Ironwood Redbone and English Coonhounds Irons, Michigan. Quality breeding with some of the top bloodlines in the country.

We have two new dog kennels. Both of which are works in progress. Our main focus 2005 has been on the large 80' x 30' Redbone Kennel. In this kennel, our 8 redbones will be kept as well as having two runs for weaned puppies as they graduate from the whelping room (located in yet a different building). The other kennel is a building we put up from scratch and will house our 3 English Coonhounds.

We'd like to share the redbone kennel with you first. The Redbone Kennel is where we are converting the pole building-barn. It is 80' x 30' in size. There will be 10 runs in this kennel, an office and a grooming area. The bedding section of each run are 6' x 6' and the runs are 6' x 18'. The grooming / office room is 24' x 12'. A 6' walkway runs the length of the building. This is also like a 'gutter' as the section of building where the runs are located are nicely sloped cement (a full 1.5'). There is a step off to the walkway. Makes for easy cleanup. Plans are to put up a cement 'mini-wall' in front of the runs for easier pressure washing into the waste pit out back. Future plans for summer 2006 will also include a full septic system.
We plan to remove a good portion of the outer wall facing the front yard for lighting and ventilation.

A list of features here/planned:

Video / Sound monitor which is watched 24/7, same as whelping room
Bedrooms - raised sleeping benches and Kurunda beds
Bedrooms - raised feed/water diners
Bedrooms - doggie door and human door
Bedrooms - 6' wall with a small air space between ceiling and wall (except 1 side of each end pen will be solid) for better circulation/ventilation between pens and to make it easier if we deem it necesary to run heat/AC from the office area to the bedrooms.
Bedrooms - lighted
Grooming area - Large doggie bathtub
Grooming area - Large stand dryer on wheels and cage attachment for puppies
Grooming area - Grooming table and a converted milking stantion for doing nails, etc with no helpers
Grooming area - Blackboard paint on one large area for note taking
Office - Desk & file cabinet
Office - Seating area for entertaining potential puppy buyers
Office - 6 and 7 generation pedigrees framed on wall for easy viewing
Office - Framed photos of puppies we have sold in the past in their new homes as well as our own favorite photos
Office - Lighted china hutch for any show/comp brags, etc display

We'd like to share our progress in photos on this page. Please check back often for updates.

This is a picture of the building that's being converted into the large kennel.	The dashes here mark the section of the wall that will be removed. Where the small door on the left is located marks where the interior dog areas will be run all along that side. *** We may just cut out the top 3/4 of this area, leaving the bottom for a windbreaker/snow catcher. Would also enable us to tarp over it if need be during especially cold times while still offering us the extra ventilation we feel is necessary.
A view of the inside just after power washing and one wall frame going up.	Another view
The first wall frame. As of today, May 22, there are 6 walls up and paint on. Pics of those soon. There will be no run to the left of this wall. There will likely be too much sun there once the outer wall is removed to place any dogs in there comfortably.
Progress! My paint brush finally caught up with John's hammer!	This is the same view of the 'empty run' to compare with the one above. ;-) Do you like how I matched the green to the website? LOL
A view showing a hint of where the grooming / office room is to be	Just another view to bore you with. ;-)
The bedrooms are going up!! YEAH! This shows one end wall, which is solid. Taken right after John cut out the doggie door holes. John even let me in on some of the action and let me nail some of the OSB boards into place (after he tacked them up of course!) LOL Carpenter I am NOT but it's fun to take a part in the building process anyhow. Nailing wasn't near as fun as running the foam insulation spray cans to seal the windows we are closing off/covering and the other various cracks! Like a kid again... Now I've got to cut away the excess that you see leaking out all over the place.	*Another view of one of the bedrooms. Soon the mighty green paint brush will again catch up. S* Now what color should I paint the floors?... suggestions anyone??**
As you can see, the floors have been painted a terra cotta color. A special cement paint that penetrates down into the cement for a better seal. This photo only shows the first coat on the floor. 2nd coat made a noticable difference. Also, the insulation in the bedroom you see is now covered with plywood and lovely green paint (of course!) The space you see at the ceiling is now insulated as well. The ceilings are actually double insulated with a 2" dead air space in between. The bedrooms should stay quite toaty in the winter.	A bit difficult to get good photos with so much wire reflecting on the camera flashes. As of November 7th, we now have two redbone residents moved into the kennel. Amos and Ruby. The others to quickly follow. Just need a couple finishing touches on each of the other pens first. The gray stripes you see are where we repaired cracks to the cement. Now painted over.

I will be creating name plates for each kennel. They will be painted with the terra cotta floor paint for a finished look.
If we can answer any questions you may have in the building of our kennel, please feel free to contact us. This is truly a labor of love for us. The grooming room/office will be our on-going winter project. It has a great start to it already.

This is a 3 run kennel on one side and one large pen on the other. The large pen will be to house young pups that have been weaned and waiting for their new families to pick them up. Three indoor/outdoor runs. Heated inside. For now, the doggie door holes enter into their individual coops. As you can see in the pics, the 2004 MI winter caught up with us before we finished.

The start of our building project. 2 doors, 4 windows and 3 runs completed

John and David working on the roof over the runs. Primer on. Soon it will be painted an attractive sierra brown color (orange tinge like fall colors).

Both kennels will have a perimeter fence for daily turnout exercise of approx. an acre in size. As well as being exercised in our pond (see property photos page)