nylon travel crates

These are airline quality collapsible plastic crates: http://www.radiofence.com/dog_crates_plastic.htm

thanks I saw that one but its WAY too small for him [&:]

edit for typo

Here is a crate that we got for Molly when we go places and want a crate with us but don`t want to take the heavy one with us. At first she would scratch and have a heck of a time in it. It would roll over on its side and what not as she was moving around trying to get out. Molly knew the crate was different and maybe she could get out of this one. Molly likes her crate with the door open and sleeps in it during the day. At night the door is closed and shes ok too. But if you shut the door with her in during the day shes gets mad. So I set it up it in the house and used it when I could supervise. I had to teach her that even if this crate was not as sturdy as her heavy crate she had to respect it and not try to destroy it to get out. This was a cheap Kmart crate. Cost 20.00.
 
 

thanks - setting it up at home prior to the trip was what I had planned

Nylon crates have their valid uses.  I just want to emphasize that
(1)  they provide no protection to pets in a vehicle and
(2)  they do not keep the pets from becoming lethal projectiles in a vehicle.
 
 

How would you make sure your dog respects the crate?

 
Simple. Train the dog not to scratch at the crate side or roll it around.  Btw, as was stated they aren't for use in the car.
 
 
 

ORIGINAL: timsdat

How would you make sure your dog respects the crate?

Simple. Train the dog not to scratch at the crate side or roll it around.  Btw, as was stated they aren't for use in the car.

How is that simple? Sorry but my question was HOW do you make them respect it. How do I get them to not scratch at the sides or roll it around? I know WHAT I have to do, just not HOW to do it... See my way of teaching them in the wire crate was to let them do it and realize for themselves that it would get then nowhere. Obviously not an option in a nylon crate.[]

And BTW, I would use seatbelts for in the car. But fitting two extra large crates in set up for travelling is going to require a bus. Even folded down they take up alot of room.

How is that simple? Sorry but my question was HOW do you make them respect it. How do I get them to not scratch at the sides or roll it around?

 
It was easy with my shelties.  They don't like water so a simple squirt from a bottle stopped the behavior before it really started.  It was easy with them though as they were crate trained as pups and didn't mind being in there.  I'm sure it is alot harder for dogs that don't really like crates but I didn't have to deal with that.  The soft crate though isn't for everyone.  You have to be able to trust your dog.
 
 
 
 

Both of my dogs are crate trained and will not sleep anywhere else aside from short naps at my feet. Both dogs love water and would probably think it was a game if I squirted them. Hmmmm... I wonder...

Ok I admit that the water bottle is a breed specific thing as alot of shelties don't like to get squirted.  If mine are barking all I have to do is look at the bottle and they will stop. 

Well my dogs both understand Uhnuh. I guess I would just have to practice quite a bit, but I'm just not sure they would respect it once I was out of sight. Maybe if they were tired enough to just sleep in it for the night and I managed to get up before Onyx starts her daily stretching routine. Thats how she signals that its time to get up. I can hear her flexing her toes on the bottom of her crate and then she starts doing the OOOooooooooowwwooo thing to stretch out her vocals. Quietly at first... then not so much if I'm not responding.

I don`t think you are going to like my answer either. When Molly was little and tried to play with my slippers when they were on my feet or tried to chew up my blanket  I would tell her "Molly thats naughty" if she kept doing it I would say Naughty again. She would stop doing it. Now when ever she does something I don`t like I just say "Molly thats naughty' and she stops. So with the crate the Molly thats naughy worked and she is fine being in it now. I do know all dogs are different. Just have to find out what works.

Please don't get the nylon crates.  I've seen dogs gnaw through them in minutes, I watched a whippet walk around a show site as if his nylon crate was a hamster wheel, and a pharaoh hound was just lost because she escaped (by gnawing) through one of them.

They are great if you are there to supervise, but if you're not there....go for a vari-kennel or a wire crate.

Yeah I wouldn't trust either of my guys for an unattendended split second in one of those. I imagine it'd be fine if I was sitting right in the room with them and I can see their use at trials where you just need some place for the dog to lay down and chill out while you're also sitting there, but otherwise? No. One good paw swipe and both would be out of them in a New York minute, and I can also see then rolling around the room in them. I'll stick with the plastic crates. They do come apart and nest, so you can put all your luggage inside/on top of them in the car. They don't really take up that much space.

I don't understand why so many of you say that the mesh crates can be chewed through in seconds to minutes. My very determined Border Collie mix has amesh crate and even after about 15 mins of non-stop scratching at the door she has yet to do anything more than rip two small (1 to 2" long) slits in the canvas and put some "runs" in the mesh itself - perhaps my crate is more durable than what everyone else has seen used? And this damage is from a dog that bends wire crates and chews up plastic door backstops in an airline crate btw.

All of the above said, I've learned that scratches appear in the crate if Maggie is crated in it for more than 40mins unsupervised so she's either with me or crated in the car for 40mins or less. The crate I use also has tie downs where you can use tent stakes to attach it to the ground, so if I had a jumper instead of a scratcher, I'd be sure to anchor the crate well.

I never crate outside of the car with no supervision personally because I worry too much about other *people* letting my dog out of the crate.