I have used wire for about 40 years. A good quality wire is safe. Obviously if you have a strong dog who is determined to break out, you may need to go to the uber expensive crates that are almost solid metal. Few dogs need those. As Pat said, no top means no dog. They laugh at 6 feet, much less 40 inches. They can jump or climb easily. Plastic ones are more easily chewed unless the solid ones... which block view and air.
Is your crate safe? What are your thoughts?
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Since I brought the subject of crate training up in another post, I think it would be worthwhile to discuss the different kinds of crates, construction, and the safety issues related to them. Different crates have pro's and con's. Would your dog be better off in one kind or another?
Jason
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My personal choice are wire crates (except for airplane travel since they require vari kennel types for baggage and sherpa types for in coach). I like the General Cage the best, they are of good size and constructed well (obviously for the behaved dog, as on that has extreme anxiety will be able to destroy anything)…
My crates that I have in the house are 15yrs + old, as are the ones that I travel in the van with (one size smaller then the house/RV crates 300 size model for the house, 200 size for the van) I like them because they fold up and are easy to store. Now the 200 size that I use for the van and show/coursing, are starting to show wear on the welds and will need to be replaced soon, I think. I also use a 400 size as a whelping box, just take off the door and put an xpen around it... my pups are very used to a crate and xpen since they are born in and grow up in one.... -
We used a black wire crate with Lexi. Until one 4th of July, she managed to break free from it. She apparently was able to push her nose under the door enough to escape– but not without injuring her nose... we came home and found her in the closet shaking, her nose bright red and significantly swollen.
So now we have a heavy gauge steel (silver colored) crate. We haven't had any issues with it so far. But we've also added a dog so hopefully she doesn't have as much anxiety now as she did then either.
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Kennel Aire's. Definately KA's for the car. In the house, Digital is loose, Jet is in "his room" (xpen) and Zest is in a KA crate.
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Oh yes… Kennel Aire's... of course they do not make the ones that many have from years ago.....
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Dash ate his way out of his plastic crate. He was left in it too long by our dogsitter. However, he also bent the bars on the expen too. Now we just leave him out and he's fine.
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The kids have their own room, so they don't get placed in their crates, but the crates are in the room (Wire Type crates) to allow them a place to nap and have alone time if they need it.
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I guess we dare to be different. Miranda and I still use the old reliable Kennel Cab II for Roo inside the house. In the car we have a Nylabone Crate which is collapsible and is not manufactured any more. We also have an extra Nylabone that we bought to use for transportation of rescues. So far all of these have worked out great for us. Miranda and I have had absolutely no problems with their construction or durability. I think I have had the Kennel Cab for 19 or 20 years now. The Nylabone Crates appear to be highly sought after. I have noticed the Nylabone Crate selling for twice what we paid for them. At one time our local Petsmart had them but I do not know if they are still available there.
Jason
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With Jazzy we used, with absolutely no problems ever, a Petmate plastic crate.
For Keoki we started with a plastic.
He chewed the living daylights out of BOTH crates.
We moved him into an ex-pen, which worked for a couple of weeks, then he began to jump and push on it so that it was never the same shape when we got home. Then he started actually moving it around the room and eventually tore his little nose up in the effort to move it.
NOW, we have a large wire crate that holds BOTH dogs, and he seems very content in that. I don't know that it's the crate or the fact that he is not alone? Either way, I am simply happy that he is happy at last!
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We just use a Pet Porter. I have the medium sized one for traveling…Tosca fits in it just fine since you are not supposed to have a lot of extra room its probably actually the right size, but I feel it is a little small. However, it fits nicely in the back seat without taking up too much room. When she is at home and we are at work, she goes into a large Pet Porter. That way she has room to be a bit more comfortable, and she doesn't have accidents in it or try to chew it or anything. There are a few small scratch marks on the inside, but not enough that it ever did any damage. She is very content in her crate, unless we put her in there and she can hear us walking around, then she wants out!
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We have a plastic crate…I think it is a vari kennel, but can't be sure- but it is at least that type. We had a wire crate in the beginning, but it was too big, he had enough room to make a messs and get away from it, so he got the point where he would go to the bathroom in his crate, and then lay down on the other side. So, we got the smaller crate. He doesn't mind going in his crate when I leave for work, but it is not his favorite place to be. He doesn't usually go in there without being asked to, but he doesn't try to escape.
It was funny, when my parents were here, he got to stay out all day with them while I was at work, and then he was sleeping in bed with us. After the second day of this, at about 9:00pm, he got up from the couch, trotted over to his crate and lied down inside, with a huge heavy sigh, and took a nap. I think we were wearing him out.
