Mercury Project Continues

<---- Our old dog yard back in 2002 before we moved to where we are now.

We haven't had very cold weather for the past week so Ive stopped the thermometer tests for now. I am still observing Mercury's new insulated house though and the indentation in the straw is clear that he is preferring to stay to the back curled up in a nice little ball. The size of the house is large enough inside that hes taking up about half of it. I made it large on purpose but didn't mean to make it quite that big. It may end up paying off in the long run as I could still install an arctic entry just like our log cabin dog house. That might be a nice addition...

I make all the arctic entries removable so they can be taken out in spring/summer for the dogs can stretch out inside, keep out of the rain and not get too cramped or overheated.

The other interesting thing about Mercury's 'test' area is that I couldn't get his old standard house out of the ground. It was well frozen in so I elected to leave it there rather than risk damage trying to get it out. When I put in the new one I blocked the entry to his old one so he could test out the larger one and get used to it rather than go back to something he had known and may have been more comfortable with.

Aquila in front of her log dog house (2002) in our old dog yard.
This house was our first insulated project. We found cheap logs with minor defects that we purchased at a great rate.
This style worked very nice except it was next to impossible to move. When we relocated the yard we had to use a bobcat to get it on a trailer and repositioned in our new yard.
The skirting at the bottom of the house enclosed an open area that was used by Aquila to 'den' in the colder months to take advantage of the colder ground below.

Detail of the removable arctic entry in the log house.

A few days ago I moved the large house out of the way so he could access both, fluffed up the straw in his new larger house and the next day it was stamped down again. A clear sign that he is prefering the larger house to his smaller one.

This may change when the temps drop as we get farther into winter so I will be doing the 'fluffing' test again in both houses just to make sure hes giving me the same result.

In the end, no matter if these new houses are efficient to my standards or not, what counts is what the dogs like. The main goal Ive had while building my dog yard over the years has been for every one to have the maximum amount of comfort as possible. It would be so much easier if they could tell me what they want but since they cant, Ive found that experimentation is the next best thing.

Old logs salvaged from a wrecked building for the next cabin project.
These were in great shape and with a little sanding looked good as new.

The other benefits to having insulated houses is the dry straw (standard houses tend to ice up over the course of the winter) and the fact that I don't have to keep shoveling food into their mouths to keep their weight on. Short coated dogs tend to shiver to keep warm and that uses up energy that needs to be replaced by more food.

Not all my dogs have thin coats, which is why testing these things on the heavier coated ones is so interesting. I feel I can play around with my choices on those who wouldn't be as affected as much as the ones who could be more sensitive. My dogs with thin coats automatically get an insulated house.