There are so many benefits to glass kennel doors. The most obvious is how nice they look, they reduce anxiety in animals by eliminating the caged in feeling they get from rod doors and also reduce noise from animals barking by containing the noise somewhat. It’s a common belief they cut down on the spread of disease which occurs when humans touch dogs’ noses going down a long row of dog kennels and finally glass doors are easy to clean. It’s a misnomer that glass doors are harder to clean than rod doors. You can see when the glass is dirty and you can’t really see when the rod is dirty, as a result the rod doors don’t truly get cleaned and disinfected properly. If someone wanted to take the time to clean the rod doors it would take quite a bit longer than spraying down and squiggying the glass. Now if you have rod doors, all is not lost. They are extremely durable and will last and last and last so they are a perfectly good investment, which is why most animal shelters gravitate toward them. However these days most architects are specifying glass doors even in animal control environments for all the reasons stated above. Recently we posted a picture of one of our rod doors on our Face Book page with the caption “This is a great example of the all-stainless units being used in animal sheltering environments today. Stainless is very sanitary and easy to clean.” The first comment was from Animal Arts, a highly respected architectural firm, specializing in animal shelter design and they commented “We’d prefer to see it specified with full glass doors and upper divider panels, but regardless, nice installation!” Another great option for animal shelters is the rotating bowl feeders. They allow shelter or boarding personnel to feed and water without opening the door. This eliminates the chance of an animal trying to rush the door and in an animal shelter environment can be an added safety measure against an aggressive animal. We use ¼” tempered clear glass which is a durable and holds up well in these type settings. There are some companies that use 3/16” which is a thinner glass but for the most part ¼” tempered clear glass is an industry standard. Others still use Lexan or plastic in their cat condos for instance, but we have always used the ¼” clear tempered glass simply for the fact that is a longer lasting and more durable product. There are many pros that glass doors provide for both employees and animals, so consider all of this when it comes time to build a new facility or remodel an existing one.
