Your pet deserves the best things in life, but that doesn’t mean they can get up on the furniture, or go rooting through the trash, or chew on your shoes. gazebo in legno , sometimes that dog just needs to go outside. But that doesn’t mean it has to be a kind of punishment. Dog houses, wooden and plastic models included, can be comfortable homes away from home for your furry friend. Wooden doghouses are a traditional and classic choice, but plastic dog houses have grown immensely in popularity over the last few decades as an alternate building material. So whether you’re in need of an upgrade or are buying a dog house for the very first time, here are a few things you should know about the most popular materials.
What Do Wood and Plastic Have to Offer?
Wood is a natural building material that offers unique features not seen in other materials like plastic, stone or metal. For instance, some woods like cedar and cypress, give off naturally fragrant aromas. More importantly for doghouses, some woods, like cedar and teak, produce natural resins that act to repel all nature of insects, including a dog’s worst enemy, aka fleas.
Plastics are a unique material in how workable and moldable they are. Plastic can be manipulated into any number of shapes, designs, sizes, colors and textures. Consider plastic the chameleon of the building world, which in turn makes for some of the most creative dog houses. Wooden houses simply aren’t afforded this ability to transform so dramatically.
Which will keep your dog warmer? And cooler?
The insulating properties of both wood and plastic will keep dogs warmer in the winter and cooler in the warmer months. However, plastic might have a slight edge in this category. While wood possesses some amount of natural insulation, in extreme temperatures some extra padding may be needed as a supplement. Plastic dog houses are created so that small air bubbles are placed throughout the plastic walls. The air bubbles trap warm and cold air as necessary and create an airtight seal of protection throughout the dog house. The argument can be made conversely that this means that plastic dog houses don’t breathe as well as wooden dog houses.