The good & bad about chainlink

[isuhunter]

With the nice weather here I'm looking at building my dog kennel/run. Curious what everyones thoughts are, go with welded wire or is galvenized chainlink good enough?

[uplandguide]

I like welded wire, but I have both... I used 1/2" wide black industrial zip ties to attach every chain link square to bottom bar instead of every three or four squares like they come from factory. This solved all problems for me with dogs getting their nose under and prying up.. Good Luck

[Fireside]

I like welded wire, but I have both... I used 1/2" wide black industrial zip ties to attach every chain link square to bottom bar instead of every three or four squares like they come from factory. This solved all problems for me with dogs getting their nose under and prying up.. Good Luck

Be sure to tie it down every square. Galvanized can be pretty rough and a few dogs will rub their noses or ears on it and create sores. My chain link runs are over 25 years old now and are still in pretty darn good condition.

[AzDoggin]

I have chainlink too. Cheap and available, I guess.

I have also had to tie down every square along the bottoms and half way up all sides. If you leave any slack, the dog can get a foot caught in there...or at minimum it gives them hope of escape and something to keep messing with. Some dogs will bounce off the chain link and can distort it a little, so the more it's tied around all edges, the less it will bend and distort.

Chainlink is ugly as heck, IMO. I like welded wire best, also. If $$ is no object, get one of these: http://www.priefert.com/ProductDetails/ ... 237/kk4481 Our local Home Depot has an 8x10 welded wire with 2x2 steel tube corner posts, powder coated for $500 some...

[isuhunter]

I'd love to get the prefierts but they cost a fortune. Chainlink is popping up on craigslist pretty often and is much more affordable. I'm going to look into TSC, Blains, Menards, HD, and Lowes and see if they have any afforadble welded wire kennels. I'm going to put the kennel on the North side of the garage and probably on a raised deck made of recycled plastic decking. I was thinking 6' by 18' long. What do you guys think of those dimensions. Garage is 25' wide

Can one of you guys post a picture of how you secure every square, I want to make sure I understand you correctly.

[AzDoggin]

Sorry - limited tech skills but I'll do what I can.

6 by 18 would be excellent! It would give the dog some good room to move.

By "every square" we just mean "every possible link point" to the bottom beam (and in my case the side beams).

I used these aluminum ties. http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... -202499850



Takes awhile. You are putting on a tie about every 2-3 inches along the bottom of the chain panel, wiring the panel to the bottom beam of the fence (at the bottom of each "square" (or diamond??). I put the beam on the inside (dog side) of the kennel, and wired the panel tight down on the outside. No way a dog could get a paw through there and there's nothing for the dog to chew on, and no sharp edges - (tie joints face out).

[DonF]

There is a down side to welded wire, if it the one your talking about. The welds won't hold up well with the dog jumping on it. They have at the Co-Op in Madras the same stuff but the joints are tied together with wire. I think they call it 2x4 pasture fencing. Looks just the same except for one is welded and one is not. The stuff is more expensive that the welded stuff, about double. If it were me and I could afford it, I'd go with chain link, stronger still. On my two small runs, I used hog wire fencing. Don't think it's any better than any other stuff but it was less expensive and my dog's don't spend a lot of kennel time any way. The hog wire fencing is a stronger gauge of wire but not as strong as chain link.

[jgf@gratiot]

http://tkproductsllc.com/ go check out this site tk products is building top quality kennels that are welded wire and are one of the only kennel manufactures out there with a warranty. They are up there with Preifert quality at a much more affordable price let me know if I can be of assistance

[birddog1968]

We have the 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 inch chain link not the large size , that way no legs or noses can get thru the fence......safer.

[DonF]

http://tkproductsllc.com/ go check out this site tk products is building top quality kennels that are welded wire and are one of the only kennel manufactures out there with a warranty. They are up there with Preifert quality at a much more affordable price let me know if I can be of assistance

I could go for that. It's a lot heavier wire than the stuff we have around here. Probably hold the welds a lot better.

[AzDoggin]

We have the 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 inch chain link not the large size , that way no legs or noses can get thru the fence......safer.

Smaller squares would be a lot better. I don't think I've ever seen any...

[RoostersMom]

Also, the north side will be colder, wetter, and north winds will come in a blow into the houses - so be sure if that's where it has to go, that you have good double doorways to block any wind from the north.

