Plastic vs. Wire Crate

Midwest Homes for Pets (they have a website, but I'm assuming you can just search for it if you want to) has really good wire crates. The one I have is the X-large and it's really heavy duty. Not so good if you want to move it around, because it's really heavy, but as a stationary crate it works well. It's the drop-pin style that I have. Mirelle doesn't have any problems with the crate but it's built well enough I don't think you'd have to worry about anything with one of theirs. They're on the more exspensive side, I believe, but made well.

I also use mine as a bookshelf! It's quite large, and has a peice of wood on the top and then a blanket over that, and all of the photo album stuff that we have is on top of it, it works very well []

I have both kinds wire & plastic. At night they sleep in wire, my male doesn't mess around when I'm home. When I leave them they are in the jumbo plastic type that has four locking pins (one each side of the door) I went through several crates before finding this is the only one that my male GSD cannot break out of. If the four locking pin crate hadn't worked we would have had to move up to the $$ steal box crate. To steer off subject slightly, plastic vs wire is more of an issue in the vehicle. In that case I wouldn't use either. In an accident wire breaks up & can turn into wire daggers & plastic crates explode on impact. We always use seat belts in the vehicle.

I agree in the end that it really depends on the dog. Some could do just as well in the soft type.

When I bought a crate I had drove to petco in my car and needed something that would fold so I could get it home and thats why I went with the wire. I also wanted the biggest crate I could find and the wire seemed larger than the plastic so not really knowing there would be a difference in how the dog acted in either one I just bought the wire.

Well... My first dog I ever owned away from my parents was a high SA dog. First thing she leared to do was flip the latches with her nose and open the door. I bought clips to hold the latches in place, then she learned to pull the front of the crate inward and it fell in towards her and she got out. After adding extra wire to reanforce that she would push her body out of the door and bent the wiers in the door, one time cutting her paw. I got more latches and wire to hold the whole crate together because she was determined to get out. She bent that wire crate in every place she could. She no longer needs the crate but I really wished I would have gone with the plastic instead for her.

I used the same bent out of shape wire crate to train Gizzy and never had a problem with her getting out or harming herself. I would say it just depends on the dog.

Meanwhile, if you put a rug or a blanket over a wire create, be prepared for an anxious dog to pull that into the crate and chew it up, thus leaving them exposed again. Even in his plastic crate every now and then Conrad will get a wild hair and pull something into it and rip it up (the crate's in the bedroom and DH kind of uses it for clothes storage).

Would something like this work?  It's a soft-sided crate.
 
[linkhttp://www.sitstay.com/store/equip/softcrate-n.shtml]http://www.sitstay.com/store/equip/softcrate-n.shtml[/link]

Very true.  Sammy pulled in a blanket once and chewed it to pieces....... though once, in a plastic crate, after he'd been better for a few weeks, something set him off and he moved his crate all around the room, and stopped to chew my computer chair on the way.  We videotapped him at the time, but the camera had been moved in his meanderings about the room so we never did see how he could chew my entire seat cushion from inside his crate. 

I have always used wire crates and haven't had a problem.
I cover them up with a blanket, and they feel snug as a bug.
 
Btw, how big is the biggest plastic crate?
My dogs have the 42" crates.

ORIGINAL: tzu_mom

Would something like this work?  It's a soft-sided crate.

[linkhttp://www.sitstay.com/store/equip/softcrate-n.shtml]http://www.sitstay.com/store/equip/softcrate-n.shtml[/link]

 
We were foolish enough to try this before we got into wire and plastic crates......... Sammy is such a mellow dog, we thought he'd be okay.  He would roll around in it and figured out how to unzip it, and also tore holes in all the mesh when he was rolling around.  We were going to padlock the zipper closed, but figure why should he have to destroy it.  We still have it, but it's a bit worse for wear and can't ever be used for Sammy again. 
 
It might be a good idea for certain dogs, but certainly not one with SA!  We thought it would be nice since we travel a good deal, so he could always have a safe place to go.  It's a good idea, don't get me wrong, but wouldn't help to contain a dog that is intent on getting out, chewing, clawing, etc.

Btw, how big is the biggest plastic crate?
My dogs have the 42" crates.

 
I looked on jbpet.com quickly and they go up to 40" x 30" x 27"  I would say 40-42 is probably around the biggest I've ever seen. 

Would something like this work?  It's a soft-sided crate.

http://www.sitstay.com/store/equip/softcrate-n.shtml

It really does depend on the dog.

I like thoes cloth crates and I have a pop-up cloth crate for Gizzy that she does well in. She is not a chewer and she hardly ever tears thing apart, I've crate her sence she was 6 weeks old so she's always done well in any crate.

On the other hand I would never have put my first SA dog in a cloth crate, she would tear it apart.

I checked out that site, and this is what they have listed as x-large:
 
X-Large, Clay - 40” Long x 27” Wide x 30” High.
 
Price $ 109.00

Plus for ME *grin* I just put a piece of wood on top of it and it becomes FURNITURE.  Voila ... one more bookshelf for the bedroom!!! (don't think I'm kidding folks that's exactly what they are in our bedroom -- shelf-space!! LOL)

 
Wait, I thought the top of the crate is where you're supposed to throw your dirty clothes? No? [sm=uhoh.gif]
[sm=lol.gif]

Ha ha, thats too funny, the top of the metal crate has become a storage area in my house also[]

I use both. Emma can open wire crates, so they have to be clipped, or she'll free herself and everybody else. I have a really nice, heavy Midwest crate. I have a Midwest ex pen, that's a lighter gauge, and I don't like it as much. I also have plastic crates. I think I have.... six crates? Yeah. Six. I have a mild compulsion issue[] But I might NEEEEED it. There's fosters, and random dogs I pick up, and small animals, etc etc. I have used every crate, for something. House crates, car crates, guest crates. Anyhow, the largest plastic crate I had was a 48". I sold it, because it took up too much space.

[linkhttp://www.upco.com/cgi-bin/Upcol.storefront/45b4e9ff05b35912ea6dc0a80a2f0726/Product/View/700P]http://www.upco.com/cgi-bin/Upcol.storefront/45b4e9ff05b35912ea6dc0a80a2f0726/Product/View/700P[/link]
^^that's the one I had^^

[linkhttp://www.petedge.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=4789&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=408&iSubCat=433&iSubSubCat=436&iProductID=4789]http://www.petedge.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=4789&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=408&iSubCat=433&iSubSubCat=436&iProductID=4789[/link]
^^Petedge has great prices on huge crates^^

I don't see the huge size on dog.com

Raja also has SA and she needed a very strong crate, we had an extra large wire crate that was drop pin but it wasn't that sturdy and also it was difficult to put up.
 
We got Raja's new crate at Craigslist, it is an extreamly durable one and is heavy duty and fold down, so its much easier to put up and down.
 
Its called Midwest Champion Collection. and for her she is very tall and the 32" high works great. lathough they are VERY heavy, but are durable. I got mine from someone who used to show their dogs, and it was in very good condition. You might want to look on Craigslist or go to a petstore and see if they sell it. Its more pricey because its heavier weight,but it has worked out great. Also Raja hated the plastic crates.