An outdoors kennel cooling system keeps puppies and older dogs from succumbing to heat exhaustion after being tied up in the glaring sun to their outdoor kennels, avoiding tragedies like the Staffordshire pup from Queensland.
“HELP! HELP! HELP!” that pup panted for air.
Like an unseen hand covering his nose, shutting his mouth, the heat smothered him. His ragged and lonely cries for help went unnoticed. Beside him, his young friend lay still on the dust filled grass.
“HELP! HELP! HELP!” his head raised high. The pup sought the ear of any good Samaritan passing by, a motionless companion next to him. Not long after, his shouts for help grew labored and lazy with the burden of exhaustion. He staggered to inspect his friend’s limp body in the stillness of the heated ground. Nudging, pleading, he got no response. No one came.
Why would no one answer? His young friend’s chest had ceased to rise.
His cramping muscles ached; his chest began to tighten. The heartbeats once slamming against his ribs now came slowly. His organs had begun to struggle also to keep him alive.
“HELP! HELP! HELP!” He tried desperately again. “Please get up, buddy…” he nudged. “Someone will come…”
No one came.
An Avoidable Outdoors Kennel Horror Story
This horrific story is true. It illustrates to doggy mamas and daddies what a lack of systematic preparation may unexpectedly produce on a hot day in your absence. You come home that evening and your dog is dead, because you failed to set up an outdoor kennel cooling system.
The Staffordshire pup from Queensland that survived this ordeal, fiercely lapped up the water that the inspectors offered him upon being rescued. He was lucky, since his exposure to the heat, though extensive, did not kill him. But not all animals that suffer such conditions are as lucky. His one-month old Arab cross-breed friend did not make it that day. Between 2018 and 2019, in the U.S. alone, there were a reported one-hundred and thirteen heat related dog deaths. This does not include others that doubtless went unreported.
Many of these deaths occurred because unprepared dog owners left their poor, helpless friends outdoors exposed and defenseless. The dogs may have been restricted by leashes or trapped within kennels that turned to ovens, and they had no way to escape the vicious heat of a relentless sun.
As doggy parents, we could not bear to be the cause of this kind of suffering. We love our little (or big) furry friends, and we wish to see them healthy and happy. The thought of causing their agonizing demise because of our negligence is not easy to stomach.
We know your heart. You only want the best lives for your little guys, right? They give us all their valuable love and affection. They are our protectors and our best confidants. They hold our secrets and they rejoice with us when we are excited. They share our sorrows when we are down, and they lap up our tears to reveal a hidden smile (sometimes one we didn’t even know we had.) Our best friend is loyal, and that loyalty is for life. So, how do we repay them?
How do we avoid another tragedy?
Our desire to comfort and reward our dogs for their company necessitates we prepare for the changes in seasonal temperature, especially hot summer, when flies buzz and you wish them off your dog while outdoors, and temperatures may become more than uncomfortable, in fact, deadly dangerous.
But how do you keep your dog cool outside in your absence?
How do you keep your dog safe from the sun?
We will explore the answers to these questions in this article. We love our canine compadres, so keep reading.
What Tools To Use To Keep Your Dog Comfortable In The Heat?
Keeping your doggy safe and comfy is accessible, whether you are a rescue parent or just an avid dog lover, evaluating these top-rated residential and commercial dog kennel climate control solutions. You should be able to find a good fit here that suits your needs and budget. Enjoy!
The Arf Pets Pet Dog Self-Cooling Mat Pad for Kennels
This outdoor kennel cooling system may be the ideal solution for your pup even if it is not a full-stack shelter solution. Despite this, it may be no less a good idea to leverage it if you are a regular doggy parent. As of this reading, it ranks highly in reviews also as an affordable option.
The Self Cooling Mat Pad does just what it says. It self-cools. It offers up to three hours of relief from the heat to our buddies. After three hours of cooling, it recharges itself in just fifteen to twenty minutes for re-use! How cool is that?
Pretty cool, we think.
The pet cooling pad for dog kennels is 27 inches by 43 inches and is 1 inch thick. It can be useful in the hot season, but this versatile and cost-effective mat is also ideal for older dogs, injured dogs, or dogs that have undergone surgery. It’s cooling properties help to relieve swelling in an aged canine’s joints and helps reduce inflammation in dogs that are healing from a surgical trip to the vet.
There is no ugly clean-up process, as it only requires a quick wipe-down with some soapy water, and the mats penetration resistant exterior built tough will offer you longevity of use. We love our wolfies and we want to see them comfortable any day of summer. This is why the Arf Pets Pet Dog Self-Cooling Mat Pad for Dog Kennels may prove to be the most affordable and versatile outdoor kennel cooling system option that we can recommend to keep your pet cool. Does this option fit your furry best friend’s needs?
If not, then onto the next, and this one is a doozy!!
