If you won’t let your dog stay indoors (or if you just need him to spend a lot of time in the yard), you’ll need to give him a little house sooner or later. This raises a multitude of questions, among which: how big should a dog house be?
The general standard is that your dog should have enough space to get up, turn around and lie down, but not much more than that. The idea is to give them a comfortable and cosy refuge from the outside world, as this makes dogs feel safe and protected, while the gigantic mansion of a house will leave them feeling exposed.
Of course, this guideline doesn’t help much when you’re buying a dog house, so you need real data. Below, we will show you exactly how to determine the right size of the dog house for your dog.
Finding the correct dimensions of the dog house
At some point, you will need to translate the golden rule we listed above into real numbers so that you can buy (or build) a little house that fits your dog.
The first step, of course, is to measure your dog. You need to know your length from the tip of the nose to the ass, and your height from the paw to the shoulder. This way, you can be sure that your home fits perfectly into it.
Next, you need to decide what kind of house you want to make. Most have sloping roofs, which allows the rain to drain and gives the puppy more space when entering the house. This means that you need to know the height of the roof in two places – at the highest and lowest points.
Once you know the size of your dog and how you want your house to look, it’s easy to figure things out from there – and how the house will be customised for your puppy, you won’t have to worry about any variation between the dimensions of the dog house by breed.
Other factors to consider
You must consider the weather before deciding on the dimensions of the dog house. If you live in an area where it gets extremely cold in winter, you may want to make the house a little more comfortable so that the warmth of your dog’s body is better preserved.
Similarly, if you live in a place with suffocating summers, giving your dog a little more space will allow the air to circulate better and keep it fresh.
Different formulas you can use
There is no single formula to determine the size of your dog house. You can find a variety of ideas online, some of which we reproduce below:
Asheville, NC Humane Society
For a house with an inclined roof, they believe that the dimensions should be as follows:
- Depth: dog length + 12
- Width: dog length + 18
- Height: dog height + 3 on the low side, dog height + 9 on the high side
Ontario Humane Society
The Ontario Humane Society goes into a lot of detail when it comes to sizing houses (that is, get ready to do some math).
They believe that to determine how many square centimetres of space your dog needs, you multiply each centimetre of your dog’s height by 36. Therefore, a dog 12 centimetres tall would need 432 square centimetres of space.
Height is a little easier to determine – just measure your dog’s height when sitting and add a few centimetres.
WOOD Magazine, issue #80 (August 1995)
Granted, the editors of this magazine are probably better versed in how to build the house than to determine how much space Fido needs, but their recommendations are as follows:
- Depth: 1.5 times the length of your dog
- Width: 2⁄3 the length of your dog
- Height: 1.5 times your dog’s height (measured in the sitting position)
Blythe Wood Works A-B-C Method
Blythe Wood Works is a manufacturer of cedar dog houses. To determine the size of their homes, they use a copyrighted formula they call Method A-B-C (reproduced with your permission):
- The height of the door opening should be one inch higher than the height of the dog’s foot on his shoulder. They also recommend raising the house by half the value of A.
- The width and depth of the house should be at least the distance from the dog’s nose to his ass, excluding his tail.
- The height of the house itself should be 1.25x the distance from the top of the head to the toes.
- You can also visit their website for more help, as they have an online calculator to help you with the measurements.
DogHouses.com
Since selling dog houses is what these guys do, it makes sense that they have their own formula. Their guiding principle is that the house should be large enough for your puppy to enter and settle, and the formula they use is:
- The height of the door must be at least 3⁄4 of the dog’s shoulder-to-ground measurement. You can make it taller if you want, but remember that your dog will naturally lower his head to enter.
- The house should not be smaller than the measurement from nose to ass and no more than 30% larger.
- The height should not be more than 45% higher than the distance from the top of your dog’s head to the ground.
Merry Pet / Ware Mfg Formula
This pet accessories supplier has its own dog house sizing guidelines, which are almost identical to those used by DogHouses.com:
- The height of the door must be at least 3⁄4 of the height of the dog’s shoulder.
- The length and width should be at least equal to the length of the muzzle to the dog’s rear, and no more than 25% longer.
- The height should be at least 25% higher than the measurement from the top of the dog’s head to the toes. It should not be more than 50% higher than this measure.
Drs. Foster & Smith’s
These veterinarians have a simple but interesting formula: they believe that you should make your dog lie down and then draw a rectangle around it with at least 3 space on all sides. Then measure the rectangle – this will give you the width and depth.
- For height, add 4-6 to the height of the dog’s shoulder.
So, which formula should you choose?
You can choose one of the above formulas or mix and match some, or you can even improvise and discover your own. The basic principles you need to follow seem to be:
- The height of the door should be somewhere near the height of the dog’s shoulder.
- The length and width should be at least equal to your dog’s length, measured from nose to rear, and no more than about 30% longer than that measurement.
- The height should be at least one or two inches higher than your dog’s foot height, but no more than 5-6 inches.
Another thing you can try is to create a cardboard model before building or buying the real thing. This can show how your dog will fit in the royal house, and you won’t have to spend a lot of money buying one (or a lot of time to build it) just to find out that you miscalculated it.
The good news is that your time to calculate the measurements will be well spent, and your dog will certainly be grateful for its new excavations. Also, remember that you may want to leave a little more space inside for those nights when your angry spouse makes you sleep outside …