Heavy duty dog crates

deadlybuzzman

The owner of the boarding kennels we used recommended a savic crate specifically one with reinforced wire as he said our dog would eat the regular cage.
I can't find any online though. Can anyone recommend a good crate for a strong strong dog?

tk123

Is the dog going demented in the crate trying to bust out or something?! I'd rather mine break free if they were stressing out than hurt themselves - as has happened in the past with Bailey!

deadlybuzzman

We've never had her in a crate as she's never needed to be on her own more than half an hour.
Wed like to know that we can safely leave her on her own for longer if we needed to e.g. an emergency came up, without her getting bored, agitated and possibly destructive being on her own

VonVix

For that reason I wouldn't be looking for an expensive heavy duty crate. My 35kg German Shepherd has the typical black wire crate, but he was crate trained (from puppyhood, he only gets his meals + chews in the crate) and has no desire to try to bust out of it. He could if he wanted, but he is totally chilled out when he's in it.

tk123

VonVix wrote: »

For that reason I wouldn't be looking for an expensive heavy duty crate. My 35kg German Shepherd has the typical black wire crate, but he was crate trained (from puppyhood, he only gets his meals + chews in the crate) and has no desire to try to bust out of it. He could if he wanted, but he is totally chilled out when he's in it.

+1 I got mine from jebbtools.ie - Bailey's been on crate rest twice in this one and held up fine although I used velcro ties on it to be safer. He queued up with his ball to get in when I was putting it up again in March in prep for his operation. They spent the next week or so camped out in it lol and Lucy would jump in when he was out of it. We have a smaller Atlas car crate in the kitchen which they love too.

niallb

We have 5 dogs, 3 Jack Russells and 2 proper sized :-)
4 of them have been crate trained since they were tiny, and they love them.
Our oldest is 13 now, and we had him from before we realised that crates are more like an indoor kennel than anything else.
We have two Savic crates and two ordinary black wire ones. The Savic are much stronger, but none of our dogs has tried eating them.
The crate is their private place, and not something to be afraid of when they get used to it.
I'd suggest if you get the crate and have the room, to make it a place that your dog can get comfortable with.

Like VonVix, we find ours are looking to get in to the room with the crate and keep their toys in them.
We leave the doors open on the Jacks' crates, and they pop in and out during the day.
Their beds are in the crates, and it's where they go for a breather. No need for the door to be locked.
It's also the only place they get a Bonio, so if we've unexpected visitors, the one word Bonio clears the house instantly!

We got the black wire crates from petcara.ie, and I'm pretty sure they also sell the Savic ones.

borderlinemeath

This reminds me of the video doing the rounds at the moment with the boxer who escapes from the crate. He obviously had no crate training or has anxiety issues but once a dog is happy in their crate and they're not used as a prison I think they're a great tool.

When I'm buying crates I buy the savic residence ones, they don't have them on zooplus.ie but they do on the UK site. The problem I have with flimsy crates is dogs banging off them during horseplay and bending the metal. Also I tend to lift beds/blankets out of them and throw them on top (so the boys don't cock their legs on them) and sometimes some of the more agile dogs jump up on top of them to sit on them if they can't get couch space. I used to have some jebbtools ones but I threw them out after they got so weak from being bent out of shape and then plied back into shape!

The savic ones are not indestructible, I had part of the bottom where it's welded together break on one crate, but zooplus offered me money off my next purchase and I just got himself to weld it back together:)

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dog_cages_carriers/carriers/metal_cages_and_boxes/221150

Totally unrelated to heavy duty crates but I'd never considered a crate for the following before so thought I'd share..

My family dog (the dog my parents got when I was in my late teens) is now 16 and pretty much completely deaf and with very little sight. He's still a happy spritely fella but when the other dogs are messing or there is a lot of people in the house he gets pretty anxious. He can't hear or see if animals or people get too close and he's been tripped over, or landed on by the other dogs, on occasion.

When my mam got her pup at the end of last year she bought a big crate for her to grow into.
The elderly fella never had a crate but he absolutely loves hers!

He's always sneaking into it and the reason is so obvious. He can completely relax knowing no one or nothing can sneak up on him or bump into him. It's fantastic. He's just so content in there. It's made a real difference to his quality of life! No more anxiety and he can go into a real deep sleep.

tk123

Bailey used to squeeze himself into Lucy's puppy crate lol

aonb

OP, why does she need a crate at all if shes never been trained to one?
How old is she?
What breed is she?

If shes a puppy and/or you want to crate train her thats fine, but if shes just a regular laid back type of dog, why cant you leave her at home, in your utility or kitchen or wherever she sleeps at night - with a bowl of water and maybe a chew or a bone - and she'll be fine for a few hours?

deadlybuzzman

aonb wrote: »

OP, why does she need a crate at all if shes never been trained to one?
How old is she?
What breed is she?

If shes a puppy and/or you want to crate train her thats fine, but if shes just a regular laid back type of dog, why cant you leave her at home, in your utility or kitchen or wherever she sleeps at night - with a bowl of water and maybe a chew or a bone - and she'll be fine for a few hours?

Because currently if nobody's at home on a given day she goes into doggy day care and this has worked out great up until recently.
We had a wake up call lately when the day care place wouldn't take her until a vet checked her as she got sick the day before. A few years back they had to shut down and scrub the place
after a bad bug swept through they place infecting most of the dogs.
She's not been left alone for more than half an hour or so and she's very fond of having company. We're going to slowly extend that period over time but she does get anxious when alone.
She's a 2 year old 30kg APBT.
She's generally very good at not chewing things but we did catch her starting to a couple of times and she could really wreck a sofa if she wanted.
She normally sleeps in our bed across our feet but when she's alone that doors closed as we'd rather not have her up there when she could be rubbing her arse on the pillows or clawing at the mattress