There are several reasons why you may choose to build a kennel yourself, rather than buying one. Most obviously, it is often cheaper to build a kennel than to buy one, especially if you already have some of the materials on hand. Secondly, you can custom design the kennel to best suit the needs of yourself and your pet. If you decide that you’d like to try to build your own dog’s kennel, here are a few tips that may help you along the way:
Decide on the type of material you’ll use, and make sure that you are confident of working with that material. Options include steel, wire mesh, wood, plastic sheeting. Whatever you choose, make sure its durable and that it is easy to assemble, and safe for the dog.
Design your kennel in advance. You could either buy a kennel plan, or draft one up yourself. If you don’t plan the kennel before building you may end up with something that your dog won’t or can’t use. It needs to be big enough for the dog to enter, turn around and lay down to sleep. Make sure the kennel door is tall and wide enough for your dog. Remember, dog’s grow so unless your dog is already full grown be prepared to make the kennel big enough to fit a full grown dog.
Buy all the material you’ll need for the construction before you go ahead and begin the project. It saves a lot of time to do so, and enables you to go ahead at your own pace, without having to race off to the store to buy the forgotten items.
If the kennel is made from wood, make sure the paint you use to paint it with is lead free. Lead is deadly to small animals and there’s a good chance your dog will gnaw at part of the kennel sooner or later.
Most of all, enjoy building the dog kennel and run.
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