Читать книгу Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys - Joseph H. Adams - Страница 17

When building a dog-kennel the important features to bear in mind are to make it strong, weather-proof, and large enough for a good-sized dog to turn around in comfortably. A poorly built kennel soon falls apart, and if it is not weather-proof rain will get in on the dog, and dogs do not like to get wet while sleeping any more than boys. Moreover, if the kennel is not large enough it is cramped and stuffy, and, while the dog cannot say so, he resents it, and in his own dog way of reasoning feels that he is imposed upon in being housed in such small quarters. The dimensions of a kennel must be naturally governed by the size of the dog who is to inhabit it; but for one of medium size, such as a setter or collie, a kennel with a peaked roof, similar to the one shown in Fig. 12, should be three feet long, two feet wide, two feet high at the sides, and three feet high from the ground to the peak or ridge-pole.

The floor frame is the first thing in constructing a kennel, and it should be made of two by three inch spruce, thirty-four inches long and twenty-two inches wide, with lap joints at the corners as shown in Fig. 13. On this the flooring of tongue and grooved boards is laid and nailed down.

From three matched boards eight inches wide make the front and back to the kennel as shown in Fig. 14. The lower ends of the boards are nailed to the floor frame, and where they are sawed off to form the peak a batten is placed at the inside and made fast with clinch nails driven into it from the outside through the boards.

The nail heads in the front of Fig. 14 will show the location of one batten, and the other can clearly be seen at the inside of the back, where the clinched nail ends are shown.

Beginning at the bottom and working up, the sides are laid on. Always place the tongue up and the groove down when using matched boards in a horizontal position, as otherwise the rain and moisture will work into the groove and cause the wood to decay.

A ridge-pole is nailed between the front and back at the peak, and to this the upper ends of the roof boards are fastened.

In the front a hole large enough for a dog to pass through is cut with a compass saw, and above it, near the peak, one large and three smaller holes are bored, as shown in Fig. 14, and the wood cut away between the holes, as shown in Fig. 12. This is for ventilation, for dogs as well as human beings require plenty of fresh air. Another hole at the top of the back board will allow free circulation of air across the top of the kennel.