What do you think is best - Dog Crate or Cage?

Our pup is starting to get too big for the carry crate we bought him home in. It has done him well so far. He retreats there when he has had enough running around and it is good to have somewhere safe that I can keep him while we are out/over night.

I will soon need to buy him a larger crate, but do not know whether to get a crate or a cage. I thought a crate might be good as the sides are filled in and it might seem more like a safe house for him (away from the kids), but would welcome any comments.

Thanks!

Sharon

The crate will be versatile and easy to travel with - the cage would be more difficult in the car unless you can put hiim in the back of an SUV or mini van or something. JMHO.

I prefer the wire kennel (cage) over the carrier (crate). We have the wire kennels that fold up easily for transport. My dogs use carseats while traveling, so the "dual-use" of the carrier isnt necessary.

It depends on what the requirements are!

I started off with travel crates, then bought a good sized cage for inside the house when India had knee surgery, along with an xpen.

Then we got tired of the crate doors rattling in the car, so we bought the soft sided crates with zippered doors - we use these in the car all the time, and they are great for agility, too.

I don't use the old hard-sided travel crates any more, but they are good for puppies, so I'm keeping one of them - just in case.

I should open a store on ebay!! :lol:

I like the wire crate, because the pups can see all around themselves... plus the fold-up for easy travel

I have always prefered the crates. In fact, we don't even own a cage; when we have puppies and need to keep the mom and puppies confined, we use an x-pen. From my strictly human point of view, I think the crate is more like a den to the dog. I also think it's better for transporting our guys in the van; takes up less space. We never allow our dogs to be free in a vehicle.

We have both and use the crate for car travel and the cage at home. We take both if we are going anywhere overnight. I like the cage because it can get quite hot here, so the open sides keep him cool but in winter we have a blanket draped over the cage to make it warm and cosy and to keep the drafts out.

I prefer the black wire crate and we use the lookout carseat for travel !

Just a personal preference as you can see from the replies.

I have two crates and prefer them over the cages. It gives them more of a sense of security from the little ones. Plus the tops come off if I wanted to take them apart. :slp:

We have Gus in an xpen with a small crate inside it for sleeping--he loves the den-like atmosphere and retreats there quite a bit. For the car, both wear their Puppias so we can use the seatbelts and they both have a little bed to sit in.

I have never used either. When my two go in the car they wear doggy seat belts (I agree Bruce, I hate to see unrestrained dogs in cars). I do like the idea of an X-Pen though or a puppy playpen.

I should add that we dont use the kennel hardly at all at home. During the day, we limit the girls' access to the majority of the house by stretching an xpen across a doorway. They spend the day happily lounging away on the sofas in the sunroom/family room (unless dh leaves a paper towel laying about--in those instances they happily shred to their hearts' content!).

We have moved the kennel to the bedroom (along with the steps up to the bed!) so that, should they feel too crowded, they can sleep in the kennel. Willow has opted to do this once in a while for the period of time it takes us to settle in (stop watching tv, etc.). Once she sees that we've stopped squirming, she makes her merry way back up with the rest of us. I guess we annoy her. :lol:

We do use the kennels we visit family/friends and leave them alone for a few hours. But that's about all they are used for nowadays.

Moviedust said:

I should add that we dont use the kennel hardly at all at home. During the day, we limit the girls' access to the majority of the house by stretching an xpen across a doorway...

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This our goal with the xpen once Gus is a bit older. We'd like to use it as a gate to section them off into the living room when we're gone. At only 5 1/2 months, that day seems pretty far off! :lol:

There's no reason not to use a cage at home and keep a kennel around too. I recommend the kennels on www.petedge.com -- VERY cheap for the name brands. I have three Skykennels, all medium-dog size, and I use them all the time. They come apart really easily and can be stored away in the attic. I use them for safe transport -- you simply would not want to use a cage generally for this unless you get one really designed for transport; they are clumsy and have sharp edges.

None of my dogs is much interested in sleeping inside a crate but they happily stay in cages at night when being boarded. I really use the plastic crates for transport alone.

This is the Skykennel:

http://www.petedge.com/sdx/108915.jsp

The medium is under $50 -- can;t beat that price; they are double that in pet shops.

You can also see the regular varikennels which are excellent; most breeders recommend the 200 for a cavalier.

Jen said:

We have Gus in an xpen with a small crate inside it for sleeping--he loves the den-like atmosphere and retreats there quite a bit. For the car, both wear their Puppias so we can use the seatbelts and they both have a little bed to sit in.

Click to expand...

I'm curious what you use to hook the harness to the seatbelt (or if the seatbelt attaches directly). Thanks for the info!

