scott kennels vs runs on concrete

[tthaden]

I am tore between building 3 runs on concrete with a shed with 3 seperate houses inside or 5 Scott kennels with roof and attached dog house. These will house everything between young pups to older dogs. Any input is appreciated.

Thanks,

[Cajun Casey]

I feel wire totally ruins front ends. Just my thoughts. I prefer to common house my dogs, rather like hounds.

[prairiefirepointers]

There's no way I'd ever put one of my dogs in an oversized, glorified rabbit hutch. :roll:

[kbshorthairs]

We built a bunch of above ground pens similar to the Scott kennels several years ago for George Newcomb to take to summer camp. He used slats for the floor with small gaps between for the stool to fall through. They worked so well that we made another batch for our kennel. We used expanded metal that we sandblasted for the floors. We made aluminum dog houses/whelping boxes that we attached to the back end. At first glance, EVERYONE commented that they seemed way too small, but these were mainly trial dogs and none of their exercise took place in the kennel anyway.
The pens were inside our kennel that had a sloped concrete floor. Two rows of pens with the floor sloped to a trough in the middle for washout. Keep in mind we housed about 25 dogs, so this setup made feeding and clean-up a snap.
When we were raising puppies, the above ground was definitely the way to go. A big litter can generate lots of stuff to clean up!!!
I only have two dogs currently, and use Preifert kennel panels on a concrete floor. There are advantages to both set ups, but I always prefer concrete for the floor even with above ground pens.
Good luck with your build.

[Vonzeppelinkennels]

Well say or believe what you want but all my dogs are born & raised in the Scott kennels & I have yet to see any bad results because of it.I believe they are cleaner & more sanitary,I don't get fleas & don't seem to have much problems with worms.
I also believe they help young pups develope muscle strength & coordination by learning to walk on the rails & pulling them selves up when their feet fall through.Helps them learn to deal with a little stress by all these things.Builds some self confidence by learning to use the spring loaded doors & hearing them shut behind them.
I have had one pup in probably 20 yrs that would not use the doors if she was in she wouldn't go out if she was out she wouldn't go in.That same dog was Gun sensitive you had to be careful with her,I gave her away & she worked out with just one person but not a dog & would want to breed.Just my observations over quite a few yrs.

Oh just a little after thought they are cooler in the summer with air circulating from all directions much cooler then concrete.With plenty of bedding in the winter I have never had any problems but I also dbl up dogs that get along in the winter for added warmth.
I'm sure others will disagree & like stated I'm sure both types of kennels have advantages & disadvantages.
Your Choice really neither is cheap.

[pointshootretrieve]

People get way to emotional with the size of a Scott Kennel. I have both Scott Kennels and a 12x10 kennel and my dogs do the same thing in both, sleep and get up for an occasional P It's no different when they are inside, curled up in a ball someplace sleeping. NO ONE should rely on ANY kennel to supply exercise for there animals. Mine get plenty of exercise and training so when they are free to do what they want 90% of the time they choose to sleep. They both have there pluses and minuses, the Scott kennel is a cleaner setup if you have a piggy dog, rather than walking in poo until it gets cleaned up it slides through the grating on the ground under the kennel. However you have to keep up with cutting nails as they don't wear them down at all.

[Birddogz]

Concrete all day long.

[Birddog3412]

Either one is fine IMO. Here are some pics of my homeade kennels

[ACooper]

BD3412
What are you using for flooring? Those look good!

[Birddog3412]

BD3412
What are you using for flooring? Those look good!

Thanks. Expanded metal in a couple, hog confinemen flooring in the others.

I have one real Scott kennel. I like the floor in it better, but it is expensive. I think a 24in X 36in piece is 50 bucks.

[ACooper]

BD3412
What are you using for flooring? Those look good!

Thanks. Expanded metal in a couple, hog confinemen flooring in the others.

I have one real Scott kennel. I like the floor in it better, but it is expensive. I think a 24in X 36in piece is 50 bucks.

I have one elevated kennel that I used kennel decking from farm tek, I like it but it is pricey.

[Vonzeppelinkennels]

The Scott Grate Floor panels are 43x24 $38.95 each or 2 for $69,not cheap.Nothing is anymore.
The first SK I built cost a little over $300 the last one I built was close to $500 & other then the floor panels which I like better then the origianls the Gal.Steel panels are cheaper lighter gauge.
Kinda like smaller bags of dog food that cost more if you get my drift.
TE Scott developed the first ones then sold the company to Deer Creek I believe.

[Coveyrise64]

BD3412
What are you using for flooring? Those look good!

Thanks. Expanded metal in a couple, hog confinemen flooring in the others.

