My dad's best friend has three redbone coonhounds and three labradors (yellow, black, & chocolate). He bulit two big huge kennels for them, and built two big dog houses for them. He used a heating lamp, like the ones used for baby chickens/ducks. I sat in it once just for the heck of it, and it was really really warm. Not baking the dogs to death, but really nice compared to the 20 degree winter air outside the dog house. So the dogs wouldn't chew on the wire- he cable tied thick chicken wire around the chord. They never touched it anyhow. I think that is a really neat idea.