[RayGubernat]

My kennels have been made of 9 ga. chainlink. In the last thirty years I have not had a dog escape or get a foot caught or any such. I am not saying it cannot happen but it has not happened to me so far. When i assemble the panels I have the cut ends next to the ground. The dogs do not challenge them more than once... or twice if they are really dumb. For puppies,I put boards(1 X6) down around the bottom just in case, but remove them once the pups are older.

I have had a few dogs that tried to gnaw their way out when they were left behind, and aside from some silver back teeth there were no ill effects...certainly the wire showed no signs of the attempts.

I have no doubt that 11 1/2 or lighter chainlink might not fare so well, but the 9 ga. wire really does hold up. The other thing is that if you use 9 ga wire, the fabricator must use the thicker wall tubing as well, so the whole assembly is heavier duty.

Currently, some of my kennel panels are around 20 years old and doing just fine. The oldest of the panels(nearly 30 years old) were getting rusted and nasty and have been converted into roof sections for the intact females.

I do agree if price is no object, that the Priefert product is very much top of the line. However, with any metal fencing, you are well advised to place an inert barrier(plastic) between the ground or the cement and the metal legs to delay and to minimize the inevitable rustout. It will add literally years to the life of the kennel panel.

For my round tube legs I use a female/female schedule 40 fitting to pick the end up off the ground about an inch or so. That allows any rain to drain out and any urine or wet from washing down the concrete, to drain and dry out. Obviously, if metal is dry it won't rust. I also touch up any spots I see, about once a year, with rust converter and then a coating of spray on cold zinc or aluminum paint.

RayG
RayG

[gotpointers]

The home depot welded wire was destroyed very quicky by my labradors. The other wire mentioned is called horse fence and has every joint wrapped and does hold up well. Also the hog panels which have 4x4 squares are nice and sell for 45 for a 20 ft panel in my area. I have gone to heavy guage chainlink for my latest kennel addition. Its cheaper to buy a 10. Lb spool of 12 gauge steel wire and make your own ties to the length you need. I used a spiral pattern out of a long strand around the bottom of the chainlink to eliminate having to tie each square. Also welded 1 3/8 tube to make the frame for my panels so i can move my kennels to the south side of the barn for winter and north for summer.

[markj]

The behlen kennels are affordable at like 399 per and are heavy welded wire. They are to be found at baumgars and TSC.

[birddog1968]

My kennels have been made of 9 ga. chainlink. In the last thirty years I have not had a dog escape or get a foot caught or any such. I am not saying it cannot happen but it has not happened to me so far.

RayG
RayG

More in a commercial operation or where dogs that don't know each other may be kenneled next to each other.....I know of one dog with broken leg from slipping thru the fence while engaged with the dog next to it, I know of another female that had severe lower jaw injuries when her kennel mate grabbed her after she put her snout thru the fence......

Not an everyday occurrence but anything can happen.

Azdoggin- you can get chain link in hole sizes from 1 inch to 4 inch......

[AzDoggin]

Azdoggin- you can get chain link in hole sizes from 1 inch to 4 inch......

Thanks, Charlie, I'll have to look into it. I got an 8x16 "larger square" setup off Craigslist CHEAP. I'll use the old frame and the $$ I saved to get some new chain link.

[Chukar12]

For those of you asking about securing chain link to the kennel frame: I have taken a couple of older kennels and made them secure by cutting lengths of 3/8 rebar to the dimensions of the panel and threading them through the chain link and then using hose clamps around the frame and the rebar to cinch it down every 4' or so.

[markj]

Dang good idea there about the rebar. learned sumpting new today.

[Ryman Gun Dog]

isuHunter,

I have a complete kennel built out of old welded Chain link, not like the stuff built today, most of this chain link kennel fencing was built in the 60's and is fantastic stuff. If you can get some quality galvenized Chain link its gresat stuff, my kennel is about 40 yards long and 25 yards wide, I have had no real problems with it.
RGD/Dave



A better more realistic view of the kennel before we logged the dog shed & out house.

[gonehuntin']

Don't over think it; chain link is reasonable and lasts forever.

[isuhunter]

Well thanks for all the advice!

I think I'm going to go with chainlink!