250 square foot. The outside area has a 20 square foot 'deck' (they like to spend time on it and under it), a dog house, and of course water and toys.

The husky spends time everywhere. On the deck, under the deck, inside on the concrete, inside in his bed, outside on the ground, in the doghouse. Just the other day he was sitting on the deck with his butt through the dog door to the inside (it was -20F outside, so I think he was just keeping his butt warm). Heck, the doghouse is only really big enough for one of the two dogs to be in there comfortably, but they often will both cram inside for no apparent reason.

The husky won't let us put anything in the doghouse though. Any blanket anywhere in the enclosure will be dragged outside and left in the open. He will drag heavy blankets from inside up a ramp, out the dog door, and across the deck to get it to the ground. He may or may not lay down on it, but it must be outside. Straw or anything else in the doghouse will also be removed immediately.

Weather isn't a factor in any of it. I live in South Dakota, so the last week has been -10F or below (without the windchill), but our summers can get to over 100F for weeks at a time. We go through months of no moisture, then rainstorms of several inches in a hour. We basically get every extreme. I've seen the dogs in every location of their enclosure during every type of weather imaginable. They'll often do the opposite of what I'd expect. 100F and direct sunlight? Lounge on the deck in the sun instead of go inside, or under the deck or in the doghouse. 70F and beautiful with shade, go in the doghouse. -20F and blowing wind and snow, sit on the frozen ground outside.

For us, the dog house wasn't needed. But it offered one more element in their enclosure. Sometimes they use it, sometime they don't. But they have the option, and it doesn't hurt anything.

If you have the space, and the money, you could always try it out. If the dog ignores it, oh well. The other option is doing a test run. If you are like me, you probably have a bunch of scrap wood, pieces of siding, etc. I probably have enough stuff to make a full fledged dog house, but I for sure have enough that I could cobble together a rough 'test' version with 3 walls and a roof that sat on the ground. See if she utilizes the test house made from scrap lumber. If so, then replace it with something more substantial.

I had one when we had the one dog but didn't bother with it once we stepped up to more since they wouldn't all fit and I'm not going to have my yard looking like a kennel so that each dog can have a house. My female never used it, but my first male would if we still had it. Even if they don't use it it never hurts to have one available in case a nosy neighbor who knows nothing about huskies thinks that you are leaving your dog out in the cruel cold and elements with no shelter and calls you in.

Thanks very much -- You guys have given us some good options to explore. Yes, we do have a scrap wood pile that we can use to make a rudimentary dog house -- My husband really likes that idea. I like the idea of the wooden picnic table -- not only because it would be versatile for Misty, but the entire family can use it.

And, yeah -- There have been a lot of jokes around here of us potentially getting the cops called on us because we can't get our stupid Husky to come in the house. I think if the cops DO show up, I'll just invite them in and ask THEM to try to call the dog inside:

"Here, doggy! Come inside the nice, warm house!"
Misty: "Huh? Are you nuts? This is HEAVEN! Perfect weather! Just watch my breath freeze in midair! AWESOME!"