If you are looking to buy a new kennel box, here are some suggestions:
First, size is the most important factor in buying a dog box. In order to get the right size, measure your dog’s height at the shoulders; add 10% and this is a minimum height of the crate. Next, when the dog is laying down comfortably in an open “C” position, not stretched out, or in a tight circle, measure the length of the dog from one end to the other. This is the minimum length for the crate. The next thing to carefully consider and measure is where is the going to go? Will it fit in the vehicle? When it is in the vehicle, can you fit any other gear, or can you fit two crates side by side? (e.g. If you are driving a full sized pickup truck, space is much less of a consideration, however, if you have a mid-sized truck or SUV, you may not be able to get two extra large crates in, but two intermediate sized ones will fit perfectly side by side.) So, see what sizes fit the dog, then see what size fits your situation.
Second, figure out is whether or not you want a plastic crate or a metal one. For me, this boils down to how often I plan on taking it in and out of the truck and how much I want to spend (i.e. ~$80 plastic vs. ~$500 metal). As far as plastic crates go, as long as a given kennel box is airline approved, they are basically all of similar quality and you probably won’t go wrong with any of these brands/models.
From my perspective, the Petmate Furrarri is the cat’s meow of plastic dog boxes for the following reasons:
- Latches rather than a bunch of screws around the outside – cleaning issue (loose nuts and bolts)
- Door latches on both sides so you can open the door from either way depending on the situation. Any door can be switched by opening the top and bottom sides and flipping the door over, but again, it takes time to undo all the nuts & bolts to switch it, and it usually doesn’t get done.
- VentsÂ
- Flat floor
Â
