by Martha Dobson, Iditarod Education Consultant

Laura Wright, 2016 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™, posted an article about her class designing doghouses, based on information about doghouses and their features from musher Matt Failor.

Looking at a sled dog’s house, one might think it’s too small for a dog to be comfortable in it. However, remember that most dogs curl up when they sleep, and certainly, sled dogs do, for warmth.

Elementary students: Try this experiment with students. Have them curl up on a towel or the classroom carpet for a defined amount of time. Tell them to notice if they begin to feel warmer, cooler, or stay the same. Then, have them lie straight and flat on the floor and notice the same things: do they feel warmer, cooler, or the same. Probably they are going to feel either the same or warmer when curled up and cooler when stretched out straight.

Rosemary is a retired sled dog. She weighs about 44 pounds and stands 19 inches tall at her shoulder. When she curls up to sleep, as she did here after chewing on that little bone in the photo, her dimensions are 20 inches long, 16 inches wide, and 7 inches high. As you can imagine, Rosemary did watch me in puzzlement when I measured her.

If her doghouse measures 3 feet by 3 feet by 2 feet high, how many inches lengthwise, width-wise and height-wise of empty space are there when she is curled up sleeping inside it?

________________lengthwise   ________________width-wise ________________height-wise

HINT–Subtract her curled up length from 36″, her curled up width from 36″ & her curled up height from 24″.

For middle school and older: In Laura’s article, Matt says he builds one doghouse from one sheet of 4 x 8 foot plywood with no waste. How big are these sections of the doghouse–the floor, sides, and roof– cut from one sheet with no waste? Is there more than one option for sizes of these sections cut from one sheet of plywood with no waste? Have students use trial and error to figure their answers. Use scale to represent the 4 x 8 plywood.

For secondary science students: Straw insulates doghouses. The dogs love getting new straw; they scratch it around and turn around and around getting the straw settled to their satisfaction. Design an experiment to determine insulation qualities of straw. Instead of using an actual doghouse, students should create a model doghouse. Include a hypothesis, a control, and procedure for determining if straw insulates.

For all grades to think about: The door of the doghouse is cut off-center in that piece of plywood. It also has 4 pieces of wood trimming it which stand out from the plywood. Why is the door off-center? What are 2 purposes of the wood trimming the door opening? (The door is off-center to provide an area out of the wind inside the doghouse. The wood trim blocks wind and protects the plywood edge from wear and tear by the chain. Also, Terrie Hanke, 2006 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™ who works with a Wisconsin kennel says they discovered the male dogs urinate less on the door opening to the house when it’s framed, keeping the house interior drier, and the dogs don’t chew the edges of the opening into custom shaped doors if there’s framing around the opening.)

Finally, for students in all grade levels, with appropriate help provided, build a doghouse based on plans students designed or the plan here at this link, http://iditarod.com/hands-on-learning-at-michigan-symposium-by-terrie-hanke/ . As a service learning project, donate the house to an animal care organization or someone who needs help providing shelter for their own pet.

Copyright by Iditarod Trail Committee       May not be sold
Created 2016 by Martha Dobson, 2011 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail™