hello to all champdogs
i am building a outside kennel for my 1 year old akita to spend time outside.what i wanted to know was what type of floor to have,to have a concrete floor,or normal soil floor,or half half of concrete and soil.thank you

Concrete will be easy to keep clean.

Hi,

I agree with Lara,we have a large concrete run very easy to keep clean ,the retrievers would be enjoying a mud bath everyday especially if it rained so for us soil is not an option.
However I'm in touch with acompany in the States that are sending me samples of a special rubber paint which penetrates into the concrete ,which is nonslip and doesn't cause sores on the dogs feet when they silde down to lie and strengthen with time will not chip and is scratch resistant stands extreme temperatures and will not be damage by preesure hosing or regular disinfecting.
So if I like the samples i'm going to try their product as I can't find anything like it in the Uk.

Regards Briony :-)

Another option you could consider is astroturf.  Ive got half my run laid with it and it's fab - just like a green short pile all weather carpet.  Soft for the dogs to play/lie on and tough enough for pressure washing.  I've had mine down for years and it still comes up like new.

WoW, does it come in matt finish and could I use it indoors?  I would never have to decorate ever again. Sounds a fantastic paint. Every dog house needs a tin :D

:)  Great for kids too :)

Hi,

Its www.sanitred.com look under animal section and technical info.
Astro turf thats also a good idea might look at that as well.
Lara what dogs do you have?

Regards Briony:-)

I've got two gorgeous German Shepherds :)

Please let me know how you get on with it, I`d be interested in it if it`s good as it sounds.

Christine, Spain.

hi guest my outside kennel is of concrete but couple of meters is just soil where he can do his job,he likes doing on the soil rather than on the concrete bit.

Would dogs not chew astroturf?  No experience, just interested.....:)

Have a large concrete apron (posh people would call it a patio) outside the day room where my dogs live, when it was just raw concrete the better endowed of my dogs continually managed to scrape his scrotum on the concrete and it would become infected, scrotum not concrete. So we painted to whole thing with the sort of paint used in garages, bought it from B&Q and it has been down now for about 5 years, no problems, it was slippery to start with but that soon wore off.

Hi,

We tried a product from homebase suitable for outdoor use  (so it said) on concrete similar stuff to put on garage floors.
Absolute nightmare,it chipped would  not stand regular disinfecting and despite being antislip it became a dangerous icerink for the Goldens,hence I started a search looking for a product that would suit our needs ,so i'll try the Sanitred .
We are back to plain concrete at the moment ,can't say I have any problems with the boys bits.
Like the idea of astroturf, forgot about the chewing.

Briony:-)

Never had ANY problems with chewing :)

Hi Lara,

Two of my Goldies are expert chewers :-)

Briony:-)

Not sure if mine would chew it or not, they don't chew or scrape at the carpet but they do try to dig through the concrete, would be nice to have mock turf outside the door rather than the dark red concrete. Can the turf be stuck down or is it just laid like carpet?

Mine's laid on sand and I brush sand into it so it's not very appetising anyway :)  The edges of it are all tucked under flagstones so there's no accessible corners to get to.  It's just like carpet.  It could be stuck down if you wanted to.

Astro turf is cheap and you can stick it down if outside with a water proof adhesive so it wont disolve with the weather :D  these can be quite expsensive but if its a small area then it shouldent be too bad ;)it would be best to seek someone who can help because your dealing with adhesives all sorts of things can happen if the area gets hot on a sunny day it could come up so then you would need a heat sensitve adhesive but if its in a run it should be ok .rember if you want to get rid of it what kind of mess will be left after with the adhesives . it dosent just come in green either ive seen bright red layed down :d I think you can get it cheaper from a flooring place then the pet website .