Dog crates: a UK buying guide

A crate is the single most useful thing you will buy for a puppy, and the thing most owners get wrong on the first attempt. Get the size right and it becomes a den your dog chooses to sleep in. Get it wrong and it becomes an expensive cage that sits in the garage by March.

This guide covers what actually matters when choosing a dog crate in the UK: how to size one properly, which type suits which household, and the four mistakes that cost people money.

Getting the size right

This is the whole ball game. Almost every crate problem traces back to size.

The rule: your dog should be able to stand up without ducking, turn around without contorting, and lie flat on their side with legs extended. That is it. Anything beyond that is not comfort, it is surplus.

To measure properly, take two numbers with your dog standing:

• Length: nose to base of tail. Add 10 to 15cm.
• Height: floor to the top of the head, or the top of the ears on a breed that holds them upright. Add 10cm.

Buy for the adult dog, not the puppy

The most common and most expensive mistake in the category. A cocker spaniel puppy will fit a small crate for about six weeks, and then you buy a second crate.

Buy the size your dog will reach as an adult, and use a divider panel to shrink the usable space while they are small. Move the divider back as they grow. One crate, one purchase, done.

Crate size by dog size

Crate sizing is not standardised across brands, so always check the actual centimetres rather than trusting the letter on the box. As a rough guide:

If your dog sits between two sizes, go up. A slightly roomy crate is a minor inefficiency. A slightly cramped one is a welfare problem and your dog will refuse to use it.

The four types, and who each one is for

Wire crates

The default, and for good reason. Foldable, ventilated, easy to clean, and almost always supplied with a divider and a plastic slide-out tray. If you are buying your first crate for a puppy, this is the one.

Suits: puppies, crate training, most households.
Weakness: not attractive, and a determined chewer can bend cheap bars.

Fabric and soft crates

Light, collapsible, and easy to carry. Good for travel, holidays and dogs who are already reliably crate trained.

Suits: travel, calm adult dogs.
Weakness: a puppy will destroy one. Not for training, not for a dog left alone, not for a chewer. Buy a fabric crate for the dog you have, not the one you hope to have.

Furniture crates

Wooden crates that double as a side table or console. They solve the genuine problem that a wire crate is ugly and lives in your living room for years.

Suits: adult dogs, open plan homes, anyone who has to look at the thing daily.
Weakness: expensive, heavy, rarely has a divider, and a chewing puppy will make short work of the edges. Buy one once the dog is grown and settled.

Heavy duty crates

Reinforced steel, welded, often lockable. Built for escape artists and powerful chewers.

Suits: a small number of dogs who genuinely need them, and car boot use.
Weakness: heavy, costly, and overkill for most. If you find yourself considering one, it may be worth asking whether the underlying problem is anxiety rather than strength.

What to look for

• A divider panel. Non-negotiable for a puppy. If a crate does not come with one, it is not a puppy crate.
• Two doors. A front and a side door gives you far more flexibility about where the crate can go in a room. Worth paying for.
• A slide-out tray. Cleaning accidents through the bars is miserable. A removable tray takes thirty seconds.
• Secure latches. Single-latch doors get opened by clever dogs. Two latches per door is the standard on decent crates.
• Rounded corners and no sharp edges. Run your hand round the inside. Cheap crates have burrs.
• It folds flat. You will move it, store it, or take it somewhere. Flat-folding is worth more than it sounds.

Where to put it

Not the utility room. Not the garage. Not somewhere quiet and out of the way, which is where most people put it and which is exactly why the dog hates it.

A crate should sit in a corner of the room where the family actually is, out of the main thoroughfare but with a view of you. Dogs are social. A crate that means isolation becomes a punishment, and no amount of treats fixes that association afterwards.

Cover three sides with a blanket to make it den-like, and leave the front open. Most dogs settle noticeably faster in a covered crate.

Crate training, briefly

The full method is a longer subject, but the short version is worth having:

1. Leave the door open for the first few days. The crate is just furniture. No pressure.
2. Feed every meal inside it, door open. The crate becomes the place good things happen.
3. Build up duration slowly. Door closed for one minute while you sit beside it. Then five. Then you leave the room. Then you leave the house.
4. Never let them out while they are crying. Wait for a pause, however short, and release on the quiet. Otherwise you have taught them that noise opens the door.
5. Give them something to do. A stuffed chew or a lick mat turns crate time from an absence of stimulation into a positive event. This single change is the difference between weeks of protest and a dog who takes themselves to bed.

Expect two to four weeks for a puppy. Rushing it costs you months.

Common questions

Are dog crates cruel?

An appropriately sized crate, introduced properly and never used as punishment, is not cruel. Dogs are den animals and most will voluntarily choose an enclosed space to sleep in. What is cruel is a crate that is too small, used for too long, or used as a place to dump a dog who is inconvenient. The crate is not the issue. How it is used is.

How long can a dog be left in a crate?

A rough guide for puppies is one hour per month of age, up to a maximum of four hours. So a three month old puppy should not be crated for more than three hours. Adult dogs can manage longer, but four to five hours is a sensible ceiling for daytime, and no dog should spend most of its waking life in a crate. Overnight is different, and most dogs sleep through happily.

Should I put bedding in a crate?

Yes, but be realistic. Puppies chew bedding and some will shred it. Use something cheap and washable while they are young and save the good bed for later. If your puppy is destroying bedding, a vet-bed style fleece is far harder to rip than a plush bed.

Do I still need a crate for an older dog?

Not necessarily, but many owners keep one with the door permanently open because the dog simply likes it. It also makes vet stays, car travel and house moves dramatically less stressful, because the dog already knows the space.

What we would do

Buy one wire crate, sized for the adult dog, with a divider and two doors. Put it in the corner of the room you actually live in. Cover three sides. Feed every meal in it. Give them something to lick or chew while the door is shut. Move the divider back as they grow.

One purchase, one crate, and a dog who takes itself to bed.