I am likely getting a dog this Saturday, a GoldenDoodle somewhere around 3-6 months old. I had a dog as a kid and we didn’t use a crate, but we will be crate-training this dog. The dog will be a female and should grow to about 45 lbs.
Any recommendations about brands or sizes? Beds and bumpers and covers? Other accessories?
Hmm… I don’t know what brand we’re using, but I’d recommend the folding metal mesh design. It’s really nice to be able to easily transport the crate on trips.
As for a bed… go cheap, for now. That sounds like a high-energy puppy you’re getting there, and odds are she’s a chewer. See if you can find a comforter for cheap- my dogs love them, because they can “nest” in them, which they can’t do with the standard dog beds. I found some brand new comforters for sale at Bed Bath and Beyond for twenty bucks- and if my guys chew them up, I’m not out the price of a traditional dog bed.
The ideal crate for a puppy is one which is only big enough to allow the puppy to stand up and turn around. If it’s any larger, the puppy may eliminate in a corner. (Since dogs won’t soil their sleeping area, you want to keep the area as small as possible.)
You can buy a crate which is large enough to accomodate the grown dog, but you’re going to want to use something which reduces the size. I put a cardboard box in the back of my puppy’s crate, but that only lasted until she learned that cardboard is fun to chew on. Possibly, you might be able to find some kind of extra side piece which you could insert inside to reduce the size of the sleeping area.
As for brands, I’ve used several different ones, and the only difference in quality I’ve ever noticed was with the latches. There are two kinds-- the slide bolt and the “pinch” latch (squeezed together with a thumb and forefinger which causes the bars to come out of the roof and floor.)
What you need to look for is a very sturdy latch, because that’s often the weakest point. On one of my carriers, the bottom bar bent so that it will no longer fit into the hole at the bottom. The door still shuts, but it’s not as secure. If you’ve got a boisterous puppy who doesn’t like being crated, he’ll bang against and paw at the door. If the latch is weak, the puppy could break it or escape.
Don’t buy the “pinch” latches which are made of plastic. My grandma has one of those, and the top part of the pinch pads broke off, and so now you have to move the vertical bar by pulling it up, which is a real pain.
The slide bar latches are great, unless you have a smart dog. Mine figured out how to bat it with her paw so that it would open. I defeated her by putting a luggage lock on it (just something strong enough to keep the latch from sliding.) Get one which has a slide bar which is held by a clip or which needs to be moved in a certain way to allow it to open.
I don’t think brand matters at all. With all my puppies, I’ve used two crate sizes – a small one when they’re wee pups and then a larger (size-appropriate) one when they outgrow the small one. With a puppy, the only rules of thumb on bedding are (1) don’t bed them down on anything unsafe for them to consume (no acrylic blankets; no blankets with buttons or yards of trim) and don’t bed them down on anything you aren’t willing to have destroyed – puppies are chewers. I would not bother spending big bucks on bedding – old cotton blankets from Good Will work fine, old towels work fine. I’ve never seen the need for bumpers – what, does your puppy have a seizure disorder? I too prefer wire mesh crates as more portable than solid plastic airline-type crates, but it is a good idea to cover the crate with something – leaving to door end uncovered – to simulate a cave or den environment and make the puppy comfortable there in a safe space he can consider his “home.” Again, I see no point in spending a ton of money when an old blanket will do.
Other accessories – I always give a new puppy a dog-safe small stuffed animal as a “lovey” that goes in the crate with him. Best idea, once you have the puppy picked out, is to have the breeder put a small towel or blankie or stuffed toy in with the litter once you’ve selected your pup. Then when you take him home you can take the lovey with you and it will smell like his old home as he gets used to his new home. Many breeders will already do this, but I wouldn’t hestitate to request it if they don’t. A couple of toys and his blanket and he should be good to go. Don’t leave him in the crate with anything he can destroy or consume.
Another vote for the folding crates – they are awesome for traveling and even just for moving from place to place in the house. I love love love our folding crates. We have taken our pups visiting at people’s houses, to outdoor art fairs, and tent camping. This way they always have a home away from home, something familiar.
We have a couple of the old plastic carrier thingies that Mr. S had from years ago, and we used those as beds for these guys until we got around to investing in the folding crates. The plastic carriers we have are two different sizes, just right for a growing springer. (It came in handy when we had a giant hailstorm come through when Phyllis was about 3 months old. I was nursing a cold and woke up on the couch around 11 am to pitch blackness outside; pretty obvious there was bad mojo coming, so I grabbed the handle of the carrier with little Phyllis in it and headed down the basement stairs, about 10 seconds ahead of the storm hitting the house. Good thing she was easy to grab!)
We gave our pups (now 50-lb springers) old towels to sleep on until they were past the chewing phase – then we bought them crate-size sheepskin beds. Which they never sleep on unless they are actually confined to the crate, because they sleep on our bed.
The plastic slide-out trays came in handy when Dottie had her recent bloody diarrhea episode (mostly blood and very scary, but treated nicely with a course of pills); we just carried her outside in the crate, let her loose, removed the tray and hosed it down. Also good for a dog having any sort of sickness problem such as vomiting; you can keep them quiet and also contain the mess a bit. (Again, with an old towel if you want doggie to have something soft to sleep on).
Dottie learned to open her latch – until we learned to clip the leash clip on it to prevent her from opening it. (Yes, she’s a troublemaker!)
The wire mesh crates are great. When we got our dog as a six month old rescue puppie, it was recommended that we put something with our odor in the crate during sleeping time, so we added some cheap, old T-shifts.
When we had to fly with her on one occasion, though, we ended up purchasing an airline approved transport crate. Now we use it instead of the wire mesh any time we travel. It’s much, much easier to take apart, and once taken apart takes up very little room (put the top shell into the the bottom shell). It also ways considerably less than the cage. It also lets us leave the wire crate in its permanent position at home so that weekend trips to home won’t cause us to go back and forth with the crate.
The dogs will still love and appreciate their crates even when old. Our whippet-mutt mix is 5-1/2 now, and happily goes to her “house” when told to or even on her own accord. She does, though, sleep on her doggie bed in our bedroom during the night.