I have been told that my labs have house coats and that my forced air gas heat especially dries out their coats. But even in the dead of summer I have seen some nice dogs out there with fabulous coats.

We are thinking of turning our attached garage into a kennel room of sorts. It has a gas heater but its not forced air. We will install a small unit air conditioner for the summer.

My question is what is the optimal temperature range to keep good coats Especially in the winter months... I know they are labs but I dont want lab-cicles

In the winter, I generally keep the kennel in the 45-50 degree range. If it's REALLY cold at night, I'll crate them and cover the crates with blankets so they stay warmer (my heater will only heat the building so much), but generally they seem to like it in the 40's. When they are in the house for any length of time, they get hot and ask to go back outside LOL.

Obviously if I have younger dogs out there, I'll keep it warmer, plus they stay in the end kennel, underneath the propane heater.

Last year my mentor suggested to me if I wanted to improve the coats on my labs, put the kennel heat on 40 "ish". I did what she suggested, she's great, and what a difference in the coats. When the weather here did drop to freeezing, or bitter, at that point raise it a little but allow them to be in colder temps. They were made for it. I unfortunately wanted them to be in warmer temps due to my emotions, not necessarily what was best for them. Of course, like always, she was right LOL