Kennel surface?

[greenbull]

My family are looking into acquiring and raising a cocker pup.  My children are 9 and 11. Both me and my wife work at home as dentists. We live in the city, but have a walled garden 7 meters wide to 30 meters deep. In front of our house there's a  big park, very suitable for walking a dog.

3 days a week, from 9 am till 12 and 2 pm till 5 pm, the dog will be alone.

I plan to put a fence in my garden to make a suitable area ( kennel ) where I can put the dog during those 3 days. ( the rest of the time he will be with us; he will sleep inside our house at night ) I just don't know how big I should make it. Obviously I will take the complete width. As for depth: I have a concrete terrace (7 by 4 meters) in the back of my garden (previous owner had a kennel there ). In front of that is my lawn. Should I just take the concrete part for the dog? ( Obviously not an inspiring place to be in. ) Or shall I add another 4 meters of my lawn to the concrete ? This way I double the surface to 7 by 8 meters with a tree and half of it gras. Do you think this is the best sollution? Pro's: bigger area, more interesting, gras to dig holes in. Cons: dirty dog, probably will inspire the dog to dig holes in the rest of our garden.
It's not practical to leave the dog in the complete garden, since we have a small pool and if het gets in there he will probably drown... I also have flowers and plants in the rest of the garden, and I guess the dog will want to 'change' the lay-out of those a bit

Please some comments and suggestions !

[spanielcrazy]

Think I'd be inclined to do the grass/concrete mix. Not all dogs dig, either  Of all the dogs I've owned only 1 was a digger, but not particularly dedicated.

[Hurtwood Dogs]

Why don't you make it big enough to include the grass but have a door or fence that you can pull across to that bit so you can close it if you need to (too much digging or soaking wet or the grass needs a rest to regrow etc?) 2 of my 3 dogs have dug,  but it's only usually when there are rodants under ground and they've all got better as they've got older

[greenbull]

One thing I forgot to ask: how high should I make the fence? I would like to put a (chestnut?) wooden fence up. Is 1 meter high enough, or better to take 1.2 meter?

[Hurtwood Dogs]

I would suggest a 5-6ft fence min to be honest if you are leaving the dog unattended. My last cocker could jump onto the top of a 4ft wall from a standstill - just to give you an idea If you get a 'climber' then even 1.2m won't stop him/her. The fence height you mention, would keep my current cocker in but he's a little chap and not that determined...

[Chocolatecoco]

Just something to think about. If you are going to have part concrete and part grass, I would make sure that your little pup is unable to dig its way under the fence on the grass bit. Also ensure that the rest of your garden is secure just in case he is a digging escape artist.

I have to agree that minimum of six foot to ensure the pup as he grows doesnt jump over the fence. Make sure there is a place he can have shelter both from cold weather and hot weather.

[greenbull]

6 foot!? Climbing artists, digging artists... I basically need to rebuild Guantanamo in my back-yard!
A shelter will of course be provided.

[MaggieR]

6 foot!? Climbing artists, digging artists... I basically need to rebuild Guantanamo in my back-yard!

pretty much.... you probably don't need the armed guards tho 

[Sheryl]

Oh I don't know.......

[louis mum]

Oh I don't know.......

  Sentiments from two ladies with naughty cockers  I have to be honest though my two dont jump, we have a walled area with railings seperating my garden area from block paved area, its roughly 1 to 1.2 high; although they are not housed there unattended which may make a difference.

[Hurtwood Dogs]

6 foot!? Climbing artists, digging artists... I basically need to rebuild Guantanamo in my back-yard!
A shelter will of course be provided.

 

It totally depends on your dog tbh... but as you don't know what he will be like at this point, I'd build for a worst case scenario! As I said my first cocker was escape artist - particularly when he was left on his own and didn't want to be. He jumped like a kangaroo and could climb like a monkey. I currently have a large athletic Weimaraner and a smallish cocker. I have stock fencing around my garden which is only about 4 ft high and a separate area for the dogs fenced off by 4 ft high stock fencing. This cocker has never bothered trying to escape and he's not leggy enough to do it, but my last cocker could clear it easily (particularly if anyone dared to put a strange car on the drive or wore a postmans hat. ) My Weimaraner can also clear it easily. I'm VERY lucky in that the Weim just seems to respect boundaries and fencing and (now) doesn't try to get over it, but I NEVER leave them in the garden whilst I go out... if I did, I would have to have had at least 6ft fencing for my Weim AND my last cocker - when he was younger, I also had to dig fencing into the ground to stop him going under it.