Little Known Facts About NGAP: Ventilation

A good ventilation system is essential in keeping a large kennel population, such as ours, happy and healthy.

Much consideration was put into the design of the ventilation system for our kennel and surgical facilities at National Greyhound Adoption Program. Our kennel is divided into five sections, each with its own independent HVAC system and separated with double steel doors. Each kennel has a dehumidifier and thermostat and maintains a temperature of about 73-74 degrees year round. As part of the installation of the HVAC, we added two sets of filters, a standard filter with a hepa filter above it. We also have filters in the master unit on the roof.

In addition to the HVAC systems, we have three very large, pre-existing exhaust fans. There are times throughout the course of the year when we switch off the HVAC, open the exterior sliding doors and all of the kennel doors and turn those exhaust fans on. If you are standing in the doorway, you can actually feel the air velocity going by you. If there is any kind of unwanted smell in the kennel, we easily change 100% of the air very quickly so that the odor is gone. It is refreshing to use it in the Spring and Fall.

By design, we chose to have the divider grids between our runs facing down so our dogs can see each other and interact. We could have easily reversed them, but greyhounds cohabitate well and we rarely have aggression issues.

All of this helps to thwart the spread of unwanted diseases and ensures that our dogs do not get sick.