ClimateRight Mini Portable Doggy Air Conditioner
“Americas Veterinarian” Dr. Marty Becker, on the Good Morning America show recommends this one! It’s one of the best products we could find for keeping your dog comfortable in the heat. And it doubles its useful purpose during the cold season!
Well, that’s just how we want our furry ones to feel when they get into their outdoors home too! That’s the whole point of an outdoor kennel cooling system!
The specific product that we are going to look at, whose pricing you can check in the next link at Amazon, is the ClimateRight CR2500ACH Mini Portable Heater and Air Conditioner. Pretty fancy name, but for our fur-covered loved ones, the name is not all that important. What is important is what this heating/cooling system does and how it can give our pup a great living environment in virtually any climate.
Runs on 110-volts power, the ClimateRight CR2500ACH Mini Portable Heater and Air Conditioner plugs right into your outside AC outlet and effectively controls the climate in an area of up to 400 cubic feet, which will accommodate most dog kennels. Installation is fairly easy and instructions include how to use its built-in dehumidifier.
Guess what? Temperature is not the only important part of keeping our dog comfy and healthy! 
Did you know that our furry friends don’t sweat? Yep, that’s right. Dogs don’t sweat, except for a small amount from the pads of their feet. Their entire physiology is different than ours, and as a result, they are more susceptible to dangerous heat related conditions such as heat stroke.
Instead of sweating, they pant to expel heat as evaporation occurs from the dampness of their mouths. That is why a built in dehumidifier is so important. Our pup’s ability to release heat greatly declines when humidity is above 35%. If the relative humidity of the climate is as high as 80%, our dog is virtually unable to expel any heat at all.
If our precious pup cannot give off heat because the humidity in the air is too high, then our fuzzy guy will wish not to have been born with any fuzz on. Our canine’s inner body temperature may still rise because of the various metabolic functions that every dog naturally undergoes.
For this reason, any effective climate control solution for canines should include humidity control!
The ClimateRight CR2500ACH Mini Portable Heater and Air Conditioner does have that important feature. It is compact, portable and fairly easy to set up. It fits outside of the dog kennel, so it does not take up any extra room inside. This means that your buddy still has lots of room and doesn’t end up squished. It is made by a reputable company with plentiful reviews.
The unit is made specifically for dog kennels. With its 400 cubic-foot arc-of-effect, it efficiently operates dog kennels of many sizes. If you need a larger model, the company has some larger units with more BTU’s.
On top of that, this streamlined dog kennel cooling system doesn’t give off any emissions capable of harming our four-legged companions. That means that we can keep one or many of our dogs safe and comfortable with one great product!
The installation of this outdoor kennel cooling system is simple and only requires drilling two holes in the side of the intended structure. Its easy-to-install package includes “quick connect” flanges and duct work.
If you liked the ClimateRight air conditioner, well, stay tuned because this next one is even cooler. This is one of the coolest solutions to keep your pup safe AND comfortable! What’s so cool about it?
The Dog Kennel Collection If You Feel Like Customizing Your Fuzzy Guy’s Home
This one is a solution that both covers residential climate control solutions for dogs and commercial dog kennel cooling systems. They include full climate control. Equipped with a heater and dehumidifier, if you have the budget for it and are looking for a high-quality, long-term solution for multi-seasonal kennel climate control, then LOOK NO FURTHER!
This next option for cooling, heating and dehumidifying your companion’s environment offers full customization! The options are practically endless! There are four climate control kennel cooling system classifications that span from traditional residential style to elite commercial dog kennels. In fact, all of the dog kennels have air conditioning, heater and humidity control features.
These products not only allow you to choose all the dimensions and size for your dog’s home, but they also allow you to choose everything from trim color, paint and stain styles, door and window size, material build and run size, plus the number of dividers (if you have more than one dog.)
These versatile, high quality dog kennels come standard with a 30-year architectural shingles, pressure treated floor joists with polyurea floor, R7 material insulated dog box, chew proof doors with stainless steel edging, DuraTemp or Board & Batten siding (painted or stained) and LP TechShield sheathing, PVC decking, and interior chain-link dividers. Talk about a doghouse ready to last!
Crate Fans As An Outdoor Kennel Cooling System
Fans may be all you need. And there are nifty cooling systems that can be a great option to keep your pups cool in the heat. Many of them are quite affordable. These dog kennel crate fans circulate the air in your doggy’s house to help cool it where dry heat is not extreme. They have strong protective shielding around the fan blades to keep our furry guys from getting injured.
There are versatile portable-type crate fans that run on DC batteries and last up to 100 hours. Some of them also have an AC adapter so that we can plug them directly to an outlet if we are not on the go. These cooling tools may be easily mounted to the kennel or crate that you already own. Most of them are considered ultra-quiet so they won’t bother you pups, you or your neighbors too much.
