Love it!! What a great post. What does my dog want? To be YOUR dog!!! Not really - he's spoiled here as much as your dog - we love our fur baby.

Here's our driveway guard dog, Cajun. He was a swimmer during Katrina.

Sometimes he likes his own bed, sometimes he likes ours

aww ... He is so cute. What a sweet face. You earned your angel wings and got a lot of live when you rescued him. Yeah you! At least he will sleep in his bed. Jack tore multiple beds to shreds before we gave up. He is good about furniture though. One sideboard corner then he was young, but nothing else (so far)

The list stared out as a serious list to give to the architect, but then it took a life of its own.

Haha, fun topic! I have 4 grand puppies, all labs. I don't currently have one of my own, lost mine over a year ago now. We are definitely considering the needs of the dogs when planning our new house. Built in water and food bowls are top of the list. I hate stumbling over the water bowl and ending up with a wet foot.

Our dog is gone now but on our blueprints there was an area mark "dog cubby". It was where is bed, food and water were.

15. A dog bath. (Ok, I really don't need a bath, but if they insist I want one of my own. Did you know this town has a doggie bath at the car wash? I prefer a bit more privacy).

Our town has one at the car wash too! But we have one in the house. It is in the laundry room and doubles as the laundry room sink. Plus, we have a closet rod over it so we can hang all the drip dry clothes there.

Crafty -- must always plan for the granddogs too -- Utah -- the white pup in my picutres is our granddog. He is a little over a year old and he and Jack (3) have become best friends. Duke, my other Granddog (the black smudge on the floor in the front of the couch), is 11 and totlerates them.

Debrak -- I hope you kept the dog cubby -- because you never know when a dog just happens to adopt you.

Dekeboe -- would love to see a pick of the bath. I've seen one that is sort of a raised shower with a deep lip and a hand held spray in the laundry room -- also with a rod to drip dry. While it wouldn't work as a laudry sink too, it would work for hosing down dirty boots, gardennig gear or even muddy child (or husband) you don't want traipsing through the house.

I love this post! All of the dogs are beautiful. My 14 yr old dachshund just lays around now but our 3 yr old adopted mutt follows me everywhere and I expect will be around for a long time. I am putting a big window seat in my great room and he influenced this decision. Also making room in my LR for my dogs needs including a doggie door. My dh gets tired of the mess and wants them off the furniture. I just tell him things that breathe are more important than things that don't.

We have never been without a dog. Can't imagine we ever will be. This dog has a therapeutic effect on one of my boys with a little ADHD. Nothing like a dog :-)

Our build included many dog-friendly components, some by design and others by happy coincidence. Big wrap-around front porch with no railing; large, low-sill windows looking out at the front yard & street beyond; DogWatch brand fence around the entire perimeter of the 1.74 acre lot; and an outdoor shower that began as a "dog wash station" and morphed into a full-zoot shower stall that we all use constantly!
Here are Eli & Oscar, lounging in their (sparsely decorated!) new library.

Love everyone's pups!

I already bought him 15 acres... what more could he want?

- I think he will be interested in having a chair by the upstairs windows, to be eye level with squirrels.

- Dutch door on the laundry room, so he can decide to attack or love the intruder.

- Low level dog bath in the mud room, for cleaning and cool down.

- Never ending water supply - haven't decided how to handle that one yet.

- doggy door - not going to happen, buddy.

- an upgraded all wood custom crate/nightstand combo. He could care less, but the pine green plastic crate by my bed now is not okay.

I could go on all day...

All precious pups. Low sill windows - I knew we were forgetting something. He has those one and loves them! Will add that to my list.

We (the parents) flunked crate training. Dog doors are great for us, but can understand why some folks would not want them. Unfortunately our lot is small, but will allow a substantial fence so I don't have much concern about other critters getting in. But we do have an extensive dog friendly trail network out our back door, so when he is not out walking the trails himself, there is always someone -- dog-- interesting to visit with through the fence.

Too bad we don't have acreage, because the Dog really thinks he wants a cow. For some reason he is not nearly as interested bears, horses, deer etc., as he is in cows!

The cubby is there, with his bowl, toys, collar and photos. I think it will be Sparky's place for a long time : )

Funny how so many of the dog's needs coincide with the humans'. And convenient!

My dog didn't like the stairs in our split entry when he first came to live with us - but now he likes that he can lay at the top of the stairs and see out the front door.

I love all of your dogs!! Such sweeties, all of them.

Love all the dogs!

My sweet and silly Hendrix likes the low sill windows in the FR so he can keep an eye on the squirrels and rabbits. He also likes having a back door out of the mudroom, right next to the hook for his leash (and close to the treat box in the cabinet) so it's easy for his humans to let him out.

Don't forget to give him some patio furniture!

No doggy doors for my sweet giant girl, but we added a shower downstairs to make it easier to bathe her. Also, she is getting older so it is good our new build will have the master bedroom downstairs since that is where she sleeps.

When we were shopping for a house years ago, my husband and I would comment, Good Razzie windows, or No, not good Razzie windows. The realtor finally asked, What in the world are you talking about? We told her our dog, Rascal, likes to look out the windows so they have to be low so he can see out! So our new build will have lots of Razzie windows, even low enough that when the Goldens are laying down, they can see out.

Besides Razzie windows, we will have a dog wash station in the garage. Our property has a pond and we anticipate dirty, messy, happy Goldens.

Does anyone have a solution for an outdoor water such as an on-demand system? I saw one advertised a year or so ago that came on when the dog stopped in front of it. It was a sideways stream of water, like a garden hose, but I don't think it is available anymore. Maybe it didn't work so well.

All adorable pups! Glad to know we're not alone in our quest to keep the Dog happy. How could I forget patio furniture -- a good place to play king of the mountain in the snow:

Oh, and my daughter called me out for not posting a picture of my other grand dog, Duke. But really, Duke is not particular about his housing --he just wants his people.