The Best Dog Crates for Crate Training

A divider panel is the single most valuable feature on a puppy crate, and this one has it. You buy the size your dog will need as an adult, then block off the back so the usable space fits him now. Move the panel forward every few weeks as he grows. Without a divider you either buy three crates over eighteen months or hand a nine-week-old puppy a room big enough to sleep at one end and pee at the other — which is exactly how housetraining stalls.

Wire is the format most households actually live with. Rover's network of sitters and walkers reports that wire crates make up the majority of what they see in client homes, and the reasons are boring and practical: you can see your dog, your dog can see you, and air moves through from every side. Good Housekeeping's lab found wire gives noticeably better airflow than enclosed plastic, which matters a lot if you have a Bulldog, a Pug, or any dog that runs hot.

The 36-inch size here fits a Corgi, a Cocker Spaniel, a Brittany, a French Bulldog — dogs up to roughly 32 inches long and 21 inches tall. Other sizes cover most of the range from small to large. Owners describe assembly as a few minutes of unfolding, and several who bought it as a second crate for a Great Dane or a 90-pound Lab specifically wanted the extra room the bigger sizes give.

Cleanup is the part you'll appreciate at 2 a.m. The plastic base tray slides out from the side, so an accident means pulling one panel and hosing it off, not tipping the whole crate over the tub. A metal hook at the bottom holds the tray in place — lock it properly every time, because a dog who learns to nose the tray out will shred it.

When crate season ends, the whole thing collapses flat and slides behind a door or under a bed. There's a top handle for carrying it. That's not nothing: a crate you can put away is a crate you'll actually keep, instead of the one you sell on Marketplace two years later because it ate a corner of the dining room.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Wire has a ceiling, and a strong dog will find it. K9 of Mine's escape testing found visible bending at the door frame of a standard wire crate after four unsupervised hours with a 70-pound Belgian Malinois. Owner reports follow the same pattern — dogs with real anxiety chew wires loose and collapse the panels. If your dog has already broken out of something, skip this and go heavier.

It's noisy. Wire rattles when a dog shifts, and a puppy who paws at the door will make a racket at 5 a.m. A crate cover damps it a little. Some owners also report the latch mechanism rusting over time in humid climates, even indoors.

Single door only. That's fine against a wall but limits where you can put it in a tight room, and it means one exit if your dog is hesitant about walking in.

The iCrate is the wire crate trainers name most often, and this kit wraps it with the things you'd otherwise buy piecemeal. Double doors, a divider panel, a leak-proof pan, rubber feet that spare your floors, and a carry handle. Then the extras: a fleece bolster bed that fits the footprint, a polyester cover, and two 10-ounce Snap'y Fit bowls that clip to the wire so your puppy can't flip them.

The cover is more useful than it looks. Draping fabric over three sides turns an open cage into something closer to a den, and for a puppy whining through his first nights away from the litter, that visual quiet often does more than anything else you'll try. Buying a cover that actually fits your crate is otherwise a small annoying research project. This one's already the right size.

At 22 inches this is a small crate — right for a Chihuahua, a Yorkie, a Papillon, or a very young puppy of a larger breed. Owners of golden retriever puppies report using it at eight weeks and outgrowing it fast, which is expected and fine if you know it's coming. Just don't buy this size expecting it to be the last crate for a medium or large dog.

Two doors give you placement options a single-door crate doesn't. You can tuck it into a corner and still open the end that faces the room, or set it beside your bed with the door facing you for the first few weeks — which is what most trainers suggest for the early nights anyway.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It's small, and that's the whole catch. For anything bigger than a toy breed you're buying a crate with a short useful life, and the accessories are sized to it — the bed and cover won't move to a bigger crate later.

Same wire limitations as any wire crate: not for chewers, not for escape artists, and the latch can develop rust in humid air. A few owners note that folding it back down takes longer than setting it up.

This is the crate people buy after the third failed crate. Owner accounts follow a consistent arc: a wire crate got bent or collapsed, sometimes with a dog hurt in the process, and then the Empire went in and the escaping stopped. K9 of Mine's escape testing puts it in the same category — no deformation where standard wire showed damage. Half-inch steel tubes and welding at the joints do that.

The dual slide-bolt latches matter as much as the steel. Most escapes aren't strength, they're technique — a dog learns to work a single-point latch with his nose or paw and he's out in a minute. Two bolts, top and bottom, take a level of dexterity that dogs don't have. Powerful breeds are the marketing pitch, but the actual buyers are mostly people with anxious dogs.

Large is genuinely large: about 40¾ by 28⅛ inches inside with 31¾ inches of height, enough for a Shepherd, a Lab, or a big pit mix to stand and turn without hunching. Vertical bars leave the same open sightlines as wire, so your dog still sees the room and air moves freely.

Say the quiet part, though — containment isn't treatment. dvm360's behaviorists are direct that crating an anxious dog without concurrent behavior modification can escalate the panic and lead to self-injury. This crate buys you a safe container while you do that work with a trainer or a vet behaviorist. It isn't the work.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It weighs about 134 pounds. That's not a crate you move between rooms or take to a friend's house — it goes where you build it and stays there. Plan the spot before you assemble.

It looks industrial, because it is. In a small apartment this is a large black cage in your living room, and no cover makes it disappear.

It's the most expensive crate here, several times over what a wire crate costs. Buy it because a wire crate has already failed you, not as a first crate for a normal puppy.

Crash performance is the entire argument for this crate, and it's a strong one. The Center for Pet Safety awarded the G1 a 5-star rating after a simulated 30 mph barrier collision left the containment structure fully intact. Most crates and most harnesses have never been through that test at all. If your dog rides in the car regularly, that difference isn't a nice-to-have.

Rotomolded double-wall construction is the same idea as a premium cooler: one continuous piece of thick plastic with no seams to split. It handles heat, cold, rain and the general abuse of a truck bed. Built-in airflow channels and a raised interior floor keep air moving and keep your dog off any water that gets in.

This is the small size — 21.75 by 14.5 inches on the floor with 15.5 inches of height inside, about 27 pounds empty. That fits a small dog or a compact medium one. Measure carefully, because a hard-sided crate has no give at all; there's no dividing it down or opening a side flap to buy an inch.

It works at home too, and some dogs prefer the enclosed feel — Good Housekeeping's lab notes that enclosed plastic crates hold warmth better than wire, which suits small or cold-sensitive breeds. But it doesn't fold, it doesn't stack, and it's heavy for its size. This is a travel crate that can pull a second shift indoors, not the reverse.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Straps aren't included. To get the crash-safety benefit you have to tie the crate down properly to your vehicle's anchor points, and that's a separate purchase you should make at the same time.

It's expensive — by a wide margin the priciest per inch of interior space here. You're paying for the certification and the shell, not for room.

No divider, no fold-flat, and enclosed sides mean less airflow than wire on a hot day. For a brachycephalic breed in a warm climate, think hard about ventilation before you commit.