A house for a dog is not a whim of the owners of the animal. Each pet needs its own place, corner of personal space, where you can go. Especially houses are needed for small animals living in a family with small children.
What to look for?
When planning to build and equip a dog house with your own hands, you need to consider a number of important points:
- the bottom or removable dense mattress is more optimally made of polyurethane foam, and not of foam rubber, and even more so not of synthetic winterizer or cotton;
- the base of the litter should be tightened in a fabric cover, it should be removable, the best option is to sew in a zipper, buttons cannot be used, ties are uncomfortable, and the elastic bands may not hold the pillowcase, especially if the animal is constantly moving;
- from old large boxes you do not need to build a house for an active animal, even when using a frame;
- you can not use polystyrene so that it is available to the dog, not only its mouth, but also its claws;
- if there is a small child in the apartment, the place of the pet should be either uncomfortable for children's gatherings or made of very durable materials.
Each of these points must be taken into account, otherwise all the efforts and emotions spent on the dog house can be in vain.
About materials for a mattress
Polyurethane foam is a durable and resilient material. On the mattress made of it, the animal will never have bedsores, worn out elbows and other unpleasant for the owners, spoiling the appearance of the dog nuances caused by improper bedding.
Old pillows are often used as a mattress, especially for small animals. This is not entirely correct. The dog can break the feather pillow with its claws, many of them have the habit of "digging" their bedding. The synthetic winterizer does not hold its shape, but rolls in clods inside the pillow. Such a mattress is completely uncomfortable, moreover, it is able to provide abrasions on the elbows even in a young animal.
In addition, such an old pillow will certainly form the dog’s habit of “digging” the bedding, as the animal will try to make its mattress at least a little acceptable for rest. Having learned to dig once, the dog will do it always and everywhere. That is, it will begin "excavation" on the master's bed, on the sofa in the living room, in armchairs and in other places. The same applies to cotton wool.
Foam rubber does not have such disadvantages as feathers, synthetic winterizer or cotton wool. However, for a mattress, firstly, a very thick, wide piece of material will be required, and secondly, having a maximum density. Such foam rubber in construction markets is not very cheap and quite comparable in cost to a finished storehouse made of chipboard covered with faux fur.
However, if a crib mattress is available, then, of course, it must be used. The only negative of a wide sheet of foam rubber is that it is not eternal. This artificial filler rots, "grows old", crumbles, preet.
Specific fillers, such as shredded dry grass, sanded cereals, wood dust, are rarely used. But if you want to make just such a mattress, you need to take into account the temperament of the animal. Not every beast will sleep sweetly on a mattress smelling of meadow grass, a mattress, rustling groats, or on a hard bed with wood dust, smelling of a sawmill.
About the pillowcase for the mattress
Whatever the mattress is made into a dog house, the base must be insulated with a cloth. You can do this in different ways:
- sew the base of the litter in a bag of soft tarpaulin or other durable and moisture-resistant fabric and put on replaceable pillowcases on it;
- use dog linen immediately.
Do not require covering the base under the pillowcases with only polyurethane foam litter. You can immediately put on removable covers made of thick fabric. Foam rubber should be sewn up necessarily and only then put on a cover that can be removed and washed.
As a fastener on pillowcases it is more optimal to use a zipper. An animal can nibble and swallow buttons, or a small child can do it, if there is one, of course. The age of the dog here is not so important. Of course, the puppy will tear the buttons in any case, but an adult animal is quite capable of doing them.
Ties and ribbons procrastinate, gnaw and tear off absolutely all dogs. The same applies to all kinds of decorative elements of pillowcases and the house as a whole - bows, cakes, brooches, lace balls and more. Such a touching mattress and a house for a dog is not suitable for a pet's life. They are used exclusively for photo shoots.
Do I need a frame?
This question is faced by all the owners who are considering how to make a house for the dog. In pet stores, options are presented with both the presence of frames and without them.
When making a house from scratch, a frame for it is needed, especially if the family has small children. If there are children, the house is made not only for the pet, but also for the child. There is nothing to be done about it, the baby will still go to visit the dog, like the animal to it. Of course, in the presence of a child, the frame must be made strong, and the top of the house - as unsuitable for gatherings and abandonment of toys.
What can be used?
As a rule, they don’t build a house for a dog from scratch, don’t buy sheets of chipboard or anything else for it, but use old things and furniture as a basis. Thanks to this approach, the pet’s corner is unique, non-standard and, of course, interesting and aesthetic.
