T-Kennel Options

T-Kennels: Durability, Affordability and Lots of Standard Options

T-Kennel housing has continuously improved over the last 30 years to provide high-quality housing that meets the discerning needs of today’s boarding and daycare facilities and their demanding clients.

The flexibility of the T-Kennel panels allows them to transform to different shapes, sizes and colors to give a custom look with standard panels. This saves money without sacrificing quality.

Getting Started

If you and your architect have already decided where the housing will go and what assortment you want (luxury vs ultra luxury; small dog vs medium/large dogs, etc.), sharing your plan with a Shor-Line sales rep will help you consider further options.

One of the Shor-Line advantages is that our reps have built thousands of facilities in their careers, so they have seen almost everything. Chances are, if you have an idea, they can provide some suggestions or relevant experience.

One of the key tenants in today’s business culture is flexibility. In a perfect world, you will think through of all your business needs from day one. But that is almost impossible in today’s changing world. Building in flexibility makes it easier to respond to new market situations.

Planning for housing flexibility breaks into two areas—Housing Operations and Pet Mix. Pet boarding and daycare is essentially a service business, so your ongoing investment will be in great people who love dogs and cats. Our equipment makes their work easier so they can spend more time making the pets happy, which is a win-win.

Housing Operations

The number of “openings” will regulate how many pets you can take in, and how you feed the pets and clean the cages will determine staffing.

This is where T-Kennel’s flexibility comes in. The least expensive option will be the single kennel. However, transfer doors and different configurations, such as Double Decker, Quad and Tri Kennels let you expand and contract how many pets are housed in each opening. Therefore, a Quad Kennel might make the dogs happier and make more money over the course of a year.

Math with Kennels

Let’s take the example of the Quad Kennel. Consider a 4’W x 8”D unit with two 3’H kennels stacked.

Give each unit a front-to-back transfer door and a side transfer door. Run the row four kennels long for a total length of 16’. (See yellow Quad Kennel picture and product listing.)

This is a spacious area for bonded pairs as well as single boarding pets. Keep the transfer door open to provide a suite that allows the pet access to both sides, or about 32 square feet of space. And, the transfer option allows the pet to toilet away from his sleeping area.

If there is a family of pets staying, they can run between two of the units side by side, creating about 64 square feet of roaming space. If some dogs need to be separated at night, you just close off a section at night and reopen in the morning.

This helps the cleaning team as well. If the pets are not away at the play area, then they can stay in one or two of the areas with the transfer door keeping them away from the cleaning. When the area is dry, the cleaning team can switch them and clean the remaining spaces.

This works for spot cleaning as well. Transfer doors just make clean up more efficient for staff and less scary for the pet.

The flexibility of this type of Quad kennel is that you can choose to whether the cages are closed off with a front-to-back or side by side opening. Some smaller dogs prefer to run along the front of a cage area, so this is preferred housing.

It is all about building in flexible choices.

Feeding Tips

Feeding is the other advantage. Most boarding facilities have developed systems for getting the right pet the correct food quickly. Whether it is a tray, wagon or golf cart, loading up and efficiently delivering the food is appreciated by the pet and saves staff time.

Swivel feeders are the most effective option because the staff can slide along and flip the trays open, deliver the food and swivel the food to the pet. Everyone is happy.

Feeders need to be built into almost all kennels, so plan this before you place your order. The time you safe will more than pay for the cost.

Pet Mix

T-Kennel runs have the flexibility to build almost any floor plan you can dream up. Most facilities provide a mixture of luxury and standard offerings, and cater to all pet sizes and shapes.

There will be peaks and valleys in boarding and daycare, and how you build out your facility will determine what your maximum capacity will be. The key piece of the math is that you can put small dogs into a large kennel but you can’t put a Great Dane into a small kennel.

Plan Large Kennels First

Look at the space where you will put your large, luxury kennel runs first. They will be the showstopper on your pet parent tours.

T-Kennel has a the Barkolyn Dutch Door option that gives a homey feel to the space. You can mix and match tempered glass sides and fronts with colorful side panels. Add enrichment items, scent boxes and raised beds, and the pet can have a comfy home away from home.

Many pet parents demand for more space. You can build T-Kennel units with “double sides” so that the unit is 8’ long by 8’ deep. That is 64 square feet of space, which is about a third the size of the trendy small human hotel rooms.

For mid-range pet boarders, larger T-Kennel units with glass doors and sides make a luxurious space. Consider keeping a panel of grill for an optional Privacy Panel for shier boarders who like to hide a bit. The colorful panel looks good and helps pets feel safe.

Add some side and back transfer doors, and you increase the ability to take pet families and bonded pairs. The doors also allow for managing the pet families that rest better when separated.

T-Kennel vs Sheet Rock

The advantage of T-Kennel is that our materials are pet tested. A separation anxiety pet won’t be chewing through the panels or gates. (Your enrichment items and staff will help focus the pet on comfort items and behaviors.)

Our gates and side panels are accustomed to pets playing hard, so they will take “zoomies” while most sheet rock won’t.

Options for Medium Dogs

The medium dog (40-60 lbs. and 18-22”H) presents both a challenge and an opportunity. This pet can enjoy both the larger runs or the Double Decker or Quad Kennels. Depending on where the customer wants to be on a boarding price and what is available, you can house this pet in both areas.

You can configure the Double Decker and Quad T-Kennels with transfer doors on the sides and back. This maximizes your options (as explained earlier). It also is simple to upscale the gates to tempered glass and ad high-end color choices.

Double Deckers come in two standard widths (3’ and 4’) and two standard depths (3’ and 4’). The standard kennel height is 34”, which makes the unit stand about 6’H on concrete or just under 7’ with a raised floor or wheels.

These units also work well for small dogs. Depending on the size of your facility, it might make sense to have some Double Deckers or Quads with the 3’ widths for smaller dogs. Do consider keeping the transfer door option, even with small dogs. They love the puzzle maze of winding through the openings…built in enrichment!

More ideas

There are hundreds of ways to design standard runs. The T-Kennel Configurator is a great tool for mixing and matching different run options. Don’t forget to take advantage of the FREE consultation!