Interesting updates from Crookedbrains.

Posted: 21 Oct 2009 05:49 AM PDT

Earlier we have seen 'Cat-Friendly House Designs: Part: 1 and Part: 2' which were designed with special features for cats. Now we have something for dog owners too. 'Dog Friendly Homes' and yes these too come from Japan, where it's said more than 60% of dog-owners keep their dogs indoors and the trend is on the rise substantially in recent years. There is a rise in popularity of small dogs better suited for indoors and people's attitude towards them has created this change. If you are among those who treat your dogs as family members rather than watchdogs, then who knows you may even pick one or two thing from here and use it next time you remodel your home!

(Image credit: asahi-kasei).

These house designs come from Asahi Kasei, a leading house builder in Japan, who has been credited with the creation of 'Cat-Friendly House Designs'. These houses are designed as per the requirements of the clients and their dogs, which require great deal of research to design them. Here are a few key features of these houses: a peephole in the garden wall along with a bench for the dog to see outside the high wall, fence being installed on the door between the foyer and living room preventing the dog jumping out to the entrance, a special doorway to the kitchen door for a dog walk. Even the dogs need a private room, so you have an open floor plan; it can be placed under the stairs next to the living room. Then we got unit baths for pets that can withstand up to 100 kg of weight (quite sufficient even for the largest breed), with a special shower for their bath. Special care is taken of the carpet used on the stairs, none wants a loose or unfriendly slippery stairs carpet. You got pet door installation so the dog moves in and out of the bedrooms. For those who want to make their dogs comfortable in dense urban housing, then creation of a "courtyard" is advised (seen in the below photo). Special importance is given to the flooring, it depends on the requirement of the client, whether they want a scratch resistant flooring, paint finish or any other pet friendly one. Apart from all these, special care is taken to provide adequate ventilation and use of pet friendly construction materials as well.