I have one real Scott kennel. I like the floor in it better, but it is expensive. I think a 24in X 36in piece is 50 bucks.

Be careful what size expanded metal you use for flooring. If the notches of the diamond are to small the dog can catch a toenail in the "v" and tear it out. Seen it happen on a trailer ramp made of expanded metal, not a pretty sight.

Coveyrise64

[Blue Briar]

I have both and like both.

I have poly max flooring in which you can purchase from farmtek which works out great. I am aware of a dog that got severely injured fro the Scott's kennel brand flooring. He still ain't right to this day

Jmo


Chris Ritter

[Birddog3412]

I have both and like both.

I have poly max flooring in which you can purchase from farmtek which works out great. I am aware of a dog that got severely injured fro the Scott's kennel brand flooring. He still ain't right to this day

Jmo


Chris Ritter

Would you please elaborate, not sure how one could get hurt to that extreme in the flooring??

[bphelps56]

I have five T. E. Scott kennels and several concrete kennels. I prefer the T. E. Scott kennel over the concrete. The dogs do fine on both the concrete and the Scott kennels, but with the Scott kennel there is less to clean, fewer parasites, dogs are cooler in the summer and no problems with the dogs feet. I modified the plans to make the kennel floor two feet longer with a larger porch area and the dog house is larger with an insulated floor.

[larry]

I have had both, I prefer the concrete. My concrete runs are on the side of a kennel building so there are small pens inside with K9_Kondo Dog Dens. It is easier for me in the winters as a can have some heat and light inside the kennels and also plenty of storage. Also I keep a training bench in there and it makes it convenent to do FF over the winter.

[AZ Brittany Guy]

I have both. Indoor / Outdoor on concrete with gutters in a kennel building. I keep Adults and Jr. Adults in those. 6'X12' out and 4'X6' in.

I built a Scotts style kennel / whelping box for my pups up at the house in our garage. It is elevated 18" off the ground on casters (I hate to bend over). Its in two sections:

One is a 4'X4' whelping box with piano hinged lid and guillotine slide trap door that leads to a 6'X4" Farmtec grated mini dog run with guillotine slide trap door leading to the whelping box. I keep a tarp under the dog run portion and when is use, I pull the tarp daily for hosing off in the driveway with beach and soap. The run and the box are on casters so I can roll them out of the garage and hose them off. I need to come up with a better solution for the tarp.

As a side note: The pups learn how to eliminate in the run rather than the box and they also know how to use a dog door when they are old enough to go to the adult kennels.

[Ryman Gun Dog]

Gentlemen,
I use the concrete/gravel and at times during the winter months I wish we had the Scott type kennel set up, however with a mountain kennel 40 yards long and 25 yards wide, it just is not going to happen. We did have a neighbor who had a Scott type kennel for his Beagles and one of them did end up crippled, I do not know how it
happened just that it did. It was enough for me to decide I wanted concrete flooring for my Grouse Dog Kennels.
RGD/Dave

[Vonzeppelinkennels]

Crippled from?? I guess your saying you have never seen a dog raised on concrete end up crippled? Being crippled probably has nothing to do with either,concrete or SK. :roll:

I have seen many beagles raised in those type kennels with many different types of flooring long before there was such a thing as Scott Kennels.

[Blue Briar]

Crippled from??

I am investigating this right now to get the complete story. What I do know is that I hunt with this dog 4 years ago, His name was Buck, His leg was wrapped from the elbow down ( it looked like a cast). I asked Gary what had happened, he told me it was caused by a Scotts Kennel. I believe somehow his pad got stuck between the slats of the floor. Will let you know when i find out exactly what happened.

[Vonzeppelinkennels]

I guess that is possible but I have seen dogs get their feet & nails caught in chain link also,unfortunate accidents but things happen once in while nothing is foolproof.I heard another guy say he had a dog that was raised in a SK that ran sideways for a long time but quit after being kenneled elsewhere for a time.
I don't believe it has anything to do with SK.Total speculation!!

[Blue Briar]

I guess that is possible but I have seen dogs get their feet & nails caught in chain link also,unfortunate accidents but things happen once in while nothing is foolproof.I heard another guy say he had a dog that was raised in a SK that ran sideways for a long time but quit after being kenneled elsewhere for a time.
I don't believe it has anything to do with SK.Total speculation!!

Yeah I don't believe that one either.

