Our American Bulldog kennel part 1
the Canadian winter can get pretty nasty. With temperatures hitting extreme lows. We are lucky that we have a heavily wooded lot so it brakes down on the wind. The building we call the american bulldog kennel has gone extensive renovation over the last 36 months. 36 months ago this structure was home to a family of raccoons some old paint cans and used motor oils and a slew of rats judging from the droppings I found everywhere. The roof had more holes than my pasta strainer. The lot was graded in a way that when it rained all the water accumulated exactly where the building stood. Originally when the building was erected it was placed on a 6 inch concrete floor which was nice. to bad for the grading. The framing itself is 2 by 4 probably 30 to 40 years old judging by the materials. The framing itself was done well and other than a bit of water damage was ok. The building was sheathed with 5/8 plywood that was rotted in spots from the spring thaws. The plywood was was coated with a reddish maroon faded chipped paint that had seen its day long ago. In the front of the building where the door and bay window now stand was a irregular double barn door that didn’t line up nor did it close. When closed tight there was a 5 inch gap between the two doors. To compensate for this a piece of plywood overlapped the two doors to make a “seal” . There was a window in the back that was single plain glass and was about 20 or 30 years older than the structure itself. We moved in just as summer was coming to close and had our hands full with the adjacent building we call our home.. The kennel stood as storage space for the first winter. The american bulldogs were in the house and we only had about 5 american bulldogs or so. The following year we redirected the water away from the american bulldog kennel somewhat.. We did have a contractor erect for runs that stood in the back of the building and overlooked the ravine. The runs are 4 ft wide and 30 feet long so the american bulldogs can get plenty of exercise. The american bulldogs do like the long runs and it was worth the extra money. The only thing changed when adding the new runs was the choice of stone i used on the ground of the runs. When we put in the original runs we slopped the ground 3% moving away from the building and brought in a stone slinger and covered the ground with two to four inch clear river stone. This material is easy to clean looks great but if the american bulldogs don’t grow up on it takes time for them to get used to it. Since we didn’t use a landscapers cloth when we did our grading the stone sinks into the ground over time as the dogs run over it and disappears. Because there was 6 inches of it was ok to keep clean by way of power washing and picking up the shit. It was long that we changed to the meat diet and moved away from the kibble. As we found that the dogs ate less and shit less looked better on the meat. Believe it or not its cheaper to feed a dozen american bulldogs fresh meat than a middle of the road kibble and much less to clean up to! Well thats it for today look for part2 later tomorrow or on the weekend.
Tags: american bulldog, american bulldog kennel, american bulldogs