-amy

(Oh, and this is my first post, so hello! I've been lurking on these incredibly helpful forums for the past few months, gearing up for our new arrival, a four-month old rescue pup.)

I don't use either in the house but they each have a plastic crate for travelling in the car.

I have a cage in the bedroom - my two "littlies" sleep in that one overnight - one in the kitchen - which Jack and Rupert tend to use during the day, if I'm in the kitchen, the door is always left open on that one - and one in the car, I agree that this is the safest way of transporting dogs in the car, as long as you also use those bungee straps to secure the cage/crate to the car {most cars have places to secure them}

As for size, well ONE Cavalier would fit in the small size cage, 25"L x 19"W x 21.75"H
These are about the best made ones I have found - as Karlin pointed out, the cheaper ones can have sharp edges {UK}, this is E-bay

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/25-Dual-coate...W0QQitemZ230021950902QQihZ013QQcategoryZ20745 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

but they also have a website

http://www.doghealth.co.uk/

I've had one large Cavalier and two small ones in this size very comfortably

31"L x 22"W x 24.5"H
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/30-Dual-coate...W0QQitemZ230021951013QQihZ013QQcategoryZ20745 QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

but two of mine are large and one is small, so we've gone up to the next size for car travel.

The free bedding with these isn't very thick, I actually use it underneath the plastic tray which stops it rattling!


Rupert is the only tiny puppy I've had, I house trained him with the help of a cage and it was brilliant, so easy. He only went in it when I couldn't watch him or overnight. He still loves his cage now...sees it as a den, especially with a blanket over it.

I would always crate train any future dogs, it makes it so much easier when you go away, also if they ever have to be crated following illness or surgery.


I also have those fabric type crates, they are ok, but only if a dog is used to being crated, and I'm not keen on them in hot weather, the dogs seem to get too hot.

If and when we have another puppy, I have a crate with a metal wire door {the cheaper ones are plastic which can be chewed } which I would use for transport and overnight....

Thank you for all your replies. I think I will stick with the crate as he is used to being in one and seems quite happy, but will get one with a metal door instead of plastic.

One thing I have noticed recently while Wrigley is in his crate at night, he has peed on the towel we have in there. When we first got him, he would cry if he needed to go out during the night. Now he just seems to do it without alerting us. I didn't think dogs liked to dirty their sleeping areas.

Sharon

Moviedust said:

Willow has opted to do this once in a while for the period of time it takes us to settle in (stop watching tv, etc.). Once she sees that we've stopped squirming, she makes her merry way back up with the rest of us. I guess we annoy her. :lol:

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Well, I mean, now come on...... why don't you just get into bed and not squirm or wriggle? You know that young lady has now gotten used to the comfort of a humans bed :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

If he is peeing in the crate, he isn't fully crate trained and is unlearning what he did know, so it is important to address this.

Are you letting him drink water right up til he goes to bed? It might help to lift water about two hours before. If he is still young he may just not yet have the hang of holding it or needing to hold it, and you may need to try taking him out midway thru the night to empty his bladder so he stops thinking it is OK to go inside.

Or, take the towel out and see if that helps. He will be fine sleeping on the plastic for now until he stops this habit. Often dogs are attracted to peeing into soft towels etc and won;t even feel the damp when they go. He'll be more likely to be careful if there's no towel to soak up damp.

Another possible issue is -- consider checking him for a urinary tract infection as this is sometimes the reason why they can't hold themselves -- especially if he is peeing on the towel during the day too. Also if he is peeing on the towel you need to wash it with an enzymatic cleaner to break down the scent -- normal laundering isn;t adequate and he will keep peeing on it as it retains the scent for him.

Dogs do not necessarily keep a 'den' clean if they didn;t learn this from their mother -- which can be due to two things -- one is if the pup is taken at under 8 weeks and never really completely made the connection and two is if the breeder was not particularly a good one or the dog came from a puppy mill situation and from thence to a broker or pet shop, or advertised on the internet or classified ads where it can be difficult to verify the breeder's bona fides. Such pups tend to be raised in small cages amid their own and others' excrement and thus have no sense of their 'den' area ever having been clean so they do not get the concept. It can be very challenging to housetrain such puppies but perseverence succeeds.

Finally, even a pup brought up by a very good breeder doesn't necessarily make any particular associations that a crate is his den unless the breeder had already started crate training (very few do this for a whole litter for obvious reasons). You have to build and maintain those associations by making the crate someplace he enjoys going into and also by working to not let him soil it. The initial weeks of having a puppy can be a special challenge for these reasons!