Remember an older article about how we adopted a dog that was a Hurricane Katrina evacuee?

You can Read about it here.

Well here he is doing just fine.

DL

Louie

Jack The Dachshund

Today  I spoiled my outside dogs a little bit more. I say outside dogs because I have Jack the Dachshund who is my inside dog and then there is Louie and DL who stay outside. They have a really nice duplex style doghouse that I built for them years ago. I even put electric heating pads in the floors of each room. Yes, Louie and DL each have their own room. The electric heating pads help to keep them warm in the winter, but I wanted better for them.

Sometimes around here it gets really cold, sometimes in the teens, and I want to be sure they are warm. I know they are animals and can deal with it, but while I am in my warm bed, I like to know they are well taken care of too, so I consulted with some friends and looked online and found a nice solution that is rather easy to make.

It seems that in August/September of 1990 in a magazine called Gun Dog, there was an article about how to create a simple dog house heater for hunting dogs. It involved using a metal gallon paint can, a porcelain light bulb fixture, a 60 watt bulb and some wire, to make a convective heating device.

Here is what to do:
Go to a paint store and buy an unused 1 gallon paint can with the lid. Punch 1/4″ dia holes on the lid and sides of the can. Keep the holes small enough to prevent much light from getting through yet still allow convective heat to escape. Punch a hole in the bottom about 2″ in diameter. Enough room for your wire to be manageable.

Mount the can keeping 4″ of clearance on all sides to allow heat to circulate. You will need to run the wiring to the correct location first of course. Connect a porcelain light bulb socket inside the can, wire it up and put a bulb in the base, put the lid on.

Accessories that can be included (after all it is built by guys) are a dimmer switch to control heat and an indoor-outdoor thermometer to keep tabs on the temperature.

I quickly snapped a video using my cell phone this evening to show you what it looks like inside the dog house, so you can get an idea. The can is very hot, I cant even touch it. It has the dog house nice and toasty. I am looking forward to see how it does in the colder days ahead.

When you mess with several websites you tend to forget to write on some of them.

I’ve also been busy closing down the swimming pool for the winter, taking photography classes, getting ready for deer season, working out in the gym, etc.

Anyways… I thought I would throw some of my readers a bone, since its been so long since I wrote and share with you a video I captured this week of me and my dogs going for a ride to a trail we like to hike.

Its kind of funny at the 2 minute mark, the vehicle looks like its taking to the skies, but actually we are going up a ramp near a levee. It looks neat though.

The video was shot using the iPhone 4 and edited with iMovie on the iPhone 4.

Check out the article on www.ilovemyweiner.com Lots of videos are included in the article.

That’s right the new “I Love My Weiner” website that’s all about Dachshunds. Visit it here www.ilovemyweiner.com

This site is chock full of informative and often updated articles about Dachshunds of all types. Also there are videos and discounts on pet supplies.

If you are a Facebook user you can become a fan here  http://www.facebook.com/ILoveMyWeinerDachshunds Or Follow Dachshundjack using Twitter …sometimes there is different content on each.

Also have been working on getting our swimming pool installed and coming up with some plans for a deck. The pool is an above ground pool, 24 feet across, eight foot deep.

The tree next to the pool is coming down asap, and I gotta get the dirt moved and get the deck built.

More pics to come later.

I quickly grabbed a Nikon Camera (s230) with video capture capabilities and started to record. You just never know what might happen.

I then later edited it a little bit in Adobe Premiere Elements 8 and made it a little funnier.

He stayed with me in the backyard and watched me work all day today.

Here is a look back on him.

[Show as slideshow]

I found the video to be informative and decided to cut out the section from the entire video and share with the world.

Enjoy.

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Jack had a visitor this weekend. His brother Stubbs came by to see him.

Stubbs is a black and silver dapple which is from the same litter as Jack. It just so happens that my sister which lives about 50 miles from me got her a puppy from the exact same litter as I did. How amazing is that!

Jack was all beside himself. He finally had a playmate that was JUST LIKE HIM!

They both sound exactly the same when they bark and have the same builds. It was so cute to see them play together. They played for a few hours nonstop chasing each other and sharing chew toys.

I tried to get pictures of them playing but they were too fast to get any decent pictures.