Many of you guys may remember that one year ago this month I acquired an Original Mountain Cur pup from Oakachoy. This pup, whom I named "Sadie", has brought much fun and joy to my life. She is my almost constant companion. She goes everywhere with me except to work and to church!

I decided several weeks back to build a new kennel for Sadie, who is now a little over a year old.

Just thought I'd share a picture story of my kennel build project with you guys & gals.




I took off one Friday and spent part of the morning laying my kennel out. I then drilled all my holes and set my posts in concrete.


A few days later I acquired some red, clay based material to build a pad and I rented a machine to pack the material as I put it into place. I would place a layer of material and then pack it. I did this over and over until I got the pad built up to the height I desired. That machine just about whipped this ol' boy! After the pad was done I then built my frame for the future concrete pour.


I next put into place a berm of square bale mulch hay around the project and spread loose hay on the pad to keep the heavy rains from washing it away. Then I began to build the roof.




Roof is completed with rafters, lads, gavalume and rafter tie brackets.




After completing the roof I began to work on the concrete form. I lay down a poly moisture barrier and then put some old grating that I had purchased out of the scrap pile at work in it for reinforcement. I failed to take a PIC but I placed the grating on 25 pieces of 1.5" rebar chairs to hold it right below center of slab.




I hired a co-worker who is a seasoned concrete man to help me pour and finish the 1.5 yards of concrete for the 11' x 11' x 4" sloped slab. We put a hand troweled finish on it. I rigged up a misting system to spray water on the concrete and then kept it wet for 1 week after the pour to allow the concrete to slowly wet cure. After letting the concrete cure for 30 days, I put a concrete densifier and sealer on the slab. Water beads up on it like water on a waxed car. Urine and waste will not absorb into the concrete now.

After getting the concrete sealed, I ordered a 500 square foot pallet of St. Augustine sod from South Alabama. I tilled the ground up around the kennel and laid the sod. It rained on it every day for two weeks after it was placed. It is growing well. St. Augustine is the grass of choice for areas with lots of shade such as this.


After the sod was done, it was time to get my new kennel ordered. I did much research on kennels online and finally decided to order a kennel from TK Products in Michigan. Theirs was the best built kennel that I could find. I ordered their 10' x 10' x 6' kennel with heavy duty 6 gauge wire, 1-1/4" tubing and hot dipped galvanizing. Each panel of the kennel weighs 120 lbs. They build an excellent kennel. The wire is not welded to the frame like most kennels are done. A hole is drilled into the tubing for each wire end and it is then welded around the wire end. If you'd like to look at their products you can find them at www.tkproductsllc.com on the net. My kennel arrived yesterday and the wife and I got it assembled yesterday evening.


Sadie spent her first day in her new "Dog Mahal" today. Her doghouse is the Dog Den 2 by K9 Kondo. It is sitting on a rubber mat that extends out to the side of the doghouse. Sadie spends a lot of time on top of her doghouse so now she can jump down from her house onto a mat rather than the concrete. You can check out many of K9 Kondo's great products at www.k-9kondo.com on the web.

A lot of time and hard work went into this kennel build but I am well pleased with the end results.

All lumber in this project is pressure treated, the roof is gavalume, and there is not one single nail in the whole build other than the nails that were used for the rafter tie brackets. Everything else is put together with star head drive decking screws designed for pressure treated lumber.

I thank God for giving me what little "building sense" I have and the strength and health to get the job done.

I have enjoyed this project but am glad to see the end finally get here.

I hope Sadie gets many years of use from her new kennel.

I also hope all of you enjoy the thread!

Billy that's the finest 'dog' kennel I've ever seen! I bet Sadie has never heard the word 'dog' As much unconditional love as they give us they deserve a nice home.

Mighty fine!

No air conditioner?

By George now that's a dog kennel!

That's probably next.

nice work Billy..

I told my wife that I was going to run power to the kennel and install a 5 blade ceiling fan. I also told her that I was going to put a switch down low so Sadie could reach it and that I was going to teach her to flip the switch on with her nose when she needed some fresh air.

I had her going and she believed it for a while...

I'm working on three side by side kennels similar to yours Billy. I am putting two ceiling fans above them to run in the summer. Not sure about teaching the Mal to turn em on and off though...

Pm me a number I can send ya a text to....

That's the most impressive kennel I've ever seen

I use to run squirrel cage fans with temp switches for my dogs. Set it or whatever temp you wanted and that way it didn't run all day

great looking kennel.

Thats exactly what I would do, fans aren't very expensive to run and if that means some extra comfort for my buddy, all the better.

That's a nice setup. How big was the squares on the grating you put under the concrete? If they are 2x4 that looks like what I have been looking for to build a pen. If so do you have access to more?

Yes, it was 2" x 4" conveyor guard grating.

I wired several odd sized pieces together.

It was left over scrap pieces from a project at work that I purchased for a nickel per pound.

Sorry, it's all gone.

Excellent work.

Very nice

That was a heck of a deal. I'm never that lucky. I don't know that I'll ever own another dog that's not a cur. Do you plan to squirrel hunt her any?