EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

My project that I figured would take a couple weeks, ended up taking just over a couple of months and almost every free minute I've had (not to mention WAY over budget).  Dogs are fat and lazy because we haven't been hunting, but at least now they have a nice place to call home.  Time to head back to the woods!

Overall slab is 60' X 40'.  Cut out 2' of existing clay, hauled in 18 loads of select fill.  Time for concrete!  Kennel portion of slab slopes from 0 to 2" front to back into a drain trough that runs down the center and which slopes from 0 to 6" at the drain.  So far, hosing out the kennels has worked well.  Installed a 1,750 gallon septic system to handle the wash-down.
(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/108_resize.jpg)

Finished Slab
(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/109_resize.jpg)

Building Portion almost complete
(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/113_resize.jpg)

Starting the kennel framework.  All framed out of 2 3/8" drillstem
(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/117_resize.jpg)

Framework completed and being sandblasted prior to welding on the 2" X 4" panels.
(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/119_resize.jpg)

Framework being primed, prior to everything receiving two coats of oil-based enamel.
(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/120_resize.jpg)

The finished product.  I have 12 kennels, each being 5' X 15'
(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/133_resize.jpg)

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/134_resize.jpg)

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/141_resize.jpg)

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/135_resize.jpg)

Next years crop of hunting dogs enjoying their new home.
(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/136_resize.jpg)

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/138_resize.jpg)

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/137_resize.jpg)

That is a very fine setup.  Did you elect to hold off of the watering system for now?  Again, very nice setup.

1st class all the way man.  I really like it. 

Mighty fine set up Bryant! ;D

Pups are lookin' good.

I thought you gave up on the hogs for the summer! :o

Bryant,
Most impressive and firt class job.

Dang! Very nice.

Looks like all the time and money was worth it.  1st Class facility

Can i send my dogs for a visit until about Jan. ??

lol,, very nice setup.

Holly Crap That is Awsome.  You win the Lotto or something??? ;D

Bryant
  Very good  looking job all the way around,,,well  thought out ,, good lay out!!!
    I know the old owners of that place are smileing down on you :)
      did you hang me a hammock
         great job
          Dexter

Bryant,

      Very nice setup.  Are the posts welded to plates, sitting on top of the concrete, or did you drill the concrete and set the posts in it?

Bryant

Are you worried about your dogs not wanting to hunt and just laying around now?

We own a A/C company let me know if u want to put central heat and air in there i will hook u up ;) ;D. Very Nice set up though, but like my dad always said if your gonna do it, do it right.

SWEEEET !!!!!

WOW....VERY NICE!!! ;)

very very nice kennels. great looking pups. your kennels are way bigger than mine. but heres 2 pics of mine jus to show them off

(http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv161/hoghunter72/newtandkennel001.jpg)

(http://i680.photobucket.com/albums/vv161/hoghunter72/newtandkennel002.jpg)

Bryant,
  You roll hard.

Also...I am really jealous of your pens. Im not sure if we can hunt anymore.

Those are both very nice setups. I need a setup like that for my bird dogs.

Yep bryant hit the high class now ;D He will forget bout us lil guys ;)

Jealous, that's all? Come on, lets be serious man..... That makes me feel very inadequate..... 2" penis kind of inadequate!  ;D

Steve

hehe....Bryant forgot to install the crystal chandeliers. Better get right on that.

Nice kennels for sure!
Cheers
M

That is very impressive. Nice job

   :o  .   

good job them dogs are gonna be too spoiled now if any of them leave and go to a new kennel haha ;D

Thanks for the compliments.  I've been engineering this in my head for quite sometime.  The project started off enjoyable, but quickly turned to work.  I'm impatient, and was beginning to wonder if I would EVER finish.  My arms look like a druggie with track marks for those days when it was just too hot to make myself put a long sleeve shirt on before firing up the welder.

