Best Dog Crate?

[castle111]

I checked the FAQ page and didn't see anything about specific crate brands so I apologize if this is covered elsewhere.

We need to get a new crate for our 60lb Boxer mix rescue. He's 7 years old and started as a foster but we've now adopted him. He has storm anxiety and if left in his crate during a bad storm without medication he is capable of bending and breaking out of the crate. This has never been done intentionally, and we do everything possible not to leave him during a storm but occasionally it is unavoidable.

Unfortunately we had a recent incident where he went unmedicated (sneaky little sucker somehow spit out his pill and we missed it) and broke his crate. I need to purchase a new one and would like to make sure I'm at least getting decent quality for the money. The two most common ones I seem to see reviewed are Midwest and EliteField. Any thoughts on these? The goal is that we won't ever have this issue again, but if it did happen I'd prefer to have a higher quality crate to avoid any possible injury.

[Deleted]

www.amazon.com/Midwest-Life-Stages-Double-Door-Folding/dp/B0002AT3M4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1347954107&sr=8-1&keywords=dog+crate

I have this one for our 30lb dog. The biggest size the that sell on Amazon is big enough for her, so I don't think a 60lb dog could fit in it. I've zip tied the sides together and it's worked well for us.

[redheadbaker]

I bought a wire crate online from Tractor Supply for my (well, now my ex-H's) 90-lb lab. It was very sturdy, and collapsed very easily for storage or transport.

[castle111]

Thanks for the input.

[phunluvin82]

Our dog is only 45 lbs. and she can break out of pretty much any standard wire crate we've tried so I feel your pain. I've heard that the aluminum crates are pretty indestructible, but are usually really pricey.

What we have done is bought industrial zip ties at the hardware store to use on the sides/corners, etc, to keep her from being able to bend things out of shape at the 'seams' so to speak.

Then, for the door, we used zip ties a few times but we'd have to cut her out, which took a while and was not practical...not to mention not very safe if we ever had to get her out of there in a hurry in an emergency. So, we bought 3 heavy duty carabiners, like that mountain climbers use, and we hook those around the doors so that when (not if...but when) she gets the latches undone, she still can't get the door open.

Maybe that will help!

[froggy76]

We use a wire crate and have zip tied all the sides and corners. We used to put a pad lock on the door also (which made me nervous because it would be harder to get our dog free in the event of a fire or other emergency.)