Have you considered putting a kennel in your garage?

Your Crystal Lake garage has the potential to serve as a multi-purpose structure. You can create a woodworking workshop in your garage. You can create a craft workshop in your garage. Or you can simply use your garage for storage, with or without enough room for the car. But there are other potential uses for your garage.

Have you considered the potential of your Crystal Lake garage as a kennel for your dog or dogs? There are considerations you should entertain before making such a move; it’s really not as simple as moving the dog crate out to the garage and then putting the dog in the crate.

One consideration is environmental. You need to consider the temperature in your garage. Is your garage heated? Do you have AC for the summer months?

A dog is probably not as susceptible to mild temperature changes. But, in the McHenry area, winters can produce dangerously cold temperatures. In the summer, the heat can threaten heatstroke for people, and dogs, if exposed to high temps for too long.

If the garage is not heated or airconditioned, you need to be conscious of that fact. Don’t leave the dog out in the garage when the temperature falls below freezing or rises above 85 degrees, for instance. You may want to check with your vet about what temperatures are best for your dog.

Another consideration is the air quality in your garage. Do you keep paints, cleaners and solvents in the garage? Even if you don’t have dogs in the garage, you want these chemical agents sealed properly so they don’t foul the air.

You also need to remember that your car produces toxic gasses that are unhealthy for your dog. You don’t want to leave the car running in the garage where those fumes will build up to the extent that they cause health concerns. Long before they might prove fatal, those gasses will cause headaches and other issues.

It’s probably not a bad idea to put a ventilation system in the garage if you’re going to put a kennel in the garage.

As long as you’re considering going here, it doesn’t hurt to look at the idea from the dog’s perspective. A crate if confining. Building a pen, or pens, in the garage offers an opportunity to provide your dog with some comfort and more.

You can give them an area that allows room to stretch their legs. You can put some bedding in there with them. You might even put a few toys in the pen that they like.

If you want to get really snazzy, if you have a pen just outside the garage, you can put doggie doors between the inside pen and the outside pen. This is ideal since it allows the dog to go outside when it wants, stay inside when the weather is inclement, and to go outside to do his or her business.

Finally, you want to make sure your Crystal Lake garage door seals properly to keep out drafts and to ensure that the garage door opener works reliably.