The Puppy Pavillion

Winter is not the most ideal time to have a litter of puppies especially in the fridgid temperatures of COLD SPRING. So we decided to move the Puppy Nursery downstairs where the puppies would be constantly kept warm by the radiant heat in the flooring. Some of you may not know- but our home is primarily kept warm by our wood burning stove. It saves us alot of money, but you have to walk around with appropriate clothing and never be away from home more than 9 hours at a time to reload the stove with wood. We have been suplimenting with space heaters when it is really cold- which it has been this year (can't wait for winter to be over). Anyway- getting back to the pavillion. We took our 10x10 kennel (also know as the STUD pad) and tranformed it into a Puppy Pavillion for the time being. The worse part about the nursery was when I cleaned up- the puppies would run to greet me- stomping in their mess and then jumping on me...and although I loved everything about rearing pupppies- that part was my least favorite. So I had a plan and bc my husnand is who he is- he always makes my plans a reality. Thanks JIM!!!

We took a cabinet and lined it with linolium for easy cleaning- he make a pigrail so Mommas would not squish their babies when laying down, and we seperated it by a peice of wood with a sliding soor. This way when it is time to clean up the mess- I can block the puppies off. Ingeniouse- I know. I did see if somewhere else- so I can not take full credit- but honestly I think it will work out great. We covered the kennel with plastic to hold in the heat, and 2 heaters that heat the room to a toasty 80 degrees. Daphne always takes a few days to get used to it- but is always welcome to take a break when she needs- she is not locked in there. We decorated the room with pictures and all the needs of a puppy nursery and it really is working well. The blankees hanging on the wall will go home with wach puppy and it will smell like their old home when they need a little comforting. Past puppy parents said their puppies used their blankets to slep on for a while after they left. When the puppies are walking then we will take the pigrail out and switch the sides in which they play and sleep. I really look forward to seing it all in action. So far everything is going according to plan with the design. THANKS JIM>>>AGAIN.

The pictures do not really do it justice and we did not have time to paint the outside of the cabinet with flowers like I planned- but I wanted to make sure it worked out before I put all the effort into painting a whole garden on the outide of it..so far it is working out well...