Size crate for adult male Border Collie

[wtrbaby333]

Trying to settle on a crate for our incoming BC male pup. Crate #1 42x28 wide x 30 high vs. Crate #2  36x24 x 25 high?

We were getting one with a moveable partition so to not give pup too much room so to discourage it from peeing or pooping in there, and with an eye for him growing into a full grown male BC dog.

[Hooper2]

Unless your pup grows into an unusually large BC, I would think crate # 2 would be fine, and MUCH easier to fit into a vehicle if needed. I have a friend who uses a crate that's a couple inches smaller all around than your option #2  in her car for her 50-ish lb malinois.  I would want a crate closer to the size of your option #2  for the mal if it was her regular sleeping quarters, but for an hour or two or four in the car, she's perfectly comfortable with the smaller size.  BC's vary so much in size that you could get a surprise, but unless you have reason to think your pup will grow to more than about 50 lbs, which is large, but not unheard of, for a BC, I would go with the smaller of your two choices.

[ShellyF]

Our male pup has two crates that equate to the standard airline style crate ‘large’ and ‘extra large’. 

As an overnight crate he - at 8 months - has already outgrown the large size. The extra large suits him well. 

However, for travelling in the car (short journeys) he also has a soft crate that’s equivalent to a medium size. He ducks to go into it now but he feels secure on bumpy rides. 

So for short periods or as a young pup the smaller size is ok but if he is going to ultimately sleep overnight in one as an adult then the bigger size. 

[GentleLake]

I've never need anything larger than a 36" crate for any of my dogs and have even used a 30" in the car for a 48# male. Smaller crates that are more snug are actually safer for travel; less room to bounce around in should there be an accident.

The 36" have lots of room for indoor use for sleeping. My current dogs, one ~38#, one ~40#, will curl up in the back of a plastic airline crate -- size large, 36" L X 24" W -- widthways  across the back leaving nearly 2/3 of the front space empty. I could actually put both of them in it and in fact they've done it themselves on occasion.

You won't know for sure until the pup's done growing, but I find it hard to believe that you'd ever need a 42" crate for him. A 42" crate is huge. If he'll be spending a lot of time in the crate as an adult, say while you're at work, you might want the largest size just to give him more room, though I've never used anything larger than a 36" even for fosters who were crated more than my own dogs; they had plenty of room to stretch out if they wanted to.

[Mandy1961]

We went for the medium sized crate, which in hindsight was a little too big for him. At around 12 to 14 weeks he did wee and poo in it over night, for 3 nights running.  We took away his comfy bedding and just put a blanket in the crate. Also did not feed him after 6 pm. This did the trick and he has been clean all night since. He is now 7 months old and can still lay out in the crate, but prefers to snuggle in a ball at the end.

[ShellyF]

This is an interesting thread as it leads me to think that perhaps our eight month old is getting too big for his extra large one as an all night thing. 

He is a tall by and has started to become reluctant to go in at night (although once tempted in he’s good all night). In the morning he is stretching a lot more than normal and I am not sure he can lie in his side with his legs fully outstretched (which he likes to do).

Ar what age do folk start to let their pup sleep outside of the crate? I don’t have house training concerns as ours has gone through the night from 9pm to 8am for ages. 

[Icaraa]

18 hours ago, ShellyF said:

This is an interesting thread as it leads me to think that perhaps our eight month old is getting too big for his extra large one as an all night thing. 

He is a tall by and has started to become reluctant to go in at night (although once tempted in he’s good all night). In the morning he is stretching a lot more than normal and I am not sure he can lie in his side with his legs fully outstretched (which he likes to do).

Ar what age do folk start to let their pup sleep outside of the crate? I don’t have house training concerns as ours has gone through the night from 9pm to 8am for ages. 

About 4 months was when we started leaving the door of Ben’s crate open at all times. Prior to that the door would be closed whenever he was on his own.

At night he chooses to sleep in there, comes out every few hours to stretch his legs. 

In the daytime he likes to sit and sleep on his blanket on the kitchen floor, looking out of the window. Occasionally he goes to his crate to sleep in the daytime. 

I don’t know how much more he will grow now-he’s 9 months old. He mostly likes to sleep curled up at the bottom of the crate. It was sold on Amazon as a large, and is 95-100cm in length (rough measurement using my iPhone). He can stand up in it at the moment, though his back is touching it now. I would be more concerned about the height of it if he gets locked in it, but he doesn’t.

[ShellyF]

That’s interesting thanks. I guess my concern is what he’ll get up to while I am asleep. He is pretty good now about leaving ‘our stuff’ and when he wants to ‘act up’ in the daytime its Usually with the kitchen towel lol! We have open plan living so it’s hard to restrict him to say just the kitchen. Might have to consider bringing the crate into the bedroom. 

Food for thought  

[GentleLake]

21 hours ago, ShellyF said:

Ar what age do folk start to let their pup sleep outside of the crate?

Depends on the pup. Some get into mischief longer than others. You have to know your own dog. You can always try it once and see how it goes.

[alligande]

Both my boys are large and a 36" crate is to small for them. My youngster had one as a car crate but had outgrown it before he was one. He used the xl crate that my older dog flew across the Atlantic in, normally you could fit a huge dog in it it made luxuries accommodation for a puppy and I never had to make it smaller for house training purposes. Both dogs slept in crates until about a year old, and had full run of the house at 18 months.

 

[Mandy1961]

My sons, 22 and 26 keep asking when can Harry, 7 months sleep where he wants. Unfortunately this would be a problem as he would want to go into each bedroom and would probably settle for our bedroom. He is so noise sensitive and barks at any outside noises, which he doesn’t when he is in his crate.