Students might modify the size of the house to accommodate smaller or larger dogs. The surface area of the front of the doghouse can be found by calculating the area of a rectangle and a triangle and then subtracting a square and a semicircle's areas from this. Including the floor, the total surface area of the doghouse is about 43 square feet, so two sheets of plywood are required. However, a builder would need to use a third sheet of plywood in order to make the floor out of one piece of wood with no seams. Students might discuss how the building materials may be sturdier for a commercially available doghouse as well as the value of the time spent purchasing materials and constructing one's own doghouse.
Students can also engage in an interesting discussion about the sizes of doghouses.
The size required for a dachshund, for example, would be significantly different from that needed for a golden retriever.