I know this has been discussed before. But I will appreciate if anybody has any input on what kind of floor materials people use...concrete..gravel etc. Thanks for the help.

12 inch square concrete blocks.

Mine are going to be paving stones of some form (probably whatever's cheap and easy.)

Pea rock (gravel)

I had river sand for years.But glad I switched to the stall mats.

why do you like those? Are they hard to clean???

(I have concrete now, but would consider something else for on top of them......

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Replying to:

I had river sand for years.But glad I switched to the stall mats.

someone told me about pea stone helps keep feet tight, is this true?
adam

Mine don't like pea gravel. They go out of their way to not walk on it. I've seen them get sore feet when the rocks get caught in their webbing.

My dad used concrete and his dogs had good feet however, I have had 5 or more breeders recommend gravel for the tight foot factor. My dogs are on a gravely/dirt in their huge pen exercise yard because I live in the mountains. There is gravel walkway from the house to the pen. Their feet do get a little tender so I have used various products on their pads (Mushers Secret and Tender Foot). They have the most amazing tight feet. Is this a coincidence? I dunno, but I'm not about to pave the walkway or part of their pen at this juncture.
I love their feet as only a lab mom can.
A

I had Sand not pure sand river sand which has smaller then pea size pebbles and sand. It was ok.But after a time would get washed out. And smelly .I would renew with a semi of sand 2x a year.

So Then we tried the stall mats.All my outdoor runs have these for the flooring.Very easy to wash down,Then disenfect.No smell.Dry quick.soft on joints.The sun warms the ends of the runs in the winter so the mats are warm and cool in the summer.

there is nothing cleaner,more easier,not to mention dissenfecting than plain old cement. its the best!!!

I have stall mats and am getting ready to move the kennels to the basement...long, sad story. Since I have heard nothing but good on the stall mats I will put them down on top of the cement basement floor. Have you ever had problems with your Labs eating the stall mats? Are they OK to use bleach on? I don't know what else to use on the floor down there & don't want them on cement full time. I have someone that will sew garage sale bought sheets and blankets in to dog beds for me which will help a little & I will probably put half of an airline crate in each kennel to give the dogs a place to lay up off the cement.

I would think that concrete would be the best as far as disinfecting and safety. My male puppy would probably eat the stall mats. Since my dogs have a HUGE area to use, the dirt/gravel works great for me with the bleach/H2O.
Hope that helps.
A

I have concrete runs with stall mats inside the building. Please make sure you do use bleach. We switched to a "kennel cleaner" for a while and a couple of dogs got skin staph.We never had this problem with bleach, so we have went back to that. The concrete runs are the easiest to clean and sanitize.And you never have to trim nails

Deb - why don't you use Kuranda beds to keep the dogs off the concrete? Mine love them and always lay on them, except when they're really hot, in which case they lay underneath them on the concrete (which flips the beds up).

My individual runs the legs hold down the stall mats.So there is no way they can dig them up or even chew on them. Even left out to run in the perimenter fence area ,The mats over hang from the runs. Never a chew mark on them. even my puppies. I have used clorox.
Never a problem these mats are 8 yrs old and still going strong. The problem is with out side concrete is the poop freezes.Not on the mats.If it does. it's not stuck on ,where you have to scrap and scrap comes off very easily. I would like to put down more around the inside of my prementor fence.

Hey Patty I did buy 3 of the Kuranda beds after reading about them here & LOVE them. The older dogs all have one. But I have Donut the (Lab) Goat who eats everything. A Kuranda bed will be in jeopardy with her. And I think my younger Lab would eat it too. As time goes by I will buy a few more of those beds though. For now we will put down the stall mats. Hopefully my husband will make sure no loose ends are within reach of anyones mouth. I will be at a show the weekend he plans on putting up the kennels or I would be supervising. If they don't work out, I will try something different. I will also buy a few more nylabone wishbones & various other chew toys to keep everyone occupied during the day.

I recently purcased a solar kennel top from cabansunscreens it is very very nice

"Please make sure you do use bleach. We switched to a "kennel cleaner" for a while and a couple of dogs got skin staph.We never had this problem with bleach, so we have went back to that. The concrete runs are the easiest to clean and sanitize.And you never have to trim nails"

Ditto

Be sure to mix your bleach 1 part bleach to 10 parts water. Straight bleach does not work as a dissinfectant.