A good heat lamp can mean the difference between a warm, comfortable dog house and one which just isn’t fit for purpose. A dog who lives outside has a legal right to adequate shelter and clean, sanitary conditions. Our guide of the best heat lamps for your dog house will also include some top tips to ensure you’re providing the best outdoor accommodation for your dog.
At A Glance: Our Top 8 Picks For Heat Lamps For Dog Houses
- Akoma Dog House Furnace – Our Top #1 Pick
- Orange Light Heat Lamp Bulbs – Our Top Budget Pick
- DGE Heat Lamp
- Extreme Consumer Products Dog House Heater
- Corisrx Animal Heat Lamp
- Simple Deluxe Heat Lamp
- CULLEN Heat Lamp
- Inkbird Dog House Heater Bulb
We will also look at some alternatives to dog houses and ways to improve an outdoor dog’s quality of life. We will provide some enrichment tips and explore the benefits of living outside for a dog.
Even if your dog is outside for short periods, those times must be comfortable and humane. Gone are the days when a chain to a tree was an acceptable provision for a dog. Many dogs enjoy being outside all day long, but there are some factors to consider to do right by them and by the law.
We will look into the legal guidelines and more in our guide of the top 8 heaters for your dog house.
Should a Dog Live Outside?
If a dog is left outside in neglectful conditions, this is unlawful and can lead to fines or even imprisonment. A dog is protected by law in all 50 States, and an owner must provide a safe, humane way of living. A dog can’t be left exposed to extreme temperatures, be without shelter, or food and water. If a dog is tethered to a structure, he must have sufficient room to roam.
Many dogs thrive with outdoor living, and much prefer it to living within a home. For some breeds, spending most of their time outdoors is complete heaven for them. They enjoy the freedom, the fresh air, and the sensory experiences on offer. An outside dog, when catered for properly, can be an extremely happy hound.
A concern within the animal rights communities is with a dog being such a sociable animal; if he’s living a solitary life outside, this can lead to many emotional problems. Dogs are social animals and need human companionship. If multiple dogs live outside, with a limited amount of human interaction, they can quickly revert to their ancestral wild dog ways.
Even the friendliest of dogs can become frustrated and bored when isolated, with little human companionship. This can lead to depression, aggression, running away, excessive barking, or disruptive habits.
It is recommended that puppies are not left alone for longer than 2 hours within a day; for adult dogs, this is increased to between 4 – 6 hours a day, and for seniors, reduced again to between 2 – 6. If you have no other option but to leave a dog outside for many hours at a time, you could consider hiring a dog walker in your area or even a doggy daycare service.
How to Enrich The Life of an Outside Dog
Dogs are clever animals and especially for specific breeds, such as Border Collies, Poodles, and Labradors; this high intelligence is combined with a great love of people and the need for human interaction. A dog shouldn’t be left for many hours at a time in solitary confinement, or you have yourself a very distressed animal.
It’s crucial to provide lots of mental stimulation for the times when you can’t be there. Products like interactive puzzle toys and boredom-busting activities will provide the brain activity a dog craves. Snuffle mats are relatively new to the scene but offer many hours of entertainment for dogs who would otherwise be bored.
Making an Outside Dogs Life Better
The first thing to ensure is that the dog house is suitable for their needs. It should be large enough so a dog can entirely turn around and offer adequate protection from the elements. You could even attempt to build your own dog house relatively quickly.
Once a shelter is established, the next thing to do is look around the yard or garden and eliminate any potential dangers. Things like lapses in security through broken fencing or poor exterior structures could allow the dog to escape, ensuring that the space is secure.
Some dogs find the outdoors just too interesting and have a desire to explore far and beyond their own backyard, but there are ways to curb this pretty easily. For highly energetic bouncy breeds, you may need to look into higher outer barriers and ways to prevent your dog from jumping the fence or walls.
Besides escape, a dog could also incur injuries or illness outside, so it is a good idea to look for things like stagnant water, poisonous plants, well cover safety, or items that could cause injury. A dog who spends a lot of time outside should also have sufficient protection against parasites.
A pet water fountain will ensure that fresh, running water is readily available, and by looking at installing a dog waste station, you can keep on top of the mess quickly and conveniently, resulting in a safe, clean environment for your pet.
Now we have the basics covered; we’re going to look at our top 8 heaters for a dog house.
