Well China is losing her cool weather "dog house". She likes to stay outside while I'm at work. I draw the line at low 40 temps or if rain is forecasted but she still needs somewhere to go out of the wind, or if rain pops up. She absolutely refused to have anything to do with a Igloo type doghouse I bought her shortly after adopting her. But then I noticed she would go under my brother's pontoon boat that he would park next to my garage from fall to spring. During the summer, his snowmobile trailer gets parked there so she uses that for a rain shelter. So every fall for the last 4 years or so, I make a trip to the local landscapers and pick up 5 bales of straw. These get arranged with 4 in a C-shaped box open perpendicular to the pontoons, and the 5th one busted open for a floor about 6" thick.
My brother just sold the pontoon boat so I'll have to get something built by next fall. The current straw setup has been a very good insulator. I crawl in every 3-4 weeks and make sure the floor hasn't gotten wet or the cats haven't treated it as a litter box, and it's very cozy. I seem to recall seeing an episode of one of the home type shows where a house was built with straw insulation in the wall. So I'm wondering about making a dog house with 1/2" something-or-other inner and outer walls and floor with a space in between for 6-8" straw. Anybody done anything like this or have any thoughts on practicality?