One of the most important aspects of choosing a house for your canine is size. A dog house needs to be large enough for your dog to comfortably turn around inside of, but small enough that your dog’s natural body heat will collect inside the dog house to keep it warm. Most working breeds, such as the German Shepherd, Dutch Shepherd or Belgian Malinois, are between 22″ to 26″ at the whithers. A dog of this size would require a sleeping area of approximately 22″x38″ with a ceiling height of about 30″. Many animal welfare organizations offer published documents outlining specific measurements for the ideal dog house for different sizes of dog.

Other important factors to consider are proper insulation for climates with harsh winters, and a soft bedding material such as straw. It is recommended that the dog house be slightly elevated by bricks or cinder blocks to prevent the floor from absorbing moisture from the ground. A canvas flap can also be used to further protect the house from harsh weather.

Although there are literally thousands of different designs of dog house to choose from, we at Command Control K9 feel that the best dog house on the market is the k-9 law enforcement dog house: http://www.doghouseplans.com/ We house all of our protection dogs, and guard dogs, with the same plan, on our 105 acre state-of-the-art facility. We at Command Control K9 feel that a balanced dog is a happy dog, so we give our dogs free range in a natural environment.