Design
The design of a breeding kennel must take into consideration the following elements:
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- expected movement of personnel, dogs, delivery people, veterinarians and visitors in order to limit the risk of contamination and allow separating;
- enable proper reaction to contagious illnesses (parasites, infections, etc.);
- direction of prevailing winds;
- ease and cost of maintenance (durability of material, etc.)
- control of environmental pollution;
- additional activities (board, training, grooming, etc.);
- possibility to extend breeding facilities in response to demand;
- quick evacuation in case of fire.
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One has to construct, as it were, a harmoniously operating kennel in one's mind before drawing up the plans. This is called dynamic design. It will enable the breeder to take a critical view of the plans, drawing multicolour arrows on the routes taken by the personnel, customers, veterinary, delivery people and others, the main aim being to block contaminations (e.g. by avoiding proximity between incompatible places such as maternity and infirmary areas).
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Overall architecture
For the general layout of the kennel, breeders would do well to borrow some of the pack breeding techniques used for productive livestock. This type of layout is well suited to all development stages of each dog in the kennel. Breeders must see to it that there are areas for all of the different physiological (birth, growth, maintenance, gestation, lactation, old dogs) and pathological (uncertain sanitary status, sick and contagious dogs, etc.) breeding stages and arrange them in a logical layout.
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- Places that are likely to be contaminated by people or dogs coming in from the outside (so-called "soiled" areas sheltering, for example, dogs under observation or that are being lodged, trained or groomed) must be planned in an isolated area featuring entrances provided with footbaths.
- The breeding quarters ("clean" area) must be separated from the "soiled" area and be laid out as follows:
- the kitchen (or place where meals are prepared) must be located centrally to allow quick distribution of meals, thus limiting barking;
- the living quarters must be laid out in accordance with the risk of infection their inhabitants face.
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During birth and when they are in season the females' cervix is open and thus particularly susceptible to ascending uterine infections.
Likewise, the immune system of new-born puppies is still underdeveloped, explaining their receptiveness to any germs that happen to be introduced to the kennel. It is thus best to start the cleaning circuit at the buildings running a high risk (maternity), then go to the areas sheltering grown-up dogs and end with areas thought to be contaminated (infirmary).
This is called the "forward march principle" (see chapter in disinfection). The layout of the kennel must make room for this principle except, of course, if each area has its own cleaning material.
The most sensitive dogs (breeding females, puppies) must stay on the outer edges while potential carriers of sicknesses (external dogs or dogs in quarantine) are best kept down from the prevailing winds.
Another measure limiting the risk of contamination involves having two distinct areas for relaxation, one for dogs coming from the outside ("external" dogs), and another for dogs from the kennel ("internal" dogs).
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General outlay of the different kennel sections.
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Thus each area, cage or room will be a part of the puzzle falling into place once you have answered the following questions:
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- Do you have to cross the whole kennel to show customers puppies that are for sale?
- Do the prevailing winds risk blowing germs from visitors to the breeding area?
- How will refuse be removed?
- What repetitive routes (cleaning, distribution of meals, etc.) will the breeder take each day?
- In which way will noises and odours spread?
- Is it possible to perform panoramic surveillance?
- What routes will food delivery personnel and the veterinary take?
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A semicircular design (or even fully circular) of the kennel around a central corridor normally meets all of these criteria.
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To some, these basic principles might seem too idealistic. They nonetheless apply to all breeders, no matter how small your premises or breeding areas. Breeders with little space could replace the word "building" above with "room".
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Example of logically laid out facility.
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