If you decide to get a dog that would be an active friend of your family and could protect your home from intruders, you will definitely have to make a booth for a German shepherd.
Preparing for the appearance of a puppy in the house
It is better if the booth is ready for the appearance of a puppy in your house. The methodical teaching of the baby to your rules needs to start from the very first days.
An exception is when a puppy appears in your house in winter. In cold weather, it is better to keep the baby indoors until the moment when he is 4 months old, and the daytime temperature rises to at least zero degrees. Keeping a little shepherd in the cold will negatively affect his health.
Location
In order to make the “German” home stay in your yard as comfortable as possible, it is important not only to choose the right size of the booth for the German Shepherd, but also to choose a position for it that would suit from the point of view of the convenience of littering the territory.
Immediately determine whether the dog will have an aviary, or whether it will move freely around the yard. If the shepherd is kept free, choose a place for the booth so that from it she can control the entrusted territory as much as possible, see all the entrances and feel herself involved in the family.
If the dog is constantly kept in the aviary, it is necessary to arrange it so that it does not feel isolated and has the opportunity to see the entrance gate and entrance to the house. If the enclosure is intended only for the temporary maintenance of the shepherd during the guests' visit, it must be arranged in a secluded place, away from prying eyes and hands.
Ideally, the entrance to the booth in the southern regions is better to deploy to the west, north or north-west, and in the colder northern regions - to the south, southwest or southeast.
Site Preparation
The booth should not be in a damp place. For her, it is better to prepare a concrete platform or a wooden platform. As an option, an embankment of slag, gravel or sand is suitable. The platform is made inclined towards the drainage trench so that water does not accumulate on it. If the area is swampy, the platform is installed on piles. It must be arranged in such a way that it occupies no more than half the area of the doghouse. In this case, the German shepherd will be able to lie next to his "house" on the same platform.
Types of booths
The classic version of the doghouse is one-room. An improved version assumes the presence of a vestibule in front of the entrance to the "room" where the dog will sleep. An intermediate option without a wall is a rectangular box, in which the entrance is shifted to one or the other side. In this case, the wind blows less inward. The dimensions of the German Shepherd kennel depend on the chosen design option. Well, do not forget that if you took a small puppy to the house, then he will still grow, and very well.
One of the best ways to determine the type of booth for a German shepherd is a photo. Considering various design decisions, choose the one that, in your opinion, will go well with the architecture of your home and the landscape design of the site. Engage the children in the design - they will definitely like it.
Materials for the manufacture of booths
A classic German shepherd kennel, the drawings of which must be built before direct manufacture, can be created from timber, planks, or from pressed materials insulated with polystyrene or polystyrene foam, glass wool, or other available heaters. A log cabin should not be painted and soaked with synthetic substances, it is better to use natural drying oil.
In the southern regions, where summer heat is more relevant than winter frosts, you can make a booth from a shell rock, while in the north, stone booths are rarely practiced and require additional heating. In coastal areas, such houses are often made from barrels that have failed. To do this, they are dried, impregnated with natural drying oil, stuffed the bottom and fixed on the platform.
How to make a booth of suitable size?
The dimensions of the German Shepherd box depend on the size of the dog itself. Before ordering a finished house or starting work on its independent production, sketch a sketch and apply parameters to it. There are a few simple rules that allow you to determine the appropriate size of the booth for the German Shepherd.
- The dog should be able to stretch in the booth at full height, so the diagonal of the house should be equal to the length of the dog's body plus two lengths of its paws. For a German shepherd, this corresponds to an indicator of about 120 cm.
- The height of the entrance should be slightly less than the height of the dog at the withers - from 50 to 60 cm, and its width - equal to the width of the chest of an adult dog, increased by 5 cm for a female and 8 cm for a male.
- The width of the booth should be equal to the length of the dog from the nose to the base of the tail. For a German shepherd of "standard format" this parameter is from 60 to 75cm.
- The height of the booth should be slightly greater than the height of the dog at the withers, and the depth should be approximately equal to the height or be slightly less by 5 cm. For a standard male German shepherd, this is 60-65 cm, and for a female - 55-60 cm.
You should not make the booth too large and spacious, especially if you live in a region where in winter the temperature drops below zero. Too much room cannot be heated by one dog, and it will inevitably freeze. The approximate dimensions of a booth without a vestibule for a German shepherd are 120 x 75 cm with a height of 80 cm.
The standard German shepherd kennel, the drawings of which you can make yourself, is an exemplary example, the design of which you can vary based on your own considerations, observing the basic proportions.
Such a booth is quite suitable for your dog, if you do not plan to receive offspring from her. If you took a bitch and assume that she will have puppies, the booths need to be made deeper and wider, leaving the same height and making the entrance to it closer to one of the walls. However, the best solution for a bitch with puppies is a special puppy with a vestibule and an aviary.