Top 8 Heaters for a Dog House
| IMAGE | PRODUCT | |
|---|---|---|
 | Editor’s choice Hound Heater Akoma Dog House Furnace
| VIEW ON AMAZON →READ REVIEWS → |
 | Orange Light Heat Lamp Bulb
| VIEW ON AMAZON →READ REVIEWS → |
 | DGE Heat Lamp
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 | Extreme Consumer Products – Dog House Heater
| VIEW ON AMAZON →READ REVIEWS → |
 | Corisrx Animal Heat Lamp
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 | Simple Deluxe Heat Lamp Bulb
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 | CULLEN Heat Lamp
| VIEW ON AMAZON →READ REVIEWS → |
 | Inkbird Dog House Heater Bulb
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1. Hound Heater Akoma Dog House Furnace – Editors Choice
The Akoma Dog House Furnace is powered by a long-life heating element (300W) and set to last for years (100,000 on/off cycles). It has a safety shield to protect the internal components and wires and rounded corners to prevent injury. The external cord is both heavy-duty and chew-proof.
It is designed for dog houses with 32 cubic feet, but owners say it is sufficient for houses much larger than this. The Akoma Dog House Furnace is easy to install with a mounting bracket for igloo-type houses. This isn’t suitable for dog houses with highly flammable bedding such as sawdust or straw for safety.
2. Orange Light Heat Lamp Bulb
The pack of 2 Orange Light Heat Lamp Bulbs comes in a choice of black or white, with 100W of heat for up to 10,000 hours. It is specifically for reptiles and amphibians, but with its powerful wattage, it can also warm up an outdoor animal home, such as a dog pen or chicken coop.
It is a budget-friendly product, and we love that you get two bulbs at the time of purchase, so no other bulb is needed for those with a larger area. There is some negative feedback for this item online, but others speak very highly of it.
3. DGE Heat Lamp
The all-in-one detachable DGE Heat Lamp is of outstanding value. It comes with: heat lamp, case, screw socket, power cord, case, and spring and digital thermometer. It is an excellent product for breeding boxes, vivariums, chicken coops, catteries, and dog houses, and we love its compact size – 4.1-inch x 2.76 inches.
Despite its small volume, it is capable of 100W and has a 10,000 life span. The DGE Heat Lamp just distributes heat, no light, so this is worth bearing in mind if you want a product to do both simultaneously.
Its copper conduct and the ceramic holder have a high-temperature resistance and are non-melting at their highest temperature. We love the included digital thermometer but would recommend purchasing two for medium-large dog houses.
4. Extreme Consumer Products – Dog House Heater
Here we have the Extreme Consumer Products Dog House Heater, which is energy efficient with an adjustable temperature from 35° F to 80° F. It comes with a 16-gauge steel chew-resistance protector and is advertised as ‘easy installation.’
Ratings are balanced for this, with some owners claiming it is perfect even in sub-zero temperatures and others citing it has a noisy fan that upsets their dogs. Many people complained of it being damaged or missing parts on delivery. However, it isn’t an expensive heater and ticks many boxes for many owners and their dogs.
5. Corisrx Animal Heat Lamp
The Corisrx Animal Heat Lamp is suitable for all creatures, great and small. This nifty little lamp does it all, from accommodating chicken coops and reptile vivariums to dog houses and stables. It is available in 30W, 60W, and 100W. The Corisrx Heat Lamp is encased in heat-resistant netting with metal spring coils around the outer wires to prevent chewing.
It is a hanging lamp, rather than wall-mounted, and distributes heat evenly around the area.
This is a budget-friendly heat lamp that can serve many different animals, inside or outside. We love that this could be used for outdoor catteries in the winter and be brought indoors during kitten season, saving the need for additional products.
6. Simple Deluxe Heat Lamp Bulb
With a long life span of 10,000 hours, the Simple Deluxe Heat Lamp is suitable for a range of different pets – indoor or outdoor. It can act as a heat source for incubating eggs and chicks or reptiles in vivariums but still be powerful enough for an outdoor chicken coop, dog house, or cattery.
It is a bulb for a pre-existing installation that gives off no light, so additional lighting would need to be brought separately if being purchased to light up an outdoor animal pen. Customers receive two bulbs per pack, so if you have a larger structure to heat, this is a cost-effective way of doing so.
7. CULLEN Heat Lamp
The CULLEN Heat Lamp has a stick-on thermometer so owners can monitor the temperature at all times, which is a great time saver. It is advertised as an infrared basking light primarily for reptiles. We believe it is appropriate for dog houses with its light/heat distribution too, during spring or summer months or for indoor dog pens or breeding boxes.
