Building a Dog Pen

jamesd

I am going to build a dog pen for a Atika dog , I have got some 10ft metal poles that can be burried into the ground for the corners and I plan to use some 6ft high galvanised fencing around the pen.
I am wondering if I should cement all the floor of the pen or do half cement and half grass?
Also what size shouls the pen be ? 4m * 4m or bigger?
I will build a dog house in it.

Sigma Force

In summer the grass can be nice but at this time of year it will just turn into a mud bath. Extra walkies in lovely grassy fields or in forests etc will make up for the lack of grass in the run.

4 m is 13 feet is it? 13 by 13 should be fine for one dog. Although you may need to wire the top as some like to stand on their kennel and jump out.

One thing I'm sorry I didn't do was have a drain in the run and avairy so everything just runs onto the grass around one idea would be to have the run off drain into the nearest drain or mabey bury a pipe in the center of the run so excess water can run off and you have somewhere to sweep the water into when cleaning.

ecaf

That size should be big enough, my advice would be as Guineapigrescue said - cement the whole thing. It's way easier to keep clean. And have some kinda drain to let the water off. We put down a temporary run and had to go back and dig a small trench beside it to let the water flow off after cleaning it.

Also we have the steel galvanised fences, we got a dog house along with it and it sits outside the run with a little gap in one of the fences where the opening of the dog house fits into. It is bolted to the dog run, so it means they have the full length of the run to move around in, and the house is separate but still accessible. They also cannot climb on roof to try and jump out.
Ours if 5 foot high and the pointer wouldn't even dream of jumping it. (I hope!)

whitser

a smooth concrete base is best. grass is a no no, it'll just be turned to muck and hard to keep clean. try and connect your run to the sewers with a drain so you can hose them down. my kennells are at a slight slpoe so all water runs off to a gully thats piped in to the soil pipe under the ground. in a kenneels its the piss that smells worst not the shxt so its great if you can hose it down. if you can connect to the sewer look at a drain ditch filled with gravel or putting inn a fench drain. i have a small wall 2 blocks high going around the base so when im hosing down it stops water running into the garden and it all goes straight down the drain.

jamesd

Thanks for the advise - There is a sewerage pipe very close to the area I want to put the pen so it should be easy to run a drain into it.
I think I will also go with putting the house outside the pen.

kerrysgold

Just wondering, you know Akitas were originally bred for fighting so therefor need very careful training and socializing. I do hope the dog will be part of the family and not outside in a pen all the time as that can lead to serious behavioural problems.

jamesd

Yes I know that - Bred for fighting bears, The dog will be in the house when I am or free to wander around the 3/4 arce garden I have which I have gotten well fenced in for him. We always had german shepards at home so I am used to big dogs.
I have not purchased the atika yet as I want to get a pen built and make sure I have all ready for a dog,I plan on getting an atika early next summer.

looserock

kerrysgold wrote: »

Just wondering, you know Akitas were originally bred for fighting so therefor need very careful training and socializing. I do hope the dog will be part of the family and not outside in a pen all the time as that can lead to serious behavioural problems.

I don't know if your suggesting the dog should spend every moment with its family including sleeping inside or just a lot of time with them, sitting by the fire etc.

I would suggest not humanising you're dog too much, it very often leads to serious problems down the line.

ecaf

whitser's advice about the block around the bottom is a good idea. We don't have a hose that will reach the run so we throw in a few buckets of water after it is cleaned out, but this causes a damp area around one side (hence the trench / mini-trench we dug, which has helped).
When I'm doing it properly the next time (as this is just temporary) I think I will have a block on the two sides and just let it run into a drain at the bottom.
Sloping it too is a great plan.