Each dog living in a country house is simply obliged to have a kennel. Even if it is such a huge and shaggy dog, like Alabai. The animal, like man, should have more than just a place to hide from the cold and bad weather. A booth is a piece of personal space where the animal will feel at home. And what should be the booth for alabay? Dimensions, photos and some nuances of construction - all this you will learn by reading this article.
What kind of beast?
As you know, Alabai are simply magnificent watchmen. Therefore, in a private house you just can not do without such a strong and courageous guard. The most striking feature of alabai is its impressive size. Of course, the market for pet products is now so large that buying a suitable kennel will not be difficult. But it’s much more pleasant to take care of yourself so that your pet and assistant live comfortably.
To do this, you need to know what kind of booth for alabay will have. It’s not difficult to make it yourself. For this, absolutely no special skills are needed. It is enough to be able to hold a hammer in your hands. And of course, to know the necessary size of the booth for Alabai. The drawing of such a structure is also not of any complexity. Anyone can do it yourself.
Important requirements
First of all, you need to choose the right place for the location of the dog house. The size of the Alabai booth is quite large, so if you have a too small area, there may be problems with installing dog housing.
It is necessary to arrange the house in such a way that in the summer direct sunlight will not fall on it. Otherwise, your shaggy friend will be very hot. But moving deep into the shade is also not recommended.
The best place for a kennel is on a small hill, in the shade of one or two trees. In no case should you place a booth in a lowland. In summer and winter, water will be collected there. Your pet will begin to suffer from dampness and may even become ill.
Kennel Dimensions
To ensure maximum comfort for your pet, you need to choose the right size booth for alabay. If you don’t guess a little, the dwelling will turn out to be uncomfortable and the dog may not like it, it will refuse to enter there. Agree, it will be very disappointing: so much effort and energy has been spent, but he does not like it.
If a puppy grows in your home, then it’s pretty difficult to predict exactly what sizes it will reach. Therefore, you will have to choose one of two options:
- measure the size of the pet and build a new kennel every year;
- to build a standard booth designed for large breed dogs, and wait for the baby to grow up to it.
If you decide to stay on the second option, then the size of the booth for alabai will be something like this:
- length - 1250–1300 mm;
- width - 1050–1100 mm;
- height - 900–950 mm.
If the resulting house for your pet is still too big, you can additionally insulate it from the inside. So the area of the kennel will become a little smaller, and the animal in it - much warmer.
Take measurements with alabai
If you decide to build a house of exactly the size that is needed for your dog, the pet will have to be measured. You need to take only three measurements:
- semi-girth of the chest alabai;
- body length from tail to nose;
- height from the floor to the highest point of the withers.
That's all. Comfortable sizes of a doghouse for alabai can be calculated as follows:
- the depth and width of the dog house is equal to the length of the trunk + 70–100 mm;
- kennel height - pet height + 60–70 mm.
In order for the animal to freely enter and exit the house, it needs a manhole of comfortable size:
- manhole width - half-circumference (girth divided in half) of the dog’s chest + 100 mm;
- the height of the hole is the height of the animal or 50–70 mm lower.
That will be our booth for Alabai. The dimensions and design drawings, as you see, are quite simple.
Materials and Tools
Before proceeding directly to manufacturing, you need to prepare tools and choose the material for construction.
You will need:
- long ruler or level;
- a simple pencil, marker;
- hand saw or jigsaw;
- a drill or a set of screwdrivers;
- wood screws (a lot);
- metal corners;
- timber for the frame;
- plywood or wallboard;
- insulation;
- paint, brushes.
Of course, the best material for making a doghouse is wood. To extend the service life, the boards are treated with special impregnations that protect the wood from decay and various insects. You can paint the finished product only from the outside, from the inside you should not do this.
The roof is best built removable. So it will be possible to periodically ventilate the house and clean it. To keep the house warm in winter and cool in summer, it is well insulated with mineral wool or polystyrene. The roof is covered with pieces of roofing material, flexible tiles or other roofing materials.
Building a house for a dog: stages
Having shown imagination, you can draw a huge number of models and options for dog housing. It depends on you exactly what kind of kennel will be for Alabai. We have already determined the sizes, now we proceed to the preparation of the construction plan:
- We make a drawing. If you don’t know exactly how to do this, you can find a drawing of a similar structure on the Internet and remake it to your size.
- We cut the bars of the appropriate size.
- Using self-tapping screws, we assemble the walls of the future design: the back, front and two side.
- We plywood all the internal parts and fasten them together using self-tapping screws and metal corners.
- From the bars of the right size, we assemble the floor frame and sew it up with boards. We make sure that there are no gaps between them.
- We make the frame of the roof (ceiling), sheathe it with plywood from the inside.
- We warm the roof with a thick layer of mineral wool.
- We insulate the floor and wall panels with the foam of the required thickness.
- We sheathe the structure with lining, plywood and other material, “sew” the roof.
- We fix the roof to the rear or side wall of the booth on the door hinges. Thus, a hinged roof is obtained. This allows you to ventilate the kennel and carry out cleaning.
Rules for arranging a good kennel
The sizes suggested above may change several times as the dog grows. This usually happens when the booth is being built for the puppy. There are several rules, compliance with which allows you to make the kennel as comfortable as possible:
- nothing should interfere with the animal; it should be convenient to lie or stand in the booth;
- the hole must be of a comfortable size, otherwise Alabai may be injured;
- the building must be well insulated;
- walls and roof must not leak or blow out;
- an interesting version of the booth, the roof design of which provides a small attic; there you can store various dog stuff in the winter: toys, unnecessary bowls, and so on; in addition, the attic is an additional air cushion, the booth will be even warmer;
- it is best to build a kennel from wood - this is the most environmentally friendly material;
- Dimensions and drawings are best checked several times; let a dog’s home be a little more spacious than cramped.
How to equip a manhole
However, in order to correctly calculate the size of the booth for Alabai, it is very important to properly equip the entrance to the dog's home. Laz is best placed a little away from the center of the structure, so the dog will be more comfortable. In inclement weather, she will be able to hide behind a solid wall and curled up, wait out the bad weather.
Quite often you can find recommendations for the construction of a two-room kennel. One part of such a booth is a vestibule, and the other is a sleeping area. Such a home is only good if your pet does not have additional security functions. Often, especially watchful watchmen even in the most severe frosts refuse to leave their posts and go to the sleeping compartment of the kennel. After all, the entire protected area is not visible from there.
There is one more subtlety. Before entering the kennel, it would be nice to build a small sill. Only 10-15 cm of height is enough, and the entrance to the booth will be reliably protected from wind and snow.
Determine the type of roof
Another important point in the construction of dog housing is the choice of the type of roof. It can be either single or gable.
The type of roof you choose does not depend on what size of the Alabai booth you have calculated. It is noted that the dogs themselves are more fond of shed roofs. If it is strong enough, the animal can use it as an additional platform for rest and observation. Located much above the ground, it is an excellent observation post and allows you to control a much larger area. Alabai love this very much.
There is one more argument. As you know, in winter there is no heating in the booth. Therefore, the smaller the internal volume of the kennel, the easier it is for the dog to warm it with its heat. A gable roof just adds to the booth of internal volume. If the construction height is sufficient for the convenience of Alab, then this additional volume is absolutely useless. Therefore, if you really want to build a gable roof for aesthetic reasons, it is advisable to make an additional flat ceiling. So alaba will be warm, and the booth will look perfect.