crate questions

I have to go out and buy a crate for the puppy and not sure what one to get. my sister has a big plastic sided crate that we can use but dont' have time right now to get it. so wanted to buy one.....

but would you recommend a wire one or the plastic sided one???? a place here has some on sale but the wire one is smaller for the same price as the plastic sided one. right now they are saying the puppy is 8-10 pounds (hoping that is wrong as they told me last week she was around 7! LOL) she should be a beagle/coon hound mix so hoping she doesn't get huge but if so that is fine....... but anyways here are the sizes of the crates (don't want one to small and like I said my sister has the bigger one we can use later on if we need to)


The wire one is 24x18x21 (would that be big enough???)

and the plastic one is 28x21x22.......

and if the wire one is big enough for a bit then what kind do you feel works best wire or plastic????

I prefer wire crates for my dogs. Most are easily folded up for storage if necessary.

You don't want to get one too big, it needs to be just big enough for her to stand up, turn around and lie down. Otherwise it won't bother her to use it as a potty place. You can get a bigger sized crate with a divider that you can move as she grows.

Ok that is what I figured. since we haven't seen her yet we aren't sure just how "big" she is besides weight. so guess I will go with the smaller crate and then move up if we have to. that is what we figured as it would be easier if she could see out better or we figured it would. thanks for the advice.

With puppies, you should always buy a crate that will be big enough for them once they are done growing.
You just section them off and adjust for more room as they grow.

Plastic vs wire:
Really depends on your preference, your local heat/humidity (wherever you place the crate) and your pup.
If the pup is a chewer, most plastic crates can be destroyed rather quickly, my boy ate a big hole in his in around an hour.
I prefer wire, not only because it is indestructable, but because of superior air flow.

You can usually predict a pup's adult size by looking at their paws (this is not always true), but pups with big paws usually end up being much bigger than pups with small paws.

With a beagle/coonhound be prepared for an adult dog that weighs anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds. It's a real crapshoot with mixes of two such dissimilarly sized dogs.

You can usually predict a pup's adult size by looking at their paws (this is not always true), but pups with big paws usually end up being much bigger than pups with small paws.

Click to expand...

Another possible way of determing adult size is this that I found:

At the age of 2 months: Multiply the weight by 4
At the age of 3 months: Multiply the weight by 3
At the age of 4 months: Multiply the weight by 2

This may not be completely accurate but going back through my dogs records when they were pups this seems to have held true for them all... give or take a few pounds.

going by that they said at 9 weeks they were around 7lbs- 7 1/2. now around 8-9 at 10 weeks.... so about 30lbs tops then???? and 30-50 is a good size. heheee. we didn't want tiny but our other dog is about 90lbs and the one we lost almost 4 weeks ago was 105lbs! LOL wanted something that wouldn't knock the kids over while trying to love them. heehee.

we will use it camping which it can get warm (they have the camper to go into if really hot with the A/C on. our house has A/C so won't be hot. but think I will go with the wire one and if she gets too big we will go up to a bigger size if need be.... once they are fully trained we don't use crates because we have such a small house there really isn't anywhere to keep a crate for good, unless she gets really attached then we will figure something out.

I prefer a wire crate because it can fold up & it gets better air circulation.

Some wire crates come with a divider panel you can use in the crate to keep your puppy in the right size of confinement area as it grows - that way you only have to buy one crate in the adult size you think you'll need.

If I hadn't already bought a single-door one, I would get a double-door one so it would have more placement options in the house. A wire crate is worth the extra expense because it can last for many years.

A plastic crate is lighter weight and may be better if you travel a lot with your dog (IF you have the room in your vehicle for it).

I use a soft-sided crate for travel, but those are only good to use after your dog is reliably crate trained and you're certain it won't try to tear out of the crate.

I would love to get a crate with a divider but right now $ is a bit of an issue since I just spent $1000 on my cat with a c-section and SPAY! WOHOO (so no more babies here) and between march and April spent about $1000 on my dog when he was ill then having him cremated...... so since the wire one is on sale for $30 I will go with that option for now and then just buy another one and sell this one if we need to........

well I went to the store and this one The wire one is 24x18x21 looked way to tiny! so I went with the med one that was 36x something or other. LOL but it came with the diveder and 2 doors!!!!!!!!!!1 and was only $50 so $20 more. figured that wasn't bad at all. Now to pick up my puppy so she can use it. heheee we get her Sat night/Sun morning not sure what time she is comming in! woohooo

Best idea is to get a crate that will be perfect size for when their full grown. Then. fab a divider so that the pup can only stand up, turn around, and lay down comfy. Once they ae better with bladder control ( about 4-5 months)you can let them have the whole crate to sleep in.

With my rottie, i got a crate at first that was big enough to hold to full grown cats. He was given a blanket and a toy, and it was jsut big enough for him to stand up, turn around and lay down. He was 8 weeks when i got that, and it worked till he was 4 months, then i went to the bigger crate. But if you dont want to spend the extra cash, they way i said above is your best idea.

Here is a good site to give you tips. have fun with the pup!

http://www.inch.com/~dogs/cratetraining.html

the crate is working GREAT!!!!!!!!!! the first night we didn't use the divider as the bed didn't fit with the divider...... well that didn't work well as there was a bit of room in the front and she does cry to go potty but couldn't hold it while I got her or just went where there was room....... Then we took the pillow part out of the bed and put the divider in and no accidents in the crate since then!!!!!! and it should be big enough for when she is full grown since it goes 40-60 pounds.