Kennel Building Part 2

We certainly welcomed cooler temps and less rain as we commenced finishing the kennels. Anyone who has never built something to house sleddogs or wolves before cannot possibly conceive the amount of work that goes into building something that adequately contains these animals!

We started the next phase by lining the back side of the kennel with heavy gage 5 foot field fencing. I used the longest staples I could find and stapled the crap out of that fence to every available wood surface!


Back of the kennel


Back of the kennel from the front

Next, wood planks like what are used on six foot privacy fence were screwed into the 2x4 frame on the outside of the back of the kennel.



The next step is tedious. The dig guard (on the bottom of each kennel) was secured with over 100 "hog rings." These used to be inserted into a hog's nose to prevent it from rooting and digging. They are extremely handy for attaching fence to fence, which is what we had to do. Like I said, tedious. It was then I called to my trusty helper, Miss Sophie :)


Sophie shows our hog ring, inserted in the special hog ringer tool. Using hog rings requires this little tool to get the rings properly closed.

Meanwhile, Elise played with my camera.


Elise, self portrait

We also added another 150 landscape staples (see previous post). And God knows how many more staples. We doubly secured the dig guard by going back and stapling it to the 2x4 floor liners.


Sophie staples some of the dig guard to 2x4s that line the floor.

And finally, we transported the huskies! This is the end result! So far, so good.


Ruffian relaxes in her new home

They seem to really enjoy the freedom of being loose inside the kennels, and I am happy to not have to tether them anymore. It might be easier, quicker and cheaper to just tie them out to a wood stake, and if I had a bigger kennel, I'm not sure I would have the money or the patience for a huge kennel construction project. But I am enjoying watching them lounge in their new home, untethered and comfortable.

Chris is beginning to adjust to the idea of life on a farm.


Elise shows Chris the loft, her favorite place

And, when I've not been busy with construction on the kennels, I've been burning name plates for the dogs to go onto their kennels:


Gwennie's name plate

Of course, there's one special little husky who required more than her name burned into wood. She needed diamonds.



The people move this coming weekend. Stay tuned, and Namaste!