I'm still working (in my mind) on the water system, and possible automatic feeders.  I just haven't quite mastered how thats going to work quite yet.  I have noticed that for the few days they've been in there that a little dust does accumulate in the water buckets each day.  I'm just not certain a float-type system that keeps the buckets full without periodically emptying them will work.  Still thinking...


I might let you come see them in person if I can get on one of those "good places" I'm always hearing about.


Chris,

When my guys were forming the slab, I handed him 44 weld plates for the kennels and a drawing on where they went.  After seeing the look on his face, no words were exchanged other than "let's just put those to the side and I'll drill them in after the pour".    Once the slab was poured, we layed out the kennels,  snapped chalk lines and went to work with a hammer drill.  I put four wedge bolts through each 4" X 4" plate.  Spent almost two evenings just drilling, then welded the drill stem to the plates.

I built a pigtail to run my mig welder off the 220volt generator of the bobcat welder.  I turned up the shielding gas and welded all my panels, doors, hinges, etc with the mig for a cleaner look.  Burned just over 20 pounds of mig wire.

Bryant, I just talked to Sam.  He wants to come home.... ;)  I've looked at these darn pictures about 20 times already.....I have 5 sheets of mock drawings on graphing paper, the gears are turning and I can feel the check book getting lighter.

Bryant,

   Something I noticed at the greyhound farm I was at last week, is that every single kennel and run had a "licker" installed.   I like the bowls myself, but I can't help but think with the farm having several hundred dogs, they were using the lickers for a reason. 

 I am assuming that you did not go with a center aisle, so that the kennels remain under the shade throughout the day. is this correct? or is there a different reason for having the kennel gates facing the outside?

Chris,

Kind of hard to explain without seeing, but here's why the kennels face outside.  The two rows of kennels (front and back) do not back up to one another.  There is a two foot wide area between them which contains a drain trough that is 12" wide.  (We used the green sewer pipe to form it in the pics above).  This allows me to wash each pen front to back, everything hits the trough which also slopes to a drain in one end and then is plumbed under the slab and out to the septic tank.  The kennels all slope 2" to the drain, then the drain slopes 6" from one end to the other.

The framework, and panels all sit level which means that the panels are 1 1/2" off the ground at the gates, and 3 1/2" off the ground at the back which allows "turds" to be washed under them and into the trough.  I built temporary pieces of panel to put along the back of the puppy pens to keep the pups from getting out which can be removed when they grow.

There is a guy in San Antonio that has kennels that are very similar to what I built.  I used a lot of his ideas and pictures to build mine.  Although his trough is square and mine in round, here's his pic so you can get an idea what I'm talking about and what it looks like between the two rows of pens.

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/11.jpg)

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/16.jpg)

Bryant
   like i said well thought out,, you probally got a better finish on the slab without all the weld plates   and they are all in the right place  also,, they would of been knocked around during the pour not to mention  having to finish around all the plates
  once again great job
   Dexter

very nice , your dogs seem to be well taken care of. good man

them some good lookin kennels

TAKE DOWN THE PICS ASAP!  MY DOGS WOULD RUN AWAY AND HEAD SOUTH IF THEY KNEW THEY COULD BE LIVING IN STYLE.  JK NICELY DONE BRYANT

Those are rediculous.   ;D
 
 Are those Dee's kennels with the square trough?

I don't even know what to say man, that is a thing of beauty.  Really really nice job. 
MG

CADILLAC!!! Great Job and very well thought out.  I have been kicking around ideas about what I was going to build at my new place before I moved the dogs and I thought that I was going to have a sweet setup but this had made me rethink my whole design.

Joey

Joey,

You can make catch a kennel like Bryant made for his dogs, but just be aware that catch needs an elk hide bed in his. Overstuffed of course so he is very comfortable. He will also need some low lighting to add to the ambiance when he is entertaining the ladies.

