CRATES AND KENNELS
Question for everyone. Thursday is finally the day, I'm going to New Jersey to pick up little Archie. His current has him crate-trained and he lives in a 30" long X 20" wide crate. I guess this is more opinion than anything, but should I buy a plastic crate for the road trip and a wire kennel for home? Or just buy one or the other and use it for both? What do you guys use and what do you recommend? Also heres another topic for debate, I live an hour drive either way from a Petco, and a Petsmart. Which do you prefer/ recommend for my doggie supplies, (crates, kennels, dishes, etc.?)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Congrats on your new addition!
Go with your budget :) FYI: I have 2 dogs and 7 crates: 2 wire ones, 2 airline approved plastic ones, 1 foldable one and 2 temporary pop ups.
The wire crate is a MUST, opt for the life stage divider ones. There are also ones with a side entry.
Airline approved crates have less air flow compared to the wire ones, pick one with screws all around, skip the plastic snap fastener ones. All 4 walls must have wires for max airflow, a well built handle on top, sturdy wheels for the bottom, just in case you're traveling alone and need to haul your own luggage on the side. Check my link above for the one I bought. It's about $60 from petsmart / petco.
We bought a foldable crate as well, it's "nicer" looking, however it's fabric and it traps odor, very hard to clean when you have an accident. It's mainly used when we travel, we keep one at my sis in law's place for sleepover.
We have two wire pop up crate, they are light and have the smallest foot print, we use them when we are out at corgi picnic, it provides semi privacy, good airflow, a cheap temporary solution.
As far as dishes goes, we have the regular stainless steel ones with a non slip base, the rubber does get old after a few years and will break. Others opt for ceremics. If you live close to an ikea, they are phasing out their pet line, you'll find great deals.
We use the Petmate Le Bistro Waterers, not good looking, but its Microban. With 2 dogs, I refill every 2 days.
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As far as petco VS petsmart, I'll say explore other options, I often find great pet deals at walmart, target, dollar store, even home depot and lowes. For leash, dollar store and walmart are the cheapest, sometime target have nice looking ones on sale near end of aisle. You can buy petfood online and have them ship to your door, amazon have great deals.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I have two wire crates (one for each dog) and a cheap collapsible one like the last crate Sam posted a pic of. We use car harnesses for in the car and don't travel with the dogs on overnight stays, so we never saw the need for another one. We have a small SUV so if we need to be able to "crate up" one dog in the car for any reason, we just take the lighter of our two wire ones and put it in the back of the SUV with the side door facing the tailgate.
As Sam says, it depends on your budget, and your needs. If you have a smaller vehicle a wire crate may not fit in the backseat. You'll have to try it out.
Good luck with your new addition.
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By the way, I prefer PetSmart to Petco, but for treats and stuff my fave is Pet Supplies Plus. They carry lots of natural snacks; the big name-brand treats are suprisingly often loaded up with sugar and chemical dyes. But Pet Supplies Plus is not so widespread. There are some good online places you can order stuff; I love getting things online and never having to leave the house for it.
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Permalink Reply by Monica, Orion, and Laika on
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Yes, Pet Supplies Plus is great! They have a lot of stuff that Petsmart and Petco don't. As far as treats go I always try to buy stuff that has the fewest ingredients, when I read the back and there's a long list of things I can't pronounce I put it down, haha.
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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With elementary woodworking skills, it's easy to make a movable divider for the plastic crates. Move back as pup grows.
I'd think a hardwall crate is more den-like, cozy for a dog. Wire crates drafty?
We do have a collapsible fabric one, handy sometimes for travel but NOT with dog inside.
Hard crates likely safer in a car crash than a seat-belted dog (that's a guess).
You can glue a rubber mat for nonskid to a stainless steel bowl bottom with Barge cement.
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Orion has the Life Stages wire crate with the divider in it and its pretty great. We ordered it off of amazon and got a pretty good deal. For big things like crates or baby gates to separate my cats from the dog I order from Amazon as long as I know what I want because it usually ends up being much cheaper. For everything else (toys, treats, food, etc.) I go to Petsmart. Sometimes they'll have pretty good deals with their PetsPerks card.
Anyways, I'd definitely get the Life Stages crate for at home, it worked wonders in potty training Orion and its great that you can gradually make it larger as your pup grows. If you'll be driving a lot with him I would get a plastic crate so he has a safe place to be in the car and isn't trying to crawl all over you. Also if he'll be traveling in the car often there are pet car seats you may want to look into, but they're expensive.
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Permalink Reply by Carla on
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When we first got Casey (at 10 weeks) I originally purchased a plastic crate that she could use as an adult (it had a Corgi as the pictured dog on the front at the store). It did not have a divider in it to make a smaller space, and I never used one. She has never had an accident in her crate. In addition to this, I purchased a large wire octagonal playpen, about 4 feet by 6 feet or so.
I have found that, as John Wolff pointed out, Casey is more comfortable in the crate as an area to "relax" and not feel she has to be "on" in terms of playing, being alert, etc. When she is in the playpen, which has a very open feeling, she's more likely to whine, pace, try to jump out, etc. (less now at 11 months, but much more when she was young). I feel like she would probably not be as relaxed in a wire crate than in her plastic one, based on this experience. However, other dogs may be different and if you find it's too "open" for her, you can always put a towel/blanket/sheet overtop to create a more "den-like" feeling.
As a general rule, she spends most of her "unsupervised time" in the pen (which has a dog bed, her water bowl, toys, etc. and is right in front of a large set of windows overlooking our backyard). She is only crated at night, or when I actually have to leave the house (to go to work, etc). So when I run downstairs for 10-15 minutes to do laundry, I don't crate her, I put her in her pen. She can't get into any trouble, but is less confined than the crate.
At first, we were hauling her crate back and forth to the car every time we wanted to take her somewhere. More recently, since I "discovered" how well behaved she is when off-leash and how much more enjoyable off-leash dog parks and hiking trails are compared to leash-walks around our neighbourhood, we've been travelling 3-4 times a week in the car. Moving the crate back and forth from the car to our house and back became an incredibly annoying hassle, so I just bought another plastic crate for the car, which stays in most days unless we need the back seat for something.
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Permalink Reply by Julia on
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I only use one crate, a plastic one. We never needed a divider. I've heard you can also put a box inside the crate to take up some of the room if you need to make it smaller for a puppy. It fits in the back seat of my Prius and her medium and a large both fit in the back of the same small car. It's cozier to sleep in, not so bad to move in and out of the house (though the large one is), and is MUCH safer in the car than not using a crate. I do, however, miss having a "car riding buddy" to sit next to me with his head out the window :(
Petsmart? Petco? yuk. Fortunately, there are very good independent stores here. That's my anti-corporate slant showing.
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