Dog Houses Plans

Need just a basic dog house? For most people, that's all they need, especially if you are a do it yourself (DOY) beginner. Plans for dog houses can be had that are considered entry level for the novice handy person. The basics of this dog house make for an insulated shelter for a small to medium sized dog and can be easily built of solid construction from pine or cedar. It can have a removable roof to allow for easy access to the interior for cleaning and other maintenance tasks. The simplest roof is flat but sloping on an angle; or, you can go with a pitched roof for a gable design. This dog house can also have an optional inner wall to create more than one room.

A very popular design is characterized by its simplicity and functionality. This dog house begins on a 2x4 raised floor, has offset front door giving a bit of an extra wall on the front for your canine buddy to lay up against and still be protected from the outside, and a gently sloped roof that, if not too high for the dog, can serve as an additional outdoor floor allowing the dog to get up on to lay down; just be careful that it's not icy in freezing weather and not too hot in the warmer times of year, if that applies in your region of the world.

When you review, get, or buy dog houses plans, you will probably find different treatments for the size and shape of the front door of the dog house. Be sure your dog house plans or blueprints call for a somewhat standard height based on the height of the dog; in other words, the width should be just slightly larger than the dog's chest and the height of the opening should be a couple of inches shorter than the dog's head height from the ground. Different dog house designs feature square or rectangular openings, with added trim around the perimeter of the opening for an attractive decorative look. Other feature a more advanced arch, straight vertical sides with a curved top. Finally, many dog houses have no actual door, while others do feature a wooden hinged door or a fabric flap doggy door.

When you choose to build your own dog house from scratch and start looking over various plans, you will notice different dog houses plans, whether they be for simple or more complex dog houses, or for small or large breed dogs, have different methods for displaying dimensions and length units in the drawings and diagrams for the various pieces of lumber and other materials, not too mention basic length, width, and height. Some have fixed, "hard coded" dimensions since the design is for a given size.

That said, if you find a design you like, you can alter the dimensions, scaling them proportionately, so that you end up with a dog house with the exact specifications and dimensions you want. Other dog houses plans use a more flexible method of specifying dimensions, opting for notation along the lines of "length of dog plus X inches. Finally, the worst plans you can get leave out dimensions altogether! Your best bet is to get dog houses plans that do include full dimensions spelled out, along with tools and materials lists, and step by step building instructions, with detailed diagrams, text, and maybe even photos. That will leave little to chance and you can build the best dog house for your dog in a day or two!