I can see it now, Catch will have the ultimate bachelor pad kennel complete with a stripper pole.  :o

He's a good dog, it's okay to spoil him.
Cheers!
M

Bryant I think you should just go ahead and post a build sheet so we can start picking up what we will need to build one of these for ourselves.  How many feet (or miles) of drill stem, truck loads of concrete, tons of rebar, bundles of r-panel etc.  I get the "I wants" really easy man and these pics are NOT helping me right now  ;D
Matt

Matt,

I can tell you that lots of thought went into the planning stage before I broke ground so to minimize waste materials.  Lots of things such as the size I made everything was done to accomodate material sizes. Kennels were purposely made 5' X 15' because the panels came in 20' lengths.  One panel made a side and one door, etc.  I used 22 joints of drill stem, and other than the couplings I cut off each end I only had one single three foot piece left over.  

The kennels are a good distance from my house, so I had to also run almost 850' of pvc to get water down there.  I also buried electrical conduit, but got sticker shock when I went to buy the copper.  Not sure what I'm going to do about lights.  Don't you work for a power company now?   ;D

If interested, or just to get ideas I have detailed records almost down to the number of screws it took to build it.


Kevin,

Yes, those are Dee's kennels.  He had some pups for sale a long time ago and I saw his kennels in the background.  I contacted him, and he took and emailed me a TON of pictures.  Several phone calls later, I had the beginning of my design.

Matt,

    I know what you mean about the "I wants".   Mandi and I were sitting at lunch discussing moving the "boarders" out of our barn so that we can convert the back 36x48 section into pipe and panel kennels, with doors going to the existing 50x100 turnouts. ;D

That is what I figured you woud do.  You have never struck me as a person that would throw something together.  Hang on to all that info and sell it as plans to me at a later date  ;D  I would only get frustrated at not being able to go pick the material up at this point haha.  I am assuming that the wall side is facing North?  And how slick is the finish on your concrete?
Thanks,
Matt

Chris,
Do it do it do it
(http://www.smiley-faces.org/smiley-faces/smiley-face-poke.gif) (http://www.smiley-faces.org)

Yes, the sheeted wall is North.  I had originally planned to leave the building open all around...sheeting that side was an after thought.

On the drive-through portion, and on all the walkways (5' across front and back of pens, 4' down the end) I put a med. broom finish.  Where the kennels sit, I put a trowel machine on it and made it slick as I could.  Had hesitation making it slick where the dogs would walk, but I wanted it to be easier to wash down.  So far, so good and dogs don't have any problems even when wet.

I would also eventually like to find an old self-service car wash boom pivot to mount dead-center above all the kennels.  I think that would make wash down time easier than dragging a hose down each side.

Your a pretty smart fella with the car wash boom idea.  One thing I would like feedback on is how do their nails ware on the slick concrete?  I still have to clip the nails on the dogs I have on slick and the dogs I have on rougher concrete and dirt have nubbs for nails, somthing to watch.
Matt

Bryant,

    We have a 6 bay car wash in town that was damaged by Ike and has been closed down. I suspect it is slated to be demolished. I will check with the owners to see if they will let me scavenge an overhead boom for you.

Chris,

You score me a car-wash boom, and I'll come down and personally play the ukulele at your next Quinceanera!

That would be awesome...let me know.

First class.

A big hell yea here, if you don't mind me asking, what was the cost?

Bryant,

You didn't forget to make a couple kennels extra for my dogs, did you? ;D

They look good bud..

wow that's impressive!

i can't even begin to imagine how much you paid for that little project.

all i can say is wow..and i hope you get years of enjoyment out of it.

nothing better than having your hunts run smoother and keeping the area cleaner.

you are hardcore my friend! enjoy it... ;) wish i could build some like that! wish i had some land to build on! ;D

WOW, great lookin' kennels Bryant!!!  :)

THAT'S A GREAT SET-UP!! ARE YOU USING SHOP LIGHTS FOR LIGHTING?

my buddy at work asked me how you guys get rid of all the crap? i told him you have it slopped with drains. he then asked if the crap will go down the drain holes without clogging it up.

to be honest, i didn't know what to tell him because ive never seen any that nice.

so can somebody answer this question for me?