Do-it-yourself dog houses for dogs, photos of which can be proudly published on social networks to the envy of friends, can be constructed:
- from a game tent;
- strollers for newborns;
- bedside tables and other furniture;
- baskets and so on.
In principle, to build a corner for a pet, you can use absolutely any old thing, even an umbrella. From large cane umbrellas, very original small dog houses are made in the form of sailboats, balloons, and other designs.
Of course, choosing what to build an original place for your pet from, you need to proceed from the size of the animal and its preferences. Some dogs sleep curled up, others stretch out on their backs, like people, and spread their paws or lie on their sides. It is necessary to take this into account, because the pet should feel comfortable in its personal corner.
How to make a game tent?
Using children's play tents is the easiest way to build a dog house. You don’t have to do anything except a mattress. However, there are some nuances:
- you need to choose a permanent, stationary place without bright light, drafts and not in the aisle;
- it is required to fix the tent on the floor using self-tapping screws;
- the mattress should be a couple of centimeters wider than the base.
Such a house is often additionally decorated. For example, with a high open aisle, curtains on a fishing line are hung in a tent. Triangular tents are stylized as wigwam or plague. It looks quite interesting, but, carried away by the external design, you should not forget that the only purpose of arranging the house is the convenience, safety and comfort of the dog.
How to make a stroller for newborns?
A baby carriage box is an ideal, fully prepared house for a medium-sized dog. All that is required from the owner of the animal is:
- make a mattress;
- find a house a permanent place in the apartment;
- firmly fix the "lampshade" of the box;
- fasten with screws to the floor;
- if you want to design an external design.
Although the box is quite heavy, it is necessary to fix it on the floor with self-tapping screws. This requires normal security. A dog, even small and light, can play out and knock over the box, crushing itself. The same can be done by a child who is sure to visit a dog.
How to use furniture?
Old bedside tables are the foundation of truly inexhaustible possibilities of how to make a dog house with your own hands so that it becomes not only a cozy burrow for a pet, but also an interior item in the apartment and a reason for pride.
The simplest design solution is a fabulous house. This will require:
- cut out holes of different sizes in the walls or completely remove them, leaving the corners-columns, you can make strips or something else;
- furniture legs need to be removed;
- the entire structure is attached to the floor only if the dog is large enough to be able to knock it over;
- of the remaining pieces of wood formed the upper perimeter.
The whole design needs to be decorated in accordance with the interior and your own taste. It can be sanded, treated with color impregnation or stain and varnished. The result is a house that looks made of expensive wood in the modernized Rococo or Baroque style.
It can be painted with juicy bright colors or, conversely, pastel, whitened enamel shades. In the first case, you get a house in the Mexican style, and in the second - a European pastoral. It is possible to paste over with wallpaper or cover with fabric. You can use airbrushing.
There are no restrictions for imagination in the design of appearance. The top of the nightstand does not need to be forced to do their things. It should be reserved for any dog things. For example, if an animal participates in exhibitions, then at the top of the house is the best place for awards.
How to make out of the basket?
A good country-style dog house comes out of the ordinary basket. To proceed when designing such a place for a pet, you need from the shape of a wicker product. The way it would be advisable to use a large box with a lid will be completely unacceptable for a small "grandfather" basket with one handle.
Such houses are suitable only for small and fragile dogs, for example, they are no longer suitable for an English bulldog or scotch tape. To determine how best to make a house, you need to rotate the basket in different ways in the place allocated for it in the apartment. Often they don’t do anything at all, just fix the wicker on the floor and put the mattress on, and hang something funny on the handle.
Indeed, this option is often the most convenient for the dog. And so that the house doesn’t look very poor, above the handle you can place a plate cut out of plywood, processed and beautifully decorated with the name of the pet. Of course, it must be securely fixed.
The use of the basket is also good because such a house serves as a carrying for the animal at the same time. If you need to go somewhere, simply unscrew the screws securing the basket to the floor. This is important because, once in a hotel or in a compartment of a long-distance train, many animals begin to get nervous, whine, bark and even howl. And if they are in their own familiar house, on their own mattress, then such incidents do not occur.
Of course, you can build a real house from scratch. This will require appropriate skills, tools, a place to work and free time. And as an architectural project, you can use the drawings of street booths, children's play areas, even country houses.