Crate Love

Denali loves his crate, and while we always wanted that, we secretly hoped that we would be able to get rid of the ugly thing once he stopped using it. We've finally come to the realization that we will probably always have it in our bedroom (where it always has been), but have decided to try to make our own. We'll be sure to fill you in on how that is going.

But, here are the crates that we are either using or have used in the past: Midwest Canine Camper (our favorite for comfiness) and Midwest iCrate.

We started off with the Midwest's XXL crate because it was the largest crate on the market. We didn't know what kind of chewer Denali would be, so we wanted to make sure to get something super strong. Luckily, I found it on Craigslist for $100 off what it would have cost new. It was great, but it wasn't very comfy for Denali. The metal sides didn't afford him much privacy or a den-like feeling (which is the goal of a crate), so we improvised and draped our handy $7 Ikea fleece blankets over the sides and top creating a blue cave. It worked great, and Denali loved the blankets. He actually turned into quite a decorator, see picture below! The only problem was that it was quite big, so we started it off at half the full size. We also wanted it in our bedroom so we could sleep together as a family (which I think is important for pack mentality). Also, then I could easily hear him in the middle of the night when he needed to go out. But, Denali would toss in his sleep or sometimes stage an all out romp fest about 2am and the wire sides would make quite a racket!

At the same time, we had bought a portable crate for Denali (one that folded flat), so we could have one in Michigan at my parent's beach house (Denali's favorite place in the world aside from the breeder's). When Denali outgrew his wire crate, and we were going to have to make the move to full size, we decided to give the portable crate a try in the house. It was much cozier, with soft sides that he could lean up against (and wouldn't make as much noise), and it was darker. Also, we figured we could just fold it flat if we needed the space suddenly. And so here we are today, still using the soft-sided crate.

Crate Psychology:
While not the most pleasing aesthetically (or good for our small apartment), we think that psychologically it is very important for Denali to feel like he has what he thinks of his own bedroom. He knows it is a safe place, and anytime I am trying to clean his ears or give him a shower, he runs into his crate, which makes me think that he knows it is a safe place. Dogs are den animals and want a cozy,dark place to go to. By putting ours in our bedroom, which is right off the living room, and within eye-view of the door, Denali has a safe place to go to if he is afraid, while still being apprised of the situation.

We did crate train Denali, meaning that when I wasn't home, Denali would get his favorite (most indestructible toys) and a treat to eat (a peanut butter and kibble stuffed kong) to eat on in my absence. It kept him safe from ingesting bad things and kept our apartment intact. While at first he didn't like it, and he had some pretty severe separation anxiety (our neighbors told us he would howl for hours on end, taking a half an hour break), he was always safe from harm. The only real danger of the crate was one day (about a week after we switched from the wire crate to the soft crate), Denali was roughhousing a bit too vigorously and flipped his crate! Luckily, our downstairs neighbor came up and "rescued him". We think this is just one of the many reasons Denali LOVES Jen. Denali was a bit shaken up but he was fine within a couple hours, and he learned not to flip his crate.

Food for thought:
We chose not to feed Denali in his crate, but instead to give him treats. I didn't want the water in his crate to prevent spills, and also be able to monitor how much he was drinking--outside of the crate he always has fresh water. He was never in his crate for more than 3 hours at a time, and then my boyfriend's wonderful mother, would come and walk/ hang out with Denali for a half-hour. We did think it was important though, to give him tasty treats in his crate to associate good feelings with it. It's a choice each person should make for themselves, and this is just what we thought was best for us. Our current vet does not recommend peanut butter for dogs, so with the new puppy (hopefully, we'll get her this spring) we'll have to figure out something else. Also, after learning about pthalates in pliable plastics (like dog toys), I am hesitant to give my puppy a toy like that. Instead, I will just stuff one of West Paw's pthalate free, recycled rubber toys instead. Or if you really want to go far out get your dog a sheep trachea and stuff it with yummy goodies, like green tripe. Now for cleanliness' sake, we chose to skip this after trying it for a week and having to sanitize nonstop. But the cartilage in the trachea is really good for the dog, so maybe its a good thing for him to eat in the kitchen, where I can easily wipe up his mess. We'll have to cross that bridge in the future. But thank goodness our teething days are gone!