Bryant, That is awesome looking set up.

I think the part I do like best is the trough you built for cleaning system.

Did you set up any kind of Screen to prevent debris (leaves and xtra stuuf the dogs bring home) from clogging the drain?

That would be the only thing I could see you lacking in your kennel, If I had kennels that nice, dragging a hose around would seem like a cake walk to me.

I have been meaning to call you for about two weeks to see how Comet and your pups are doing.

Man those kennels are top shelf.  One day when move to Texas and find some land can take a few ideas from you.

Great job there.

Great job Bryant and an great honor to your dogs......

Jerryg

were is the cooler to store all that meet to cut down the feed bill.

X100 if I ever settle down I got kennel blueprints O0 O0 O0 O0 ;D ;D ;D

Very nice setup

the place that i bought has 3 barns and i till now have not decided on how exactly i am going to do the dog kennels in one ... i now know! and i LOVE THE barrels of the ground!! Great idea!

i have the barn just need to concrete the floor!

VERY NICE!!! and Great put together!!!

WOW

Man! Thats fine! Nice job congrats on the completion.

Where did you get your wire pannels from?

Finally got around to taking some pics of the watering system and feeders I put together.  When thinking it through, I didn't want the water bowls or whatever held the water to be fixed in place.  I knew because of dust and idiotic male dogs that piss in their water I would have to have a way to periodically empty and wash the containers.  What I ended up doing was using buckets held in place with snaps.  Then I built a watering system where each bucket has a pipe extending down from the framework.  The system is run by an irrigation system timer which turns on at a set time and waters for a set time.  I measured how long it would take to fill all buckets from empty to full...3 minutes.  Obviously the buckets are never completely empty so the excess just runs over and down the drain.  So far it works flawless, and the only time I touch the buckets is once a week to rinse them out.  Then press the manual cycle button and they all automatically refill once again.  Also with all the piping being overhead, when the system turns off, everything drains by gravity so no water will remain if it should freeze outside.

For the feeders, I opted to use a custom designed feeder that I had made by T-N-T Body Works out of Florida (Gale Tuggle always has a booth set up at Uncle Earls).  I like the feeders because they mount to the outside of the door, and my kids can easily feed without having to open the kennels.  Puppy feeders are the same, just a little larger size.  No bowls to have to find and wash the piss out of, move around to wash, or anything like that.

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/kennels4.jpg)

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/kennels2.jpg)

(http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee138/bdavis1476/Kennels/kennels3.jpg)

 

what...no automatic feeders ??? ???

haha thats awesome man, lookin good.

did you do all the plumbing with just regular ol schedule 40 pvc??  or something else?

I would sure like to get my hands on a few of those feeders, can you pm some info on those.  I use the goat feeders but they get water in them when it rains and blows.  I think your watering system is brilliant!
MG

You are sick dude,I love u man!

Holy crabapple!!!! That's a heck of a setup right there. Nice work!

Bryant,

   The watering system is brilliant.  That's a first class kennel setup.

THOSE ARE AWESOME, ITS PRETTY BAD WHEN DOGS LIVE BETTER THAN ME LOL JK... UR IDEAS CAME TOGETHER GREAT THOSE ARE SPECTACULAR, WISH I COULD AFFORD TO BUILD MY DOGS SOME LIKE THAT.... GR8 JOB U PUT A WHOLE NEW MEANING TO DOGS LIVIN FIRST CLASS

My dogs just ran off to texas..... ;)

How do you keep them from bailing out the top? I got a dog that is part Air Jordan. She would hit the platform and and be gone... very nice setup. 

lol couldn't have worded it better myself !! GREAT JOB

nice job.

