Summer Project - New Dog Box

Summer is short in Two Rivers, and generally pretty hectic. In addition to the mundane tasks like filling in massive bomb craters dug out by the team in the dog yard, keeping sled dogs reasonably entertained, preventing the grass in the front yard from resembling an Amazon jungle and so forth, each year I tackle a major kennel improvement project. This year's project has been to transform a stack of plywood and other materials into a fully-functional "dog box" for the truck.

My old dog box provided excellent service for quite a long time. Originally built by my friend Mike Green some 30 years ago, it's safely carried dogs over much of the United States, particularly the Northeast, and across Canada and the Alaska Highway to our great State. For the past 10 years it has transported Stardancer dogs and our gear wherever we took a notion to go.

This past winter, however, it started showing signs of aging. Door literally fell off, and at one point an entire panel was left hanging by nothing more than a rusted wood screw when the framework beneath it failed. We were able to patch it together enough to get through the season, but the writing was on the wall. It HAD to be replaced.

I plan to write about the project in more detail later, but here are a few photos to show our progress thus far.

Cutting Materials to Size

Template for the Compartment Doors (jar lid used to draw corners)

Door Template Traced Onto Side

Cutting Out the Window

Door Hardware Installed Before Cutting Out the Corners for a Better Fit

Center Divider Ready to Fasten to Floor

Partitions Between Compartments Attached to Floor and Center Divider

Fastening Right Side to the Floor. It Is Also Attached to Each Partition

Both Ends Attached to Box

Mostly Completed Box Coated and Mounted on the Truck Bed