One of our very first projects was to construct a dog run – kennel for Cooper and Sophie. We had setup crates outside on the porch and insulated them for the winter, but knew this was not a good solution long term. So in the spring of 2005 that was our first project.
Before
We debated a little over where to put the run. At first we thought along side of the house off of the porch, but decided that wouldn’t be good because who wants to look out the window or off the porch at dog poop, not to mention the smell. The yard behind the lean to of the garage was the worst part of the yard, uneven, tree stump holes and just general dangerous walking. There were “natural barriers creating a path out to the back yard. So it was decided that is where the kennel would go.
John replaced the metal poles holding the porch roof up with pressure treated wood beams that would mesh well with the railing we were going to put around the whole porch.
During
There were a couple of issues that needed to be taken care of before we could start construction. Two large trees were in the way and the lean to was full of junk. While I worked on clearing the lean to of junk John and Paul worked on removing one of the large trees.
John pondered felling the tree for quite awhile, did some research and calculations for a week before attempting this job. As you can see from the first picture the tree is between the garage and the porch roof. He had to drop the tree just right so that it wouldn’t hit either on its way down.
We tied a rope on the tree as high as we could get and Paul kept tension on the rope while John cut the tree. At this time the neighbor came over concerned that we may hit the porch roof or the garage. John made a mark in the driveway where the tree was going to fall.
It came down exactly on that spot. (Notice the smiling faces.)
The tree trunk was nice and straight and we hated just to chop it up for burning in the fire pit, so John cut it up and made end tables for on the porch. I also used one as part of the birdbath in the secret garden.
The second tree, a blue spruce, we were able to keep, but we had to trim all of the branches from the bottom, about 8 feet or so. This would allow the fence to pass under the tree.
Next, John framed out the whole area around the porch. We needed one gate to the driveway, another to “lock” the dogs off of the porch. This gate would then give us access to what would become the secret garden and one out back. The railing for the porch would be out of pressure treated wood but the rest of the run would be chain link fence.
After
With the lean-to cleaned out we were able to put the dog houses in there giving them extra protection from the weather, though they spend most of their time on the porch. We installed a ceiling fan to help keep the air circulating in the summer.
Out back we installed a doggie digester that basically works like a septic tank. When I clean the run I put the poop in that and add a little water. John addeds some Rid-ex to it once a week to help with the break down of the poo. No more stinky buckets of poo that have to be given to the garbage man each week. We are all happier.
John is the most thrilled of all of us though. He can now just open the door and let Sophie out to take care of bathroom duties without having to leash her up and go with her. Life is good.