Do your doggies ever chase the vacuum cleaner? We don’t want that with the fan! Silence matters.
Fanning The Kennel Quietly On The Go
An example of a portable DC crate fan for dog kennels and carriers, with a 100 hour maximum run-time, is the Metro Air Force Crate Cooling Fan. It runs on two D-Cell batteries and has two speeds for maximum air flow. The fan easily clips onto standard crates, kennels and travel carriers. This one does not have an AC option, but it does come with a one-year-warranty.
An example of a portable DC crate fan that does offer an AC adapter option is the affordable Pro Select Cool Pup Crate Fan line (click link to check pricing on Amazon). It will run on four C-type batteries, with two running speeds and has a built-in thermometer. You can also plug it into 110-volt power source when it is available by using the adapter that comes with it.
Do you need to keep your pet cool while traveling? You may use a dog crate or pen to enclose your dog. If so, then you can consider the 12-volt crate fan that hooks up to your vehicle battery! This way, you can keep your pets cool, even when you take them on your summer vacation with you!
Some of these crate fan kennel cooling systems come with an extra boost of cooling for your pet because of ice! One such line of kennel cooling system products is the Pro Select Deluxe Cooling Fans. They come with an ice core pack insert, that contains distilled water and polypropylene glycol.
You provide your pup with an extra boost of coldness, by freezing the pack for four hours, and then placing it in the fan’s special cooling pack compartment. Each ice pack keeps your lovable fur-ball extra cool for two hours before having to be refrozen. So, keep a couple of extra ones in the freezer so your comrades may enjoy long lasting coolness as much as possible on the go!
Going Solar for Your Dog Fan
But if you want something even cooler and more hi-tech that conserves on energy costs, then consider a solar-powered crate fan for dog kennels!
An example of a solar-powered dog kennel crate fan is the Dog Palace Breeze Solar Powered Exhaust Fan.
This neat exhaust fan fit with solar cells runs on the rays of the sun and vacuums the air out of our pet’s home. As old air comes out, fresh air gets pulled in, cooling the doghouse up to 15%.
Also, the fan has a power cord so that the solar panels may be installed away from the doghouse or kennel, instead of on it. This is important, because it is better to give our pup’s house a shade, rather than let it be hit by the sun rays. You can mount the solar panels at a different location than the doghouse and still enjoy the economic benefits of using solar power, while also providing shade for your dog.
Cooling The Doghouse With a Misting Systems
A cooling mist spraying system for dogs is a system that sprays billions of water droplets into the air that surrounds the kennel. The misty spray cools the air around our buddies as the sun shines. The hot rays cause the process of evaporation which uses thermal energy to reduces the temperature of the affected area.
A great example of a mistcooling misting spray cooling system is the Patio Mistcooling Misting System. This cooling system is great for just about any location and can cool the affected area up to thirty degrees!
The mist line is nine feet long and operates at 40-100 psi of water pressure. It has a fifteen foot long supply line hose that connects to our water source, so we can lay it out in our yard for our fur-balls to play in and get cool.
The hose itself is resistant to the suns UV rays and is ¼ inch thick. The spray nozzles are not cheap plastic, either! They are made of brass and stainless steel. The nozzle fittings are leak-proof and they have an end-plug fitting. All we have to do is fit the hoses together and attach them to our water source.
We then place the misting hose into the area where our furry dude will be playing and turn the adjustable nozzles so that they face the area our dogs need cooled. Turn on the water and voila! Now, our pup may enjoy up to thirty degrees more cool, safe and comfortable! You might actually want to visit the doghouse on a hot day just to cool yourself down!
Outdoor Kennel Cooling System Options When On A Budget
We all want the very best for our favorite furry guys. Sometimes the world can get us in a jam financially, or maybe sharing our life with a precious pup like ours is a new thing for us. If we do not yet have any cooling solutions, of course we should find one, so that our wolfies are healthy AND happy. In the meantime, until we do, here you have a couple of ideas to help keep your buddies safe on the cheap.
Shade may be all you need. If you have a dog kennel, but no cooling system, make sure to put some sort of canopy above your pet’s kennel. This will reduce the temperature inside your furry guys house between 20-30 degrees!.
Get a doggy pool. These are usually only a few bucks at a store, and you might even be lucky enough to get one second-hand or for free. Leave one of these in your yard to give your dog the opportunity to cool itself in the water. Keep it in a shaded area as well.
Leave your sprinkler system on, while you’re at work. In extreme cases, when the day is going to be very hot and you cannot keep your dog indoors, then at least allow your pup to cool down in the water from your hose. Even if you’re in a financial jam, as long as you haven’t had your water shut off yet, you could spare your dog’s life in the heat using the sprinklers.
There are many options for an outdoors kennel cooling system according to budget and need. Take care of your pet with the full knowledge that you’ve now acquired regarding your options and the various solutions at your disposal.