My wife and I both typically put in over 40 hours per week at work. We have a aging brindle boxer that HATES to have to stay outside all day because of how cold it it's this time of year. He has an igloo style dog house on our back porch, with the opening facing to the south, but he still wants to be in the house and scratches at the back door even when we are gone as well as chew at the door frame to the point that I have mounted angle iron over the door frame.

Question is, would it be ok to mount a heat lamp in the igloo dog house for him?

A heat lamp may be dangerous as well as overkill.

Why don't you start with a regular incandescent (if you can still find one) to see if that heats up the house enough.

I'd be careful. Can start a fire. Would a doggie door be an option? We wouldn't be able to live without ours.
Keep dry bedding in the house (bed, or straw, etc) - if it's wet he'll be that much colder.

If you do it RIGHT, use the proper fixture that will handle 200W and you are really careful, then this might work:

http://www.amazon.com/Ceramic-Bottom-Infrared-Reptile-Brooder/dp/B00IPCE61Y

I think its a bit overkill and not safe in general. People leave chickens in coops in sub zero temps for the duration of the winter. Dogs do have fur and I think you may be better served figure out a way to put a 'door' of some sort on the dog house so that the wind is blocked. I built a doghouse and was considering putting foam board on the walls. If you had that and a door...that dog would heat himself in it!

Lava lamp

I've tried staw before, but then my dog would just be covered in it when she came inside

I bought one of these this fall
http://www.amazon.com/Lectro-Kennel-Igloo-Style-Heated-Pad-Large/dp/B000S9K9AO/ref=sr_1_10?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1420922510&sr=1-10&keywords=heated+dog+mat

She never seemed interested in it until this past week. She has been laying on it a bunch with all these cold mornings.
They make a soft pillow version, but I knew my dog would tear into it! I got the hard plastic version and put some blankets around it and leaving the center exposed. They say not to cover the pad with anything, but I have a very thin fleece blanket covering the hard plastic. I also used some pvc to house the cord on the outside of the doghouse to the plug.

Why not put one of the pipe heating tapes underneath the floor of the dog house. I have used the ones used to wrap a pipe to prevent freezing in winter. They used to be thermostatically controlled if memory serves me correctly.

Buy a K-9 kondo dog den with the hound heater option.

My dog would probably get curious and chew on the pipe heated tape stuff. I guess you could lay some thin plywood above it. Heck, if you know your dog will not chew on ANYTHING, then go buy a $20-30 heated bed blanket

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My dog would probably get curious and chew on the pipe heated tape stuff. I guess you could lay some thin plywood above it. Heck, if you know your dog will not chew on ANYTHING, then go buy a $20-30 heated bed blanket

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He has never chewed anything except the door frame....Thought about an electric blanket or heating pad bad but wasn't sure about something he'd come in contact with.

Why not kennel the dog indoors or in the garage?

When I was a kid we had a Dane that was same way. Parents kept a heat lamp above his bed in the garage. I was home one day during a nasty thunderstorm. Lightning shorted the lamp or something, and it ended up falling on his bed and catching it on fire. If I hadn't been home that day, the house would have been lost.

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Why not kennel the dog indoors?

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FIFY

Would you want to be outside all day in frigid weather?

Buy a large crate. Take door off of crate. Put doggie door into the door. Put dog in crate. Shove opening of crate against the door. Dog is inside and warm. Easy access to outside for his business. This works great for us.

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Buy a large crate. Take door off of crate. Put doggie door into the door. Put dog in crate. Shove opening of crate against the door. Dog is inside and warm. Easy access to outside for his business. This works great for us.

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That's great if no humans use the door.

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Buy a large crate. Take door off of crate. Put doggie door into the door. Put dog in crate. Shove opening of crate against the door. Dog is inside and warm. Easy access to outside for his business. This works great for us.

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Good idea there.

very dangerous

We usually throw a few flakes off a square bale into the dog houses. Them seem to get nice and cozy in it. Its not too hard to clean up either and will rot into the soil overtime. Another idea could be to attach a flexible rug to the opening in the dog house to create a wind block while maintaining entering and exiting accessibility

Just insulate the heck out of the existing dog house.

Second the heating pad

I wouldn't do the heat lamp. We had a house fire in a local town that was due to a homeowner using a heat lamp for a dog on their back porch.

My wife would probably buy another dog for this one to huddle up with for warmth.

I used an outdoor light socket from walmart with just a CFL (probably the 100W equivalent). One night when it got down near 20 degrees I let the dogs sleep in the garage and conducted an experiment. The CFL kept a water bowl placed just inside the igloo door from freezing overnight.

My dogs are outside dogs and it seems they only get in the igloo to stay dry. Many times I check on them when the temps are below freezing and they are curled up in the middle of the yard sleeping away, ignoring the slightly warmer igloo and its protection from the wind. They just tuck their nose into a hip and start snoozing.

We never use heat lamps because as noted here they are more dangerous. We always use a normal incandescent bulb 60w or 75w. Those will provide plenty of heat for a dog IMO.

This is the house I built for my furry friend last fall.

I used a light socket that I could screw to the inside of the house and then ran the wires out the backside so she could not get hold of them. I try to use the shock resistant bulbs like you would normally put in a drop light but I usually have to replace at least one per year because she bumped it and knocked it out. As you can see I made it so that I could remove the roof to be able to change bulbs of course but also to make putting fresh hay in easier, make cleaning and spraying for ticks easier also.


I use a piece of insulation board I found in the barn to block the North wind as you can see in the picture. I didn't want to put up metal on that side because in the summer months she lays under the awning I built in the shade and the breeze is free to blow through. Of course all of this may be overkill but I get bored on the weekends at times.

This picture shows the plug in I have set up.


During the warm months I just unplug it and roll the extension cord up out of the way.

Obligatory rule 1. She approves.

Why not use one of these to protect bulb?