I’m curious if anyone has done this. We have a few extra stalls, and we have two dogs (sometimes only one, but we “dog sit” my nieces dog a lot). It seems they are untrustworthy pups when left to their own devices.
So, we were contemplating setting up a nice kennel in the barn for when we need to be gone for more than an hour or two. Any ideas?
what is the barn layout? once upon a time I knew a guy who bred GSDs.
His kennel was a largish barn area with a walkway along the compartments. As an indoor kennel goes, they had a bed, etc.
And a door to a run outside. It was paved on the outside and was sand in the middle.
That area opened into a big grassy ‘play’ area in front of all the runs. You could enter the kennels from either the barn or the play run side.
The fences were chainlink, about 8 foot high and covered.
Any old enclosure works, really. Throw the beds in, water, perhaps some food.
I assume that you are somewhere in the country that the weather does not make dogs being housed in the barn a problem as far as temperature goes.
I have a stall set up with four “kennels” for chickens, no reason at all you can’t do that for dogs.
But it might be a lot easier and safer to just pick up an x pen and pen them up in the house instead. With stuff they can’t shred like that, ha!
I’d just buy crates for when you are gone.
I’ve put my beagle in a stall but he scratched the wood and tried to dig his way out. It was only for an hour and he had a bed, chews, etc on a lovely spring day.
I do crate them for shorter durations, in the house. If I’m gone longer, I’m thinking more space is better.
As far as temperature, I’d only use it if it’s not extreme temps hot or cold.
Thanks, all.
Yep, this is why an x pen is nice. More space!
often we have used horse stalls for foster dogs with litters or taken over the goat barn for foster dogs, just shipped out a mother dog with her Ten puppies who we set up in the goats stall, these went to Ohio I believe
I had to look up X pens, since I wasn’t sure what they were. I forgot to mention, that dog in the picture is my niece’s dog that I watch. She’s leaving on deployment to Kuwait, so she’ll be with us a while. My dog, is a malinois, so I really have to be careful, as she’s crazy athletic. I’d need something with a top.
I would be really hesitant to put athletic, agile dogs in the barn. Getting out of an x pen in the house? They’re still in the house. Getting out of a stall in the barn and they’re just…loose. Scary proposition.
I agree. I wouldn’t do it unless I had it totally enclosed. 
Thanks.
I have a kennel in my garage.
Enclosed one bay (of 3), insulated, and put down vinyl floor. Kennel panels from Tractor Supply.
Dog doors to outside runs. A metal shed roof over the top:
That house is for sale; I just moved to a new house without a kennel. Once my sale goes through I’ll probably build one here off the garage. I am missing it already.
That’s super nice! My garage is insulated, but it still gets really warm in there in the summertime, but I could probably put a window air unit or something in there to make it work. Hmm. Lots to think about!
Really nice set up!
Yes climate control is important - but it really depends on where you live. I have two small electric heaters for winter but don’t need AC in the summer. But a small AC unit probably would work if you have a small space.
This is probably nicer than necessary; I just had space to burn so it was useful to do the full bay. At my new house it will probably only be big enough to have the indoor part of the kennels and maybe room for a grooming table but not much else.
We used to keep ours in an empty stall and had no issues really until one day we got a phone call from our neighbor that SWAT was staging in our driveway and sweeping properties. I guess someone robbed a bank and when they caught up with him, a chase ensued. The suspect wrecked his car and took off on foot… through our fields. They called in the K-9 unit. Now I have a very irrational fear that SWAT will show up randomly and shoot my dogs for protecting their home.
Serious question - can you tell them to leave, if they don’t have a warrant to be on your property?
We had to do that where I used to work in South Chicago - they would group up in our parking lot (gated, but we were trying to be polite) before going on raids and such. We put a stop to it, as we didn’t want to be associated with being too chummy with them lest we get the gang wrath turned back on us.
I really don’t know.
In this instance it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. I was at work which was at least an hour commute. My boyfriend was working even farther away. We only had two dogs at the time, both GSD, one czech/working line and one of the world’s best Craiglist finds who takes her job protecting her farm very seriously. I made it home in record time and now they have a cushy set up in the house.
Everyone should have a secure place for their dogs when they are not home or in times of need (home repairs, emergencies, etc). Secure meaning escape proof. I can’t imagine letting dogs roam my property when I’m not home. Maybe if I lived in the absolute boonies, but for the rest of us, no. What if someone knocks on your door by mistake? Will your dogs attack them?
I have a 4’ fence at my house but when I’m not home dogs were in the kennel. No way out. But never locked - if there was a true emergency (fire), someone else could get them out from indoors or outdoors if needed.
We have a 6’ chain link fenced yard with dig defense on the entire perimeter (can not dig under).
Yes, a dog could learn to jump 6’ fencing no doubt, but our girls haven’t even tried it so it works for us.
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