Fixing up a dog pen

[MsM]

I have a 10 X10 dog run attached to my house. It has a doggie door onto a porch and a ramp to get down to grade. This worked fine with previous dogs but current 9 pound tiny terror required some adjustments.

First, I needed to add the fence that keeps him from leaping off the porch or ramp over the low fence. He enjoyed digging in there which I didnt mind as I have pavers around the edges so he couldnt dig out. But then he discovered the joy of pebbles! The stone dust has some small pebbles that he grabs, brings inside, and chews on. Not a good thing for him for a number of reasons. So I put down an outdoor carpet and some random mats. Then I had to use more pavers to hold the edges down.

I would like to redo this but am undecided about how to do it. Any suggestions?

[erinmeri]

Have you considered a concrete pad? It would likely be easier to clean and power-wash as necessary and wouldn’t give him opportunities to bring pebbles and rocks indoors.

As for the jumping issue, a taller fence might be an option, although a better idea might be to install a chain link “roof”. While I have no experience with creating such a run, my best friend had a bitey Border Collie that her family built a run for that was constructed of pipe and chain link on the sides and top. Not sure how they did it, but I would imagine there are tutorials online.

[MsM]

I have thought of concrete but was hoping to keep it porous.
The jumping issue is regarding the ramp and porch. I have put up the temporary fence and could do something a little better.

[erinmeri]

The only idea I have for porous is to do grass.

[S1969]

I would use pavers and/or larger, round stones. I might consider both, in case the dog prefers not to walk on the round stones. But if he picks up all sizes of stones, I would just get a small pallet of pavers and level the ground and just put them down.

I’d add a roof, or at least a sun shade, but maybe not top priority, depending on your weather. My kennel has a roof and I use plastic on the side with the prevailing wind in the winter.

[trubandloki]

What about using artificial grass product for the base? It is porous.

[MsM]

The question then is how to pin it down.

[Simkie]

@MsM

I have thought of concrete but was hoping to keep it porous.

There are pervious concrete options. No clue how costly they are, but perhaps worth some investigation?

These videos showing a massive volume of water just disappearing through the surface are always kind of mind blowing:

Topmix Permeable Testimonial - The ultimate permeable concrete system

You could also use grass pavers, which have holes to allow grass to grow through them. But not sure if grass is really growing in there, and you might just have that same problem with rocks?

[DiamondJubilee]

I’m not sure if this would be an option at all, but how about using composite decking for the ground? You could keep the dirt or add some crushed gravel underneath and just build a deck on top of it. The composite will never rot or break down and it has a slight gap for drainage to the ground underneath. We built our 7 ’ x 12 ’ covered dog house this way. Its about 6" above the ground and is covered with a roof and my pup can go in and out of an enclosed bed area. No mud or rocks for her to eat/dig and if there happens to be a mess on the decking (which never happens but did happen with my old boy who just couldn’t hold it for longer than 2 hrs), we could just hose it off. Or it could get wet with some driving rain, so it dries quickly and no mess.

[trubandloki]

I guess I am confused. I assumed this type of run out set-up was partially so the dog could potty during the day when no one was home. Is the goal to just provide them a nice place outside and they wait until someone comes home to be let out somewhere else to do other things?

[Mosey_2003]

Could use skinny stall mats for the ground cover.

[S1969]

I think many dogs won’t use mats or decking as a potty area; and probably would be better not to train them to if you have other options.

But it’s really about what your dogs are used to - I had an older dog that had lived in a kennel for several years and she would only poop on my patio and not in the yard.

In this case, if the main reason for switching the base around is so that little dog doesn’t eat it, I’d try other options before something that seems like “indoor” footing. But hard to know what is best - each dog is different.

[trubandloki]

@S1969

I’d try other options before something that seems like “indoor” footing

This was my thought. Putting a carpet out there to cover the ground seems like a surefire way to either confuse the poor thing or make it think it is OK to use the carpet inside too.

[MsM]

No problem with him understanding to poop and pee on the mat. Nothing like it inside to confuse him. These mats are very commonly used with ex pens at dog shows.

I think I will likely get more patio blocks and hire someone to do it!

[DawgLady]

OMG I love your dog house. Is it climate controlled?

[DiamondJubilee]

@DawgLady - My husband built it and made it movable, so we just moved it to a new spot with our tractor when I took that picture. It does have a fan that is usually mounted up high for her “climate control” lol! But it was just placed on the ground in the picture since we didn’t quite have it all set up. It has some nice pot lights in the ceiling (not that she’s out there in the dark) which is a nice feature as well
Sadly it was built for our dogs as we had a set up many years ago with a zip line (bought at a pet store) and it was attached to a tree which was then struck by lightning in a freak pop up storm. It killed our dog instantly of course and this dog house was built right after it for our other pups. Its their summer house and our dogs go out in it when we are at work. At least they can see the nice outdoors for the day. I keep my pup in the barn through the winter and she has access to a bed and a stall until I get home. I have a crate in my house as well, but don’t use it too often.

[Equibrit]

Google “permeable pavers”.

[endlessclimb]

Oh my god what a terrible freak accident. I’m sorry for your loss.

[DiamondJubilee]

@endlessclimb - thank you. It was very tragic as we lost our 2.5 year old lab. The local news was going to do a story on it as we wanted to warn others that this could happen, but they had to divert to a breaking accident on their way to our farm. It was a fluke for sure but I do know others who use this system as a temporary tie out, and we just wanted to warn people so it wouldn’t happen to them. The line was even coated with rubber, but the metal inside was fused link to link right down to our dogs collar, from the lightning. He was found dead in his dog house (the tie enabled him to have about a 10’ roaming area and he could get into his dog house). That tree had a scar on it from where it struck right down he middle to about the 8’ height where we had the line tied to. A year later that tree fell on our house (this was an extremely large tree - I couldn’t put my arms around it and it was about 3 stories high) and that “scar” was literally in my face as I entered my house after it fell (luckily we were not it the house at the time). Talk about crazy.

[clanter]

@DiamondJubilee

It was a fluke for sure

Because we had to ground our equipment and insure the fence lines were grounded on the airports and any government project I was talking with a freind as we sat watching his horses in a pipe fence corral as a thunderstorm started. I just asked him if he had those pipe fences grounded since the posts are in concrete thus the fence is not grounded?

He replied No, never been a problem,.

Just then we both watch a lightening bolt hit his fence about a quarter mile away then the horse in the corral who was next to the pipe fence fell to the ground. We both thought the horse was dead but after about ten minutes it did get up but could only make turns to the right. Eventually after months horse appeared to have recovered.