[Russian4]

Hello I would just curious about what the best dog crate for a car. Right now im using a metal one but want to change. Im thinking of a plastic crate.

Im also looking for a good portable soft sided crate. I take my dog to agility shows and want a upgraded crate then the one i have now. Im just curious of where you got yours? How much? Kind of dog?

Thank you for your input

 

[Shandula]

MY dogs are super mellow in the car so I don't crate them, but I used to use a wire one for my puppy, so no help there.

I swear, every single person at my agility club has this crate: Travel Crate.

It comes in a bunch of different sizes, and I've seen BCs, Aussies, Shelties, and a Bouvier in one.

 

[Esand]

I don't crate my dogs in the car generally but I do have a traveling crate for Simba which is more or less like this one

I wanted an airline approved crate so that in the event we need to fly with him that at least the crate would be familiar.

 

[icemaiden]

Depends what purpose you want the crate for. Soft crate is not going to protect your dog in an accident, but is probably good for containing your dog at agility.

I use wire crates in the car, and some would still argue that they would not offer much protection in an accident because they are not be crush proof (unlike crash tested car crates). However, they offer good ventilation, I can fix water bowls or fans on the sides of the crates. They stay in the car, unless (very rarely) I need the space for something else. So the car is ready to transport the dogs at any the time.

I also have soft crates for shows, lightweight and easy to put up. However, one of my dogs ripped one apart. One disadvantage with soft crates I found is that you can't put much on top as they are not strong enough. Also the air flow is not as good as with wire crates.

I also have plastic crates - my least favourite and not used at all now. Probably because they don't fold so not easy to carry around.

 

[DuckDodgers]

Personally, I hate plastic crates. I understand their purpose for airline travel and the like, but I won't ever buy one for regular use. Some people use them and think they're great, but not for me.

I (and most dog people I know who crate in the car) use appropriately sized wire crates. They're super convenient, easy to use and fold up nicely if you need to store them or transport them. Due to the setup in my truck plastic crates aren't really an option for me as I need the door to be on the crate's long side. Virtually all plastic crates have one door on the short side.

Soft sided crates are great if you can be nearby to supervise the dog, but I wouldn't use one if I intended to leave my dog alone for any period of time. A wire or plastic crate can pretty effectively keep a dog confined if it tries to escape for some reason, but I have yet to see a soft sided crate that doesn't look easy to chew through. As such, I wouldn't use one even with my dogs that crate well if I wasn't going to be with them the whole time. I DO intend to get a lightweight one that I can easily set up ringside at shows, but at that point I'm there with the dog and will still use my wire crates for crating the rest of the day.