man bryant imma have to swang thru and get a look at them in person couldnt be better

very nice.....where did the drums come from.....they look flat sided????? fill us in how they are mounted.....Pigstkr

I have one dog that jumped over into the next kennel a couple times trying to convince the neighbor to become his girlfriend.  I pulled the welder back down and covered the back half of his pen with some of the panel I had left over.  I still have two 5' X 5' pieces, and will prob. do two more pens when I get the chance.  No other dogs have tried to get out.  During the summer, a lot of the dogs liked to lay on top of the barrels with their front and back legs hanging over.  I only have a couple of dogs that will stand on top of the drums.


The drums are just regular round soap drums.  I just spaced two runs of angle iron where the barrels would saddle between them.  I never had a dog knock one off, but they kept rolling them.  Recently, I drilled a hole through the barrel and the front piece of angle iron and put a single bolt and nut just to keep them from turning.  The front of the barrels are only cut half open...idea was to leave a lip to keep hay in.  Another lesson learned...even a tiny bit of hay and septic systems do NOT get along.  That was a mistake I won't make again.

I also recently made a puppy ramp.  Used two pieces of 2"X6" fastened together, then bolted a piece of angle iron across the top where it would easily hook onto a platform.  I made it long enough that the slope wouldn't be so great they would have trouble climbing it.  I have two 8-11 week old pups in there now, and both within minutes figured out how to run up to the platform and get in the barrel.

Heck of a nice set-up..

Very nice  8)

Very nice.

Very nice setup.....i built a similar setup several years back......here is a couple pics....

I really like your dog bowl setup mounted on the door....i'll have to get ahold of TNT for some of those.....

My dogs would chew the heck out of those plastic water bowls, though.....

I hope your septic system ends up working out better than mine.....I just never could keep the in ground pipe clean of debris....pine needles mostly, but everything seems to get into that waste pit.....i ended up capping off my system, and simply digging a big hole to wash all the waste into....I works much better, and you only have to dig it out 2 times a year.....

(http://picturehosting.com/images/dans1018/pens5400.jpg)
(http://picturehosting.com/images/dans1018/pens6400.jpg)
(http://picturehosting.com/images/dans1018/pens4400.jpg)
(http://picturehosting.com/images/dans1018/pens2400.jpg)
(http://picturehosting.com/images/dans1018/pens1400.jpg)
(http://picturehosting.com/images/dans1018/slick400_1.jpg)

How are you liking the kennels Bryant?  Any changes yet? What did you end up doing about the hay getting in the septic system?

Love the kennels, and wouldn't really change a thing.  The hay last year was definately a problem.  This year, the dogs just had to be cold.  The north end of the building is sheeted, and the barrels also face south so no wind gets to the dogs..just cold temperatures.  During one spell this winter (below freezing temps for almost a week) I did break down and fill the barrels with hay.  I just closed the septic drain, and cleaned by shovel for a couple days.  When temps did warm up, it took me about 4 hours, a shop vac, pair of gloves and about five trash bags to get everything straightened back up....not something I would want to do often.

The septic system (knock on wood) has worked flawlessly.  When I built the pens, in my mind I just had figured having to have it pumped maybe once a year.  I'm going on two years of housing +/- 15 dogs at all times and so far no problems.  I do add rid-ex to the system once a month and make certain that no chemicals go down there. I wash the pens at least every other day and a LOT of poop and water go down the drain.

I did have to go back and add partial roofs to a couple of the pens.  I have a bulldog down there named Monkey (and rightly so) that can climb over the 6' panels faster than I can shut and lock the gate.

The automatic watering system works like a champ also although I've considered setting up a couple pens and trying some of those lickers.  I have a couple male dogs who really like pissing in their buckets and its irritating having to empty and refill those particular ones.

I wasn't able to open the pictures to see how everything turned out is there another way to view them?

Wow.. nice

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