Quoted by Mrs Normandy Rockwell, ‘Another Ideal Kennel Plan’, Our Dogs 116 (25th Aug. 1939), p. 551.
Description:

'I have read the article by a kennelmaid under the title of "My Ideal Kennel." As I make a hobby of planning houses, kennels and stables, I have read it with some attention, and I am going to be very unkind and say that it is a plan which, as far as I am concerned would be turned down at once.

To begin with, the square layout. Half the dogs would be boiled alive in summer and the other half frozen to death in winter. I can imagine nothing more boring, and nothing more likely to teach a dog to sit and bark aimlessly from that boredom, for it to have nothing but a yard and other kennels to look at. It makes for shyness too. Then all those aimless passages and doors. It seems to me to be designed for the saving of the kennelmaid's legs. There is also air-stagnation in such an enclosure. I take it in offering my suggestions, which can be so easily adapted that no drawings are necessary, that the situation is in the country, the only place fro kennels after all; that expense, within reasonable limits, is not object; and that therefore there is a sufficiency of ground for the number of kennels required.

...

My kennels would be of wood. They would be placed side by side in the open, with each its run, and the dividing fences of link wire, so that the dogs could see each other, The kennels would be chosen from the many advertised, but they would be on wheels, so that they could be moved round according to the seasons...

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[Regarding]... the range with the kitchen and the hospital... I would really spread myself. In my opinion, the kitchen should never be attached to any range of kennels. First, there is the fear of fire; secondly, if you must cook the dogs' food, and I do not believe in it except for specialised reasons, the smell of cooking keeps dogs restless, makes them noisy, and in faddy feeders takes the edge off their appetite.

My kitchen would have a hired electric cooker, and kettle, sink with hot and cold water, cupboard, food racks, and such gadgets as anyone can plan for themselves. And not a meat safe with its attraction for flies, but a refrigerator. (One can be got quite reasonably, if you know how!). The floor would be concrete, covered with a heavy linoleum.

...

I am wondering how "Kennelmaid" could have made such a blunder as to have even mentioned blankets. Perish the thought. Think of the look of it, think of hte damp if a dog comes in wet, and think of the cosy little shelters for the flea, the louse, and the little bed-bug. Woodwool and nothing else, and remember that this also makes a very efficient brush for dog's coats.

...

"Kennelmaid" will probably say that this method of distributing kennels in blocks will give her too much running about; but I should imagine that anyone who can build kennels more or less "regardless," could afford a boy to do the cleaning. The feeding-arrangement difficulty can be solved by having a wheeled trolley with enameled shelves, which can be pushed along easily enough on the gravel paths which should run in front of each range. The whole place should be made dog-proof, and if you can encourage rabbits to live in the rough of the paddock, as I have done, so much the better. It will keep the dogs happy and amused, give them exercise, and cultivate sporting habits.' (551)

 

Relevant passages from article by 'A Kennel Maid':

'The kennel which I intend to describe is a time-saving, rather than a labour-saving one. I have never worked in any quite like it, but have endeavored to compose the most attractive features of some that I have seen, into which I consider to be the most easily run housing, and beneficial from the dog's point of view.

It is only natural that a kennelmaid should want her charges to be in the best possible health and condition, but she must have the time in which to do it, and as time is money I dare say kennel owners are of the same mind. If cleaning and general routine can be disposed of as quickly as possible, the time saved will be used in extra exercising, grooming, individual feeding, show practice, etc. All these things are apt to suffer in a badly planned kennel where valuable minutes are wasted.

In my kennel I have just planned what I would like, without any thought of expense, but after all, it must be built of something and the general plan can be followed in any material desired.

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And now for the kitchen, It is such a joy for the kennelmaid to be able to spread herself out and not be disturbed. This room should be fitted with two tables (one for grooming and one for food preparation), running water with a sink for bathing, heating (both for cooking meat and for drying dogs), nice shelves, a meat shelf and bins for biscuits.

...

... beds and bedding... must vary, of course, with the breed being catered for but I think the following is worth considering for the average hardy dog. I have draw an sketch of a bench which is the width of the kennel, supported on bricks or wood. It has a low hinged front, which bolts onto the wall thus making it very easy to let down and sweep out the dust. This type of front is also excellent for puppy and whelping boxes.With regard to bedding, I suppose wood wool is the most obvious, and it certainly looks very nice, but in a kennel of my own I should use blankets or pieces of carpet, except with a short coated breed in cold weather. The don't need a lot of washing if kept aired and a good germicide powder is brushed into them, and I find that even quite young puppies will respect a blanket. Of course, chewing must be checked in its early stages.

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... Feeding, of course, is a matter on which it is desirable to save time, as I consider it the most important part of the day's work; but as everyone who has had anything to do with it knows, lightly cooked meat is fifty times easier to cut up than raw, and the soup is so useful if it contains some vegetables and rice or pearl barlies.' (484)

Quoted by T. Quick, 'Puppy Love: Domestic Science, “Women's Work,” and Canine Care,' Journal of British Studies 58 (2) (2019), pp. 289-314.
Description:

The idealization of homes as simultaneously sites of technologically enabled efficiency and places where “natural” relationships could be sustained fed into approaches to dog keeping more generally. Writing to Our Dogs in 1939, an anonymous correspondent signing as “A Kennelmaid” put forward a proposal for what she termed an “ideal kennel.” Like the ideal parlors and kitchens that played such a significant role in 1930s domestic culture, this kennel was to be organized in accordance with what the writer referred to as “time-saving, rather than labor-saving” principles. [note: 'A Kennel Maid, “My Ideal Kennel,” Our Dogs, no. 116 (18 August 1939): 484. The trend appears to have originated in the United States. See Grier, Pets in America, 304–12; Richard V. N. Gambrill (withJ. C. Mackenzie), Sporting Stables and Kennels (New York, 1935).']' (312)

'“A Kennelmaid” expressed hope that her plan would enable the routine tasks of dog maintenance and care to be efficiently dealt with to make way for more fulfilling duties: “If cleaning and general routine can be disposed of as quickly as possible, the time saved will be used in extra exercising, grooming, individual feeding, show practice etc. All these things are apt to suffer in a badly planned kennel where valuable minutes are wasted.” The kennel’s centerpiece was a kitchen for preparing dog meals as well as the grooming and bathing of dogs. Further spaces spiraled outwards from the kitchen: a whelping room would be “placed next to the kitchen for obvious reasons,” following which would be puppy kennels, with spaces for adult dogs beyond these. [note: 'A Kennel Maid, “My Ideal Kennel,” 484.'] The long-emerging scientific ethos of canine care thereby began to find expression in schemes for the organization of breeding dogs’ living environments. The work of caring for dogs, like that for the home more generally, would be alleviated by attending to and improving the material environment. Kennels would no longer be “intricate mass[es] of wire runs” [note: 'A Kennel Maid.'] but ordered and orderly places in which bitches, puppies, stud dogs, and kennelmaids could work together in harmony.' (312-313)