Softsided Crates

[Eric Moreira]

What are peoples opinions on the manufacturers of thiese things? Any favorites? I just got a nozetonoze, or something like that, and the zipper is already messed up! I only opened it 2 times! Needless to say that is going straight back to Petco and I don't know if their other version is any better.

Thanks.

[Marsha]

I just got what I guess is a soft-sided crate last week. It's called a Canine Camper by Midwest, Homes for Pets. It folds up into a flat carrying case. It zips open anc closed. It has screen windows on each side with flaps that roll down to close. We got it primarily as a way to transport him in the car. The travel harnesses weren't working for us. Spanky's so active that he would get tangled in the harness and seatbelt no matter how little slack I gave him. In a week's time, it has worked well. We've had no trouble with the zipper, and I hadn't even thought about that, but I know they can give trouble. Time will tell if these zippers start malfunctioning. It's worked great for what we got it for. So, I highly recommend it, but I haven't had it long enough to have any real problems with it.

I had thought Spanky might not enjoy just going for short rides around town anymore because of being enclosed in a crate, but it seems just the opposite so far. There's none of the excited whining he was doing before. He can sit up in the crate and see out the screen window and out the car window, but he mostly sleeps contentedly. I haven't figured out how it's going to work to take him to pick up the kids from school. He loves to sit in the line with his head out the window watching the kids and catching the breeze, but his crate will be in the back seat with the zipper hard to reach. Oh, well.

[Marsha]

We also plan to use this soft crate when our college-age daughter wants him to spend the night at her apartment. She had been lugging the heavy metal crate with her, but this is MUCH easier. He hasn't been in it except riding in the car, though, so I don't know how he'll adapt to sleeping in it. I guess she'll find out eventually.

[Jill Ramsey]

We have the same one Marsha does. Right now, it's downstairs in our family room. When we go down to watch tv or something that's where Finn goes to lay. We bought it to use for camping, or if we take him somewhere that he won't be allowed to run free. We've taken it when we went fishing to use when we go to shore for him to rest and get out of the sun. It works great for the correction clinics at the dog club. He can go in his crate to rest when it 's not his turn and he doesn't get so hyped up.
Like Marsha said it's easy to transport, and ours has held up very well.