How to Build a Doghouse

Your dog needs a safe place to stay out of the weather. Here are easy instructions to build your pet a comfortable, but inexpensive doghouse of his very own.

First, you'll need to build a floor for your doghouse. This will keep your dog from having to sleep directly on the ground. Using two by fours, build a frame big enough for your dog to lay down in, and still be comfortably snug. Don't make it very much bigger than the size your dog is when he is curled up sleeping. Making it any larger will encourage him to poop on one end, and sleep at the other end.

Using your two by fours, build a rectangle to be the floor of your doghouse. We made ours two feet by three feet. You'll need to adjust your dimensions to make them appropriate for the size of your dog. Inside your rectangle place cross pieces of two by fours so that the open spaces in the floor aren't too big. Again, you'll decide how many cross braces to put in based on how large your floor is. Try not to leave any open any space, more than about 18 inches wide.

Next you'll cover your two by four grid with plywood, cut into a rectangle the same size as your floor. Nail it down securely; making sure that when you go through the plywood your nails or screws are going through into the two by fours and not into the open space.

Now, you'll build your walls. Your walls will begin as rectangles made of two by fours similar to what you started with building the floor. For our doghouse, we made a sloped roof. This kept us from having to do any extra math or cutting to form a peak in the middle. Instead our roof will be one piece, higher on one side than the other so that the rain or snow will slide off. If you want your doghouse roof to be sloped that way, simply make one of the side walls about a foot higher than the other.

For instance, our example used a floor two feet by three feet; so on each of the longer sides we'll build a wall, (a rectangle that we will then stand up on its edge), and nail it to the floor. One of those walls will be two feet high, the other will be three feet high. The complete dimensions for the smaller wall are three by two, and for the larger piece three by three. Again, you'll want to add cross pieces to support any overly large open areas.

After you've turned each of your wall panels up on edge, and nailed them on the long sides of your floor, you'll connect the two pieces, across each of the short sides. Use at least two pieces of two by four wood, spanning across the smaller direction of your floor. (In our case, that was the two foot side.) Nail them in place securely, and you should have a hollow box.

Cut and attach rectangles of plywood to your sides, in the same manner that you built the floor. This time you will want the plywood sheeting to be on the outside of the doghouse. When he's inside the doghouse, your dog will be able to see the 'studs', (the two by fours) from inside (unless you want to go the extra expense of putting plywood in the inside and the outside).

As you add the wall pieces, be sure to consider where you want the doorway of your doghouse to be. Cut a rectangle in one of your wall pieces to allow the dog to pass in and out. When placing your doorway, be sure to consider which direction the doghouse will be sitting in when outside. Try to put the door on the side of the doghouse that will be the least exposed to wind.

Now, we'll add the roof. Looking at your doghouse from the top, measure all four edges of the tops of the wall. In our example, our two long walls are still three feet, but our side walls measured from top corner to top corner, will be a diagonal. It won't be two feet like the base is. Once you get your measurements, cut out a piece of plywood that's about eight inches bigger in each direction than what you've measured. This will create a bit of overhang to be the eaves of your doghouse. Center your roof piece so that an equal amount of overhang is showing on each side, and then nail it into place.

Finally, you'll want to paint your doghouse. Even if you're not particular about the color, you'll at least want to give it a coat of weather resistant paint to help to keep it from being damaged when it gets rained on or snowed on. Once the paint is dry, put some blankets or carpet remnants on the floor inside, and it's all ready for your dog to move in.

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