I know this post is old, but its always good to have lots of different answers when researching anything on the forum.
Mine crate together. I have 2 separate crates in case one is sick or in case they start to not get along in the crate together (like I thought would happen when Callie went into season). However, when I first brought Callie home, she was used to being crated with one of her littermates, so she did not like being crated alone. She escaped almost every day & destroyed my blinds (thank goodness that was all!). I started crating her with Lola, and although Lola gets testy when Callie won't settle down quickly, they both do very well crated together when I'm not home & when in the car. I can still crate them separately, but they prefer to be together so they can cuddle together & stay warm. I do always keep in mind though, it could go horribly wrong sometime when I'm not around. Its a calculated risk I take, but thus far it works out well as I have a small car and am forced to crate them together when we go anywhere.
Crate vs. expen "kennel" vs both?
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Top to a Xpen is a MUST….. very rarely will a Basenji NOT climb out! The crates that I use for the house are General Cage wire and are approx 30 x 21 x 24. For travel, I use one size down
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Thanks Pat! That's what I'm planning to order for the crate. Will def. keep the xpen lid in mind.
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I have midwest wire crates 30" for travel and 36" for at home. They include a divider panel so you can make the crate a little smaller for house breaking. I've never used the dividers myself but it's a nice feature. Xpens are great but like Pat said.. good luck keeping most basenji pups in there with out a top! My Cody was up and over without a second thought! Elliot never used one but he was already 5 months and nearly house broken when I brought him home.
That's the ones I have. Cheap, convenient and sturdy. I take them to shows with me all the time and they are easy to set up and break down.
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Thanks, that helps! I was eyeballing that one, but then we were leaning in the direction of the double-door variety to give us a little more flexibility in placement.
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Yes those are nice too! They don't work what what I use them for but they are a nice feature :). Amazon is the cheapest place I've found them.. if you spend over a certain amount shipping is free.
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Oh yes, definitely buying from Amazon. Unfortunately, the 30" isn't available via Prime, but so be it.
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I absolutely love my x-pen; like everyone already said top is a must. My first introduction to basenji escaping was my little 10week old puppy making his way up over the exercise pen. I made the mistake of not buying the top from the get-go, and didn't get one with a door on it consequently; now my pen is all warped and bent out of shape.
FYI the clips that come with the Midwest pens are POS, my dog ended up warping a lot of them….so I'd buy some better clips. I bought both crate and top off Amazon as well. The crate is a good deal in my opinion. The crate has been great, but the tops are overpriced in my opinion....
X-pens are fantastic, but they are easier to escape from than a crate.... learned that lesson the hard way when Beo managed to dig under the carpet and squeeze underneath it - while scratching up his underside in the process. A small puppy should have no problem though...
24 x 30 is what I got. No complaints.
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I have both but having had a dog with crate issues I can say that sometimes giving them too much room in the beginning is cause for a bigger mess and sometimes more anxiety. Keep that in mind. I would find it best to start off with a cozy crate and if all goes well then the ex-pen would be super.
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Elliot had crate issues when I had an enclosed plastic kennel and the issues stopped very quickly after I bought the wire one. My Cody never had an issue in the plastic ones but they are all different I suppose!
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Crazysenji- same with Oakley, had to be a wire crate; oak never got used to his Vari-Kennel for the car…totally freaked!
