Our Facility
As our human kids grew up and moved out we added more and more dogs. Finally in 2012 we were empty nesters and with a 4 bedroom home and a cramped kennel. We started looking for a new home for us and the dogs and in the spring of 2013 we relocated to Clayton WI. Our new place has a much smaller house that is just right for the two of us and perhaps an overnight visitor. It is too small for any of our adult kids to move back home and that is no coincidence.
The new place had great acreage for training and a variety of outbuildings. It had a very nice 30' x 60' pole pole barn that seemed to be calling to be made into a kennel. The summer of 2013 was a lot of work but we ended up with a great facility with 10 regular kennels, one puppy pen/whelp kennel and a quarantine kennel. Each regular kennel has a 5'x5' inside area and a 5'x10' outside run. The puppy pen is a 10'x5' inside whelping pen with an attached 10'x10' ouside run. The quarantine kennel is an inside 5 x 8 kennel located away from the main kennel area but still close to the office.
For ease of cleaning each inside kennel has concrete block between them and a floor drain. The building is heated with in-floor heat and most of the time the dogs sleep on the floor instead of the beds. For outside excersize we have a 50'x80' fenced excersize yard.
Here are some pictures of the facility
This is what we had to start with. The previous owner had used the building for hay, grain and equipment storage. Just getting the grade right was a challenge since there was a 24" difference between the front and the back of the building. Lots of fill and sweat - and a laser level and we were all set.
With a little help from a rented backhoe and a good friend water and communications were trenched from the house to the kennel, approximately 250'.
The concrete work was a challenge. Dan and Tom did all the set up but we needed a contractor to do the pour and the initial set up on the corners for the walls. Here are the beginning formations of the kennels.
Many trips to Menards and several large deliveries and 5 months of work produced the building shown in the following pictures. There is still work to do but it is all coming together. And did I mention that the house was a gut and remodel too. Still working on that also.
Here is the new face of the kennel - parking and landscaping to be done in 2014
This is Leslie entering the office.
The office
Our inside kennels are 5' x 5' with 4' block walls on three sides and plywood on the outside wall. As the money tree grows the plywood walls will be covered with milk house panels like the whelp kennel. All kennels have raised beds, stainless steel bowls and buckets, and gun dog doors to the outside runs.
Here is Mae in one of the inside kennels.
In this row there are 10 of the 5' x 5' kennels and 1 whelp kennel that is 5' x 10' .
This is our inside training room. In here we work on obedience, basic handling, force fetch, and basic puppy retrieves. It is a great room for training when the weather is bad or after dark. Puppies are also brought in here for additional socialization. Eventually we will be offering small group training for basic obedience here.
Every kennel needs a storage room. We have a great shelf system for electronics, bumpers, decoys, towels, and cats.
This is the best picture of the outside runs until the snow melts. The outside runs are 5' x 10' except the whelp kennel that is 10' x 10'.
The dogs were all excited to see me outside, hoping that it is time to do some training or hunting. It is nice how they all staggered for the picture so as many as possible could get into the shot.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions
715-529-9001