Kaizen Chaos

As much as Mr. Wonderful might complain about my three little dogs he sure comes up with some great ideas to spoil them and make my life easier. 

Welcome to the Dog Palace

Yes, our dogs are a bit spoiled

 Last winter, when I moved into my current house, I was concerned about the dogs being outside when it was too cold and I didn’t like them being caged inside all day long either. What was a girl to do? Call upon her handy-dandy-farmer-esque boyfriend, that’s what!

Mr. W. told me about how they used heat lamps to keep farm animals warm during the winter. He suggested we install a doggie door on my extra shed, fill it with cedar chips, run a cord through the wall and put up a heat lamp. Although I was a bit leery at first, it proved to be an awesome idea. When summer came around we changed out the bulb and raised the lamp as shown in the photo above since they no longer needed it in warm weather. And yes, we’ve even discussed installing A/C if it gets too hot.

The shed, er…um, excuse me, the “Dog Palace” is a great place for the boys and it also is very convenient for us if we are gone all day or even over night. As long as the weather isn’t too extreme they’ve got almost all the comforts of the house–a soft bed, lights and heat if necessary, and food that is out of the way of the damn birds who normally eat from their bowl if it’s out in the open. Believe me, Science Diet dog food makes for VERY expensive bird food.

While we were at the store the other day I told Mr. W that I would like to get one of those dog feeders that you can put a bunch of food in and it automatically flows out as they consume it. I figured it would save me some time in the morning if I didn’t have to refill their food bowl before going to work. After looking at the overpriced gadget that would still need to be refilled often, we decided it wasn’t worth the money. A few days later an idea struck Mr. W. and he made something twice as handy and WAY less expensive!!

 Mr. Wonderful’s Homemade Dog Feeder

Materials:

1 Plastic Tote(we used an 18 gallon, which holds almost a 40lb bag of small bites food)
Piece of Plywood
Sawzall
Screws

Cut a section out of the front of the tote. Measure and cut piece of plywood to fit inside the tote leaving a space at the bottom for the food to fall through. Angle the plywood (don’t forget to leave enough space for the food!). Screw the wood to the tote. Fill with dogfood and show your beloved pet their fun new feeder! Approximate Cost: $5.00!!!

Now…let’s hope the dogs don’t eat like pigs and gain a bunch of weight. I’ll have to keep an eye on that. Otherwise, it’s PERFECT!

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