Kennels

Last spring when we were researching kennel manufacturers I came across one that really got our attention. They have some really great products. In particular they have a FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) panels which are 4 feet of solid, water proof panel that has 2 feet of plastic mesh (think milk crates) above. These make for totally isolated kennels that can be hosed down, yet the ventilation is still good through the tops and out the chain link gates.

The really innovative part of their system is that the bottom of each wall is an inverted U channel, that sits over an inverted T shaped piece that is affixed to the floor. This means that the T piece can be mounted to a sloping floor, but the kennel wall remain level - allowing us to install sloped concrete floors for drainage.

They also have a cool system by which you can install double-decker kennels. A layer of kennels that have integrated drainage can sit on top of another layer. Very cool! Unfortunately we only have 10 foot clearance in our barn so it wouldn't be an option for us, but it looks way cool.

I reinitiated contact with this manufacturer - Mason Kennels (www.masonco.com) - this week and got a quote that was less than we'd anticipated. (A very nice change for once). So we put in our order yesterday. We've got a layout to fill 1/2 of our barn with 240 sqare feet of kennels, with between 20 and 24 kennels. I say between, because we've designed 4 of the kennels to function as either large single kennels or split in half to be 2 small or medium kennels. 3 of them will "split" simply by swinging a gate closed, so that should be extremely flexible for us.



We were fortunate not to have delayed any further, since Xmas is also their big time of the year, so they are now running at a 6 week delivery schedule. Fortunately we're still in good shape to have them delivered early December.