20 years of the Dog Palace


The first Dog Palaces actually had green roofs.

It's hard to believe that the Dog Palace has been around for two decades now. ASL Solutions itself was founded in 2000 by Howard Atkison and Bob Guinn, making the company 21 years old this year. Before making dog houses, we actually made wagons, which we called "Yardvarks" (clever, right?). Unfortunately for us, the little red wagon market was pretty saturated by the time we got there.

Well, the founders got to thinking. What's a problem we have that there isn't a solution for yet? Both founders realized that they'd both grown up with big, outdoor dogs in their families for generations. But neither of them had ever been particularly satisfied with the dog houses their beloved dogs were staying in. So they came up with a list of features they wanted in a dog house: insulation, an indestructible door, something easy to clean...and thus, the Dog Palace was born: The first manufactured dog house with real foam insulation and a durable, self-closing, insulated door.

A prime example of the "Yardvark".

Let's take a look at what makes the Dog Palace the Dog Palace, shall we?
  • Fully insulated
    • Up to 4 inches of recycled, vacuum packed EPS bead foam
    • Read all about our foam insulation here.
  • Easy pass-through door
    • Insulated
    • Durable
    • Bottom half removable for training or for personal preference
  • Window panel in door and rear panel
    • Provides cross-ventilation
    • Self-storing
    • Easy to remove without tools
  • Raised and sloped floor
    • Easy cleaning
    • Warm, dry bedding area
  • Available in 2 color schemes: wheat and brown; light grey and dark grey
  • 10-year warranty (UV rating)

ASL Solutions Insulated Dog Palace (Choose Your Color) - Sam's Club |  Insulated dog house, Dog house diy, Dog house
This is the legendary red Dog Palace, modeled after Snoopy's iconic dog house for ASL Solution's Christmas display. We only manufactured a handful.

Of course, there have been many improvements made to our design over time, both in manufacturing the product itself and in the actual form of the dog house. The Dog Palace has always been awesome, but the awesomeness level has increased significantly over time. Below is a timeline of the company and Dog Palace improvements:
  • 2000: ASL Solutions is founded.
  • 2001: The Dog Palace is released.
  • 2006: By popular demand, ASL Solutions released the DP Hunter, a smaller doghouse with all the features of the Dog Palace, perfect for smaller dogs and cats.
  • 2009: The Dog Palace Floor Heaters were introduced, designed to fit perfectly inside the Dog Palace, with the cord safely tucked away from curious teeth. The dog houses were equipped with heater portals in the rear of the house to accommodate the new feature.
  • 2010:  ASL solutions released the Dog Palace Breeze Solar Exhaust Fans, designed to fit models old and new to provide a solar cooling feature to the houses.
  • 2011: ASL introduced the personalized dog house, allowing animal caretakers to put their pet's name on the Dog Palace door via heat transfer. We stopped offering this option due to cost-effective concerns; it was a very manual-labor-intensive process.
  • 2013: The Dog Palace beds are released, sized to fit in both houses and to accommodate the ASL heaters. The grey version of the Dog Palace also became available.
  • 2016: ASL Solutions got a big upgrade, doubling our capacity with a facility expansion and additional equipment.
  • 2018: We introduced the CRB (Colossal Round Barn) Palace, with all the features of the other two houses, but sized up for extra-large dogs or for cohabiting pets. The grey DP Hunter is also released this year.
  • 2019: We increased our production capacity with addition of a third molding machine.
  • 2020: The Palace Central Heater was introduced for use in the CRB and the Dog Palace. We also added a notch in the base panel for better drainage. Partially due to social distancing concerns, we began automating our insulation filling process, making it more uniform. We also started buying our windows from a local southern Illinois company instead of importing them like we used to.
  • 2021: We added additional ribbing to the roof for stability and less warpage. We also added additional ribbing to the walls of the house to decrease settling of insulation. Our facility also got a high-intensity color mixer this year, so now the darker pieces of recycled insulation shouldn't be visible through the plastic and the colors of the houses should be much more vibrant. We also added another warehouse.
Dog Palaces would be nothing without dogs to live in them. Thank you, loyal customers, for entrusting the warmth of your animal companions to us. It is an honor to serve you.




Sources: Pamela Mulvey, Howard Atkison

Photo Credits: Pamela Mulvey, Howard Atkison

Written by Skye Isabella Rose Iwanski

Popular posts from this blog

Save the Claws & Paws Animal Rescue

How Do Insulated Dog Houses Work?

Summer 2023 Product Launch: Cat Palace, Kitten Nursery, and Calming Beds, Oh My!