With its max temperature reaching 24 ℃, this is capable of getting a dog through a harsh winter, as well as making other times of its life more comfortable.
8. Inkbird Dog House Heater Bulb
Made of solid ceramics, the Inkbird Dog House Heater Bulb has a 99% high thermal efficiency, with a good radiation feature for amphibians and reptiles. Compatible with standard porcelain E26 screw sockets, this heat bulb is anti-explosion and waterproof and has a lifespan of up to 15,000 hours.
The Inkbord Heater Bulb goes from cold to powerfully hot within seconds and has a 150W capacity. It supplies constant heat for those colder nights and winter days.
How to Choose The Right Heat Lamp
To choose the right heat lamp for your dog house, you should consider where you will be positioning it; hanging lights can hang low and mounted heaters may be brushed against, so thinking about some kind of encasing is important to prevent burns.
A 100W lamp should heat an area of 4-5 cubic feet – a cubic foot is an area that measures: 1-foot x 1-foot by 1-foot. To discover how many cubic feet space is, you need to multiply the length, by the width, by the height. For example, if a refrigerator measures 4 feet long by 2 feet wide by 5 feet high, the cubic measurement is 40 cubic feet.
Ensure that the lamp or heater will provide adequate heat for the area you have.
It is important to look into the safety aspects of the product, too; it should either have an anti-chew cord or be a cordless heat source to prevent serious, or even fatal, injury.
What are the Alternatives to Heat Lamps?
A dog who spends a lot of time outdoors needs a heat source, and this really must be in the form of a heater or a lamp. There are differences between the two, with the main one being that a lamp tends to be hung above and a heater wall mounted. Lamps and bulbs are lower in price, but with a heater, you can get higher temperatures.
You may wish to consider a heating pad to provide extra warmth to outdoor puppies, seniors, or short-haired breeds. While there are tiny wood stoves like the Cubic Mini that would certainly fit inside a large dog house, we can’t expect our dogs to keep the fire stoked!
Frequently Asked Questions About Heat Lamps
What is the Safe Limit for a Dog House Heat Lamp?
For the majority of breeds, 70° Fahrenheit is the safe limit. You can find heat lamps with varying power in various sizes. A typical 250-watt light can emit 95°F of heat, which is adequate for most dogs even during the harshest of winters.
It’s vital to monitor the temperature to make sure it doesn’t become too hot for your dog, so a heating lamp with a thermostat is a good choice.
What is the Best Flooring for a Dog House With a Heat Lamp?
Some manufacturers will advise against certain flooring that is considered highly flammable, such as woodchip or straw. It would be best to look for a floor type that will be comfortable for the dog to lie on and walk on.
Washable mats and reusable pads are highly durable and both good options for a dog house floor.
How do I get my Dog to Like his Dog House?
If you follow our tips, you can prevent a dog from disliking his dog house by ensuring it is a comfortable, fun place to be. However, if a dog isn’t used to being in a dog house, he may be reluctant to go inside. You can tempt him by spending time with him near the dog house to show it isn’t a threat and encourage him inside with treats or toys.
Often owners will leave something of theirs inside the dog house, such as a sweater or blanket which carries their scent. This can give great reassurance to an anxious or nervous dog.
Best Heat Lamps – Our Verdict
The safety features and heat distribution of the Akoma Dog House Furnace make it an excellent choice, especially for those with igloo-style dog houses. The brand produces lots of other dog items, such as specialized chews, additives, and wipes, which leads us to think they’re more of a dog-friendly company.
We like the easy-adjust temperature of the Extreme Consumer Products Dog House Heater but found that it has been negatively received by many buyers. For a compact product that does it all, we would happily recommend the Corisrx Animal Heat Lamp, suitable for all types of animals and pens; this is a nifty little product with a wide range of uses.
There aren’t any notable differences between the three heat lamp bulbs we have featured in this guide; Simple Deluxe Heat Lamp, Orange Light Heat Lamp Bulbs, and Inkbird House Heater Bulb are all excellent choices for pre-existing lamps. Although of the three, we did like the pretty instant heat that comes from the Inkbird Dog House Heater Bulb.
A great benefit to the CULLEN Heat Lamp is its stick-on thermometer, allowing constant monitoring of the dog house; another great feature of this heat lamp is its ability to promote wound healing due to it being infrared.
Forrest is a lover of dogs, the wild outdoors, deep mysterious conversations… and coffee. He is the owner of several websites, including Canine Weekly. He resides in Austin, Texas.