Re: Crates... medium too small, large... too big!

In Reply to: Crates... medium too small, large... too big!
Category:   General Training
Posted by:  Jim Clark
Posted on:  May 11, 2003 at 18:21:09

: We have a wonderful dog that is a Lhasa Apsa + Terrier mix. He has been crate trained since he joined our family at about 12 weeks. Our vet told us that he will probably get to about 22-25 lbs, so we purchased a medium black wire crate, and "roped off" half of it with fence wire while he was small. Now, at almost a year old and 28 lbs., this 14" high, 27" long (from snout to rear,not counting tail) dog seems too large for his medium crate (24x18x21), but the next larger size (36x24x27) seems way to big. He doesn't complain, and goes into the crate on his own (or on command... usually), but he sure can't stretch out to his full length. What do you think?

Response:

Hi Jim,

I think your should get your pet a larger crate. He may still prefer to curl up in ball in his new crate but he'll have the option to sprawl out if he wants to.

I checked through some pet catalogs and found that there are several brands of crates that offer a size between the 24" and 36" long (or deep) options. For example, the Midwest brand comes in what they call a "medium" crate that is 30Lx21Wx24H.

You could also go ahead and purchase the 36" long crate and get your pet a crate bolster bed. The bolster (a padded roll that goes around the pad) is about 2" thick so it would "shrink" the interior of the large crate.