crate questions - advice

Meggie uses a soft one too for traveling. At home she sleeps in a wire one but has no problems with the soft one at camp. She has never tried to get out nor chew on it but then she has never been one to chew things she wasn't supposed to.
 
I agree with Linda when she said to make sure that you get Julip used to being in a crate while at home. You don't want her to associate the crate with trips, or nervousness, or anything unpleasant.

We have a lot of different crates at our house. We started with a plastic crate when Lexi was a puppy (it was for our cat and was a perfect size). She slept in that next to our bed. We had a wire crate for the living room when we were gone. Lexi is a chewer, and she loves to nibble on things with her front teeth (I think it feels good because she has an underbite) and she never ever had any trouble with getting her face or teeth stuck in the crate.

We then purchased a soft crate for both dogs for traveling and agility. I wanted something portable and easy to throw into the car. Great idea...in theory. Lexi unzipped it multiple times, so I "locked" it. Then she ate a hole in the side at an agility trial and met us out on the field :lol: So, she doesn't use a soft crate anymore.

It's a pain, but when we travel we have a wire crate for riding in the car, and we take that in with us, and then Bentley uses the soft crate. So, if your dog can use a soft crate, it's really a great way to go for trips. But before you invest in a nice one (they can be quite expensive) you may want to try a cheap one to see how she does.
 
I'm with Linda and Ashley... whatever crate you use, get her used to it at home first. Then no matter where you are, that little crate will be her own personal bit of home, and it will make things easier for her.

As others have said (and as you've discovered), the soft vs. plastic vs. wire debate will just take you around in circles endlessly. I think it's important to know your dog. For us, a soft crate wouldn't work, because Lerwick is a serious chewer. Since you've already gotten her used to a plastic crate, that would seem to me to be a good choice for the new crate, as it will already be somewhat familiar to her, and as you've said she seems to go for the "den" feel.

Personally, we use a wire crate (Midwest brand), because I felt it would be nice to have a crate the dog could see out of easily. It also came with a divider, so we could just buy the one crate to fit him as an adult, and then move the divider around as he grew, so the crate was always the perfect size for him. I wasn't sure about whether he'd prefer the "open" or "den" feel, but decided that the wire crate would satisfy both, because they do sell crate liners that you can attach to the sides and top to make it more den-like... but as it turns out, Lerwick isn't really one for the "den" thing. He sleeps out in the open, in a corner, under a desk... anywhere, as long as he can keep an eye on us. So for us, having a crate he can see us from was the best choice. And, for what it's worth, Lerwick has never gotten anything stuck in the wires. Just to be sure to remove the dog's collar before you put the dog in a wire crate.

I think in the end, the deciding factor would be what will fit in your car! We have a 2-door '91 Sentra, so in order to get into the back seat, you have to slide the front seats forward. Well, they only move so far, so we are very lucky that we've got a folding wire crate. :lol:
 
Thank you everyone!

Yes, don't worry we will of course get her well used to which ever crate we get, well before we use it at an unknown place.

WISH the soft sided crates weren't so much (being in Canada everything is even more) Spending $100+ to have her POSSIBLY destroy it in under an hour - would definitely suck!

Better to just give her a $100 bill, she'd probably have more fun trying to rip it up!!! :lol:

She isn't much of a chewer (well she like paper products as discussed in another thread) But hasn't eaten shoes, baseboards, furniture etc.

BUT she is a scratcher! As in, will paw at the inner screen door (but metal on bottom half - she can't reach the screen part). She'll dig/paw at that - say if her Dad just went out to cut the grass, & I wanna keep her in, so she doesn't get too close to the lawn mower etc. (which she has no fear of - she's right by it!) She's pretty convinced she must HELP her Dad cut the grass.

So I'm assuming, us away - her in soft sided crate - scratching = crate ruined!

I tend to think staying with the plastic, as she's used to that, like's the den feel is the route to go. But the foldabilty of the wire crate is appealing & I love that lift up & over & away door on that one I posted a link to. The Ovation style one.

We'll visit lots of pet stores & sort this out!
 
If she's already potty-trained... I would get a soft-sided crate. We never invested in one but I could imagine they would be good and lightweight for traveling in cars and moving around frequently.

You can get a wire crate really cheap on petedge.com. That's what we got when Buffy was a puppy, for potty-training. Nice thing about those is that they are adjustable as your dog grows. But they are heavy. We actually ended up putting a towel over the top of it, she liked it dark in there.

When Buffy was a tiny puppy she had to be in the car a lot. I used a plastic crate that a friend lent me. It was cat-size, I think. It only lasted a few months when she was a puppy. Then I switched to a seat belt in the car. The one isn't as "breathable" and they don't grow with your dog. Also, like the wire crates - they can get heavy!

