When we got our Lab pup, Bailey, a year and a half ago, we decided to buy an outside dog kennel so that she didn't get into all of my plants. The idea was that we would leave her in there if we needed to run an errand. She's spent an entire 1/2 hour in it, when she broke my husbands wrist and I had to take him to the hospital. Our son came and got her out and brought her inside. So, it was a wasted $250. Or so I thought! I really wanted a greenhouse, and the kennel made the perfect frame for it!

My plants are still safe though. I fenced in all of the flower beds with rabbit fence! We just move the kennel/greenhouse into the veggie garden for the winter, and put it back out in the yard, uncovered, during the summer, just in case the puppy breaks a bone on someone else! Hopefully she will have calmed down enough next summer so that I can just uncover it and leave it in the veggie garden. I'll fill it with cucumber plants, and they'll have something to climb on!

Oh, you did a nice job with that! I'd always thought a dog kennel would make a nice inexpensive greenhouse, but I hadn't thought of arching a panel across the top; good idea!

Thanks Woofie! We had to do that because we can get a lot of snow here, and it worked perfectly! We actually got the idea for the roof from our neighbor, who does this with her chicken coop in the winter. It's cement rebar, or something like that, and didn't cost much. The PVC pipe we held it up with was super cheap. I know that you can get "used" kennels fairly cheap, but we couldn't find one that we thought was big enough, so we bought it new. We got it at Home Depot, and it was much cheaper than others we saw that were about the same size. To keep the plastic on, we zip-tied 1 X 2 boards to the sides, and then stapled the plastic to the boards. Then we put dirt over the plastic all around the bottom to help keep it in place. When it got warmer in the spring, I moved the dirt, and rolled up the sides around the bottom, which gave it good ventilation. We got some really high winds last winter, and it actually held together! I was so happy about that!

What a great idea

You know, I think this would be a good idea to submit as a brief article or a tip.

Thanks Ginger! I love reusing things, and this was perfect for that!

Woofie, I'm not sure that it's any good, and I wouldn't know how to do that anyway! So sweet of you to think that though!

Here is Bailey, making sure that the cardboard that the kennel came in is in small enough pieces to fit in the recycling bin! She's so helpful!

You sure she's not part malamute?

The man next door to us when I was growing up had two wonderful malamutes. They were the sweetest dogs ever, and never got into any trouble. Another friend has had two of them, and one of them came from me. I found it as a puppy, put an ad in the paper, and no one ever claimed it. It wasn't all that healthy looking, so I took it to the vet the first day and got it fixed up, even though it was a stray. Our Golden Retriever hated him, so after a month, our friend took him and gave him a wonderful home. That one, along with his second one, were perfect dogs who never got into any trouble. So, I'm sure that Bailey is not a malamute! She's nothing but trouble!

Too funny My crew "helps" by trimming branches that get in their way helpful except when they bring them inside to get them down to size

My darling malamutes are sweet too. But that doesn't mean they don't like to shred cardboard! Hunter likes ALL paper products....paper plates, paper towels, kleenex, cardboard boxes....oh, and he likes little plastic flower pots, too. He thinks they're crunchy!

I've got the same problem! We had a big branch break off one of the trees a couple of months ago during a bad wind storm. Bailey was just sure that it would fit through the doggie door so that she could make mulch for me! The doggie door is big, but not THAT big! We're still trying to figure out how she dragged the branch up to the house! She's a tiny little thing and only weighs 50 pounds. The branch weighed at least 25!

Everyone tells us that Labs start to calm down by the time they are 2. She'll be 2 in October, and I can't wait.

Woofie, that is hilarious! Bailey adores little plastic flower pots! I try to hide them, but she always seems to find one! Then I spend an hour picking up the tiny little pieces! We call her the resident shop lifter. She'll wander around the house like she's shopping. She actually looks like she is admiring things! Then, when we least expect it, one of those things will be out in the backyard! Yesterday, it was my box of checks that I haven't used yet. I don't even know where they were, or how she found them, but they looked lovely in the grass! Good thing she decided to admire them a while before destroying them! It never ends! The other thing she keeps finding is clothes pins! I have NO idea where she is getting them! I don't have a clothes line, and I've never seen any laying around the house! She must have a stash of them hidden somewhere, and drags one out now and then, just to confuse me. It doesn't help that our Golden Retriever is perfect. It just makes Bailey seem that much worse!

I have yet to find my favorite lavender bra that is likely buried somewhere in the acre++ dog run been gone awhile and I've no doubt useless by now

Ginger, that is hilarious! Maybe they thought it should be planted? After all, you're probably planting things often! Hopefully you'll get a lavender bra tree!

Hunter definitely has a sense of humor about his thefts! He'll sneak into the bathroom or laundry room and snatch a washcloth or a sock or a dish towel and run into the living room with it. If I ignore him, he'll peek his head around the kitchen door to make sure I see him, and then run back into the living room so I'll chase him. If I pay no attention, he generally just drops whatever he's taken, but it spoils his fun so much that I usually go ahead and play his game.

What an adorable picture! Looks like he's waiting for someone to put change in his cup! He really is beautiful!

Bailey loves to grab a sock out of the hamper, and then take a nap with it. She is so weird!

Wandered off topic, but what a fun thread Our furbabies certainly are entertaining

Wandering off topic usually ends up with a doggie discussion! Works very well for me! I talk about my dogs way too much, but it's so enjoyable! Besides, this thread started with a dog kennel, so it's not exactly off topic!

this is true