[Vonzeppelinkennels]

I'm not trying to say one is better then the other they both have advantages & disadvantages.Dogs can be injured no matter what kind of surface their on or what kind of kennel their in.
I have raised & whelped all my dogs in SK since the late 80's I have seen no proof of what has been stated her by a few.
If I had the money & land to have a state of the art kennel with heat,Air/C,heated floors, septic,& all other facilities belive me I would,but it's not going to happen.
If I did have that I would still have a couple SK to whelp & raise puppies to a certain age.

[Blue Briar]

I'm not trying to say one is better then the other they both have advantages & disadvantages.Dogs can be injured no matter what kind of surface their on or what kind of kennel their in.
I have raised & whelped all my dogs in SK since the late 80's I have seen no proof of what has been stated her by a few.
If I had the money & land to have a state of the art kennel with heat,Air/C,heated floors, septic,& all other facilities belive me I would,but it's not going to happen.
If I did have that I would still have a couple SK to whelp & raise puppies to a certain age.

Agreed. i have a litter of pups in a SK right now. However I have poly max flooring from farmtek for the floor

[highcotton]

I use concrete runs with Preifert panels and Dog Den II's for adult dogs. I use a home-made version of a SK with a heated whelping nest for raising pups.

[Ryman Gun Dog]

VZK,
Please understand this was long before SK kennels were even produced. That is why I said SK type, and now with the new Poly flooring it eliminates what happened to this mans Beagle. The guy was a skin flint any way and the flooring was probably made some what cheaply. This mans Beagel was crippled however and it did happen in the kennel. Got to tell ya we have never had a crippled dog on concrete with cyclone fencing, and thats over 50 years.
RGD/Dave

[Vonzeppelinkennels]

RGD that's my point I used the SK for almost 30 yrs never had a crippled dog but it can happen.I have seen dogs on concrete slip on it when wet & fall just the right tweak & they can be injured.
A couple yrs back a very Successful FC dog in his prime was killed in a concrete kennel when he was jumping up & fell hitting his head on it during the night,went into shock & died,they never found him till morning.
Those things don't happen often but they do happen.

[Vman]

I own three SKs. I think they are great for most dogs, and maybe not suitable for others. Here is what I did with mine. When I built them I bought the wide grate floor from Scotts, not the puppy grate. Then I had some galvanized U-shaped covers made for the long 2x4s that run the full length of the run area. This is to keep urine from soaking into the wood and getting funky over several years. Then put in the galvanized Scotts grate per directions. Then I got the black plastic flooring from the local Farm&Fleet, cut them to length and snapped them together in the run area.
I like the plastic flooring better than the grate. Looks better and the dogs like it better also. Here is a pic.

DSCN0712.JPG

A few things I like about SKs.
As mentioned I like the cleanliness of them. i.e. flys,feces,urine. If your dog is a housedog and comes into the house when you are home they won`t have pee-paws.
They are easy to clean and change bedding. When changing bedding I lay a tarp underneath and tip up the floor and dump onto the tarp. Put the floor back down, throw in some marsh hay and go dump the old. Takes about three minutes.
Dogs that are in Sks don`t develop a habit of jumping up on people because of the low roof.
I love them for puppies. Now the puppies are outside and can see the world. They see other dogs running around, they see the cars coming and going. If anybody sees the puppies they have to play with them. So socialization is better in a SK. They learn to be bold. If they want to eat they need to jump down from the kennel. Once they get a little bigger they learn that they have to jump up into the SK to get the food. I can separate the boys from the girls when it comes time to start picking.
My pups go into the SK at 4 weeks.
If you are a renter or think you are going to move, the SK fits onto a snowmobile trailer. It goes with you. You can put it in the shade in the summer and move it to sun in the winter. Two good backs can move it.
Plus my dogs LOVE them. They would rather be in a SK than the kennel, except for winter. But even then with good bedding my dogs stay warm and comfortable.

I don`t think I would keep a dog in a SK for 24hrs/365days/yr. I think they work best for while you are at work, or you go out for the evening or overnite. Smaller dogs{under 40lbs} might be OK all the time. I don`t think they are big enough for a 70lb.plus dog, unless you make it bigger.

[Birddog3412]

Crippled from??

I am investigating this right now to get the complete story. What I do know is that I hunt with this dog 4 years ago, His name was Buck, His leg was wrapped from the elbow down ( it looked like a cast). I asked Gary what had happened, he told me it was caused by a Scotts Kennel. I believe somehow his pad got stuck between the slats of the floor. Will let you know when i find out exactly what happened.

Did you ever find out what happened??

[MNspanielguy]

I am considering getting another dog, so I need to make a kennel choice. I have used a Scott kennel for 15 years and have been very happy with it, but I would be interested in hearing from someone who has really used one and did not like it, - not just "I heard about some dog somewhere sometime".

Thanks,
Mike