Buffy has also traveled on planes, more than some people have. (She did her 10th flight in January!) We have a soft carrier that looks kind of like a duffel bag for this. It is great. Nice and light, and she can poke her head out the top. She is a small Sheltie, though, so it may not work for you.

It doesn't matter too much. However, crates are one of those things you can often get used or just borrowed, so you may want to look into that if you're worried about price. Often people buy them when their dogs are puppies and don't use them much later in their lives. I wouldn't be surprised if some Sheltie rescues or breeders just have them around and can lend you one. Same with x-pens.
 
Yes, the price of soft crates was what put us off, too... a rather expensive "will he ruin this???" experiment. :dead:

One thing I thought of...

Pet stores usually have a display model for each crate set up, so you can see what it looks like... you might ask the manager on duty if they (or another staff member) would accompany you out to your car, with the display model(s) you're interested in (so they know you aren't just going to take off with it), to see if it fits in the car. That would save you the frustration of buying and later returning a crate because it didn't fit, and save them the headache of having to do a return on the crate you bring back to exchange!
 
I've been searching our local kijiji ads here for awhile now. However, I'm finding a MEDIUM size is what's hard to find. Tons of small Shih Tzu type ones. A few large breed (ie. 36 X 24 X 28) She wouldn't need that big!

Wow Diana, you are lucky if Buffy gets to be WITH you on a plane. Julip is almost 16 inches (at 5 months) - that's too big to be on a plane I'm guessing?! I know the dog IN the bag must fit under the seat infront right?

Yes she's been potty trained for awhile now.

Great idea to put it in the car, I can stay in the store with Julip & hubby can do the car thing (if they allow - they should).

Oh geeze leaning back towards soft crate ....
 
1stSheltie said:
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So I'm assuming, us away - her in soft sided crate - scratching = crate ruined!

.!
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Birch sleeps in a soft sided one. He nevers scratches at it during the night but every morning, he scratches at it to get out. I have no doubt he would scratch to get out of one if I left him. Ember and Diva unzip them but if they are clipped they are fine, no scratching

He spends the day while I gone in a big wire crate. Little poop learned how to open the latch so he needs a new latch to keep it shut. Diffinetly a case of know your dog. My JRT mix learn to pop the door on a plastic one. She leaned against the top and pushed up with her back until the door popped off.

Um come to think of it my only dog that hasn't learned to escape from their kennel is Justice but then he would stay in with the door open. Just to be clear once they learned they could get out everyone settled into the crates fine. Use soft crates for Diva, Ember and Justice and a wire for Birch. Though I do have plastic ones as well for the small puppies.
 
1stSheltie said:
Here's what we currently need a crate for - to bring with us to a hotel, cottage, camping, visiting? Basically "away" things.

Julip spent 2 nights in a crate when we 1st got her, the 2nd night she peed in it!
I'm home during the day, so potty training happened fairly easily & fast without ever putting her in a crate! (I know - I see the disapproving finger shakes & hear your sighs :wink2:) But hey, if she caught on (super quick too - the bell saved us! ) without it - then yay! :winkgrin:

She sleeps with us in our bedroom at night. When we are away, she's baby gated in the livingroom (huge bay window to keep her amused with subdivision life.:pop)

We still have the plastic crate in our bedroom - door OPEN, for her snooze in it as she wants (but she is TOO big now, although she tried the other day). She does enjoy the den feeling, as she often sleeps under our desks etc.

We need to get her a crate for the above mentioned things, ie. we leave her in the crate in a strangers cottage we are renting, which is air conditioned, so much nicer for her, then the trip to the grocery store in a hot car in a parking lot! This type of thing. Another example, in a hotel room, while we grab dinner. Just times its easiest to keep her safe etc.

But I am SO unsure of which crate style - wire or plastic? EVERY time I think I've made a decision, someone gets me even more confused (like PetSmart guy last night was all "plastic crates are for airline travel, you want wire")
So thus all confused ...again. :uhoh: as I was leaning towards plastic, for the den feeling I know she likes & read it can be safer?

But since we really only want this when we are going somewhere, it fitting IN the car disassembled would be best.

Thoughts to help sort this out for us?!
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For travel our best investment was two soft sided crates. LOVE them. They fit great side by side in the back of our Escape. The boys love travleing in them. When not in use,they fold up nicely in thier own bags,and we push them under a bed.

None of the pups use crates here only Mia on occasion. She also has a bynk bed she loves. But lately has taken to sleeping in her X-pen.
We have both,wire & soft sided. I found a terrific buy (brand new) on Ebay. I paid 31.00 for one,and 32.00 for the other. And no shipping.
Both were from the same seller,but differant auctions.
 
My boy had two plastic Vari-Kennel crates, a medium "going to the vet crate" and a large "sleeping next to my bed at night crate". We didn't travel.

The latter crate is now my Sheltie Angel's memorial, containing his cremation urn and personal items. I have his collar on the crate door, like a wreath...
 
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