Giving dogs a safe space as a puppy is important. All of the dogs that I have owned in my 10+ years of owning dogs, have been crate trained. I have had two German Shepherd’s, two St. Bernard’s and a St. Bernard, Great Dane mix, that have all been crate trained and very comfortable with it. We had large dog crates, or as some call them, kennels, for our German Shepherd’s, but when we decided to get St. Bernard’s we figured we were going to need an even bigger crate for them.
We found this ginormous dog crate on amazon and it was awesome for our big dogs! It is so hard to bring home a new puppy and lock them up for the night all by themselves in a new place. A lot of people end up bringing that puppy to bed with them and that can turn out to be an issue very quickly. I always make my puppy sleep in the crate until they are able to make it through the night without any issues (bathroom issues or other problems like whining). So ok, maybe I sleep right next to the crate, but that is mainly so that I can take them out in the middle of the night instead of cleaning up a mess later.
This crate has many great features! One of the cool features is that there are two separate doors, one on the short side and one on the long side. Each door has three slide locks to keep the dog safely inside. This crate also comes completely unassembled so you can place either door on either side to fit your space accordingly. With it coming customizable, it can fit into any space which was perfect for what we needed. I always want my dogs to feel comfortable in their crate, like a safe space for them to go to. A recommendation that I would make is to get each dog their own crate or a dividable crate instead of sharing after 7 weeks old. We brought home two puppies at the same time and realized that was important for them to have their own space. With that said, this crate came with a divider but instead of using the divider, we just bought them each their own crate to allow them to grow into their own space.
One thing that I do with my dog crates is leave them open during the day when the dog does not necessarily need to be in it. The double door option makes it easier to choose a door to leave open for them throughout the day. This gives them the ability to feel comfortable going in and out of the crate without you needing to force them in if you need leave in a hurry and can’t take them with. I always made sure that my dogs entered their crates on their own accord, with treats as an enticement. The crate was never used as a punishment and forcing them in was not allowed. One of the first nights we had Norman, I remember staying up for hours later than I wanted to, trying to encourage him to go into his crate. He finally got so tired that he gave in, and it was the best nights sleep we both had!
Another thing that I think is great about this crate is that even full grown St. Bernard’s and Great Dane’s can stand up completely and stretch out in it. The metal is heavy duty and the plastic pan in the bottom did not crack with the weight of our dogs. The pan also allows for easy clean out if there happens to be any accidents. The coating on the wire proved to be resistant to chewing after Walter put that to the test one afternoon.
This is another LOVE it product in my opinion. My dogs loved having their own big space to be in. They slept in their own crates voluntarily and the crate was very durable to the daily wear and tear that it went through with them. This crate does take up a decent amount of floor space so make to measure before you purchase it!