Introduction

We wanted to give back the community and offer some advice on building the common dog house. Here in Illinois we get some pretty rough weather and I felt it was important to provide my dogs with sufficient weather protection to handle the most severe types of weather. We can typically experience severe thunderstorms, blizzards, tornado's, and extreme Cold. Your climate needs may vary but if you live in a geographic zone that experiences severe conditions you may find some interesting ideas here.

This dog house type is probably a bit over engineered but I wanted a rugged design standard and I was willing to spend a few extra dollars to get to that. Also I did not want something the would easily rot out and where I would not need to re-build it after just a few years of service. To that end, I choose to use heavier duty building supplies.

I hope everyone finds this interesting and gets some helpful hints.

Dog House Materials Listing

Below is the dog house materials listing. I use insultated foam for the floor, sides and ceiling to help hold in the heat in the winter. I typically leave the gun dog house doors open spring until fall and only close them during the extreme winter weather conditions. Use the calk to seal any gaps in the dog house seams.

Quantity	Item Description
4	2X4X8 Treated for Base
4	2X3X8 Untreated for Frame and Rafters
2	½” 4’X8’ Pink Extruder Insulation Foam
1	Dark Brown Fiber Glass Roof Singles
2	3” Premium Deck Screws
2	2” Premium Deck Screws
2	½” 4’x8’ Exterior Rated Plywood Sheet
2	5/8” 4’x8’ PINE 4” OC Siding
1	Brown Acrylic Latex Caulk With Silicone
1-2	8 ft Pine(or other) 3/4-1" Corner Guard Molding
1	Gallon Brown Exterior Rated Stain
1	Box 3/4" Galvanized Roofing Nails

Dog House Assembly

Basic framing is used to create the shell. I started with the flooring and worked up using 2X4X8 sections. Plase the insulation into the framed segments as you build out the frame of the dog house.

Each wall and the floor has a layer of insulation. You could use fiberglass insulation if you have some left over from another project. Itypically use screws to hold the frame, flooring, sides and roof together

Cut the dog house ruff rafters insuring proper alignment. For simplicity I used the 2X4 segments to add strength.

Put the sides and back on first. Cut the correct dimensional dog door for the dog door or entry way you plan on using and depending on the size of dog you plan to build for. Place the front on the frame work.

Cut the exterior treated roofing plywood sheet to your measurements. Make one of the sheets 1/2" longer so that when they are joined they match in length. Install the roofing sheets sections. Run a bead of silicone calk down the the seam.

Add the roofing tiles using standard method overlay method and use the galvanized roofing nails.

Use an exterior stain to provide water resistance and protect the wood.

Hunting Dog Door

One of the things I like about these dog doors is the absolutely rugged heavy duty construction. I think these are the best gun dog doors on the market today. If you want one, go here Gun Dog House Door. They work great and offer maximum weather protection.

The Gun Dog Door comes with installation instructions you can follow.