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Originally Posted by Weily4Life  I love all your ideas, you all have been so wonderful.
I having been searching the net most the day researching crates and prices etc. Can any one tell me anything about the Midwest wire crates, Or other crates that you have experience with? |
I have a whole lot of crates both wire and plastic - different brands including Midwest. I think the best thing is to figure out what you like best. If you go for a wire crate, look at the quality of the plastic tray (bottom). I find that that's the first to go (crack) and is expensive to replace. On the other hand, it's more difficult to clean the plastic crates and I think, from my experience, that the wire on the plastic crate openings tends to rust faster. Keep in mind that I have been very hard on our crates from rescue work a couple of years ago - which is why I have so many. I am actually looking into buying a set of "side by side" wire crates which I think would fit better in my truck for transport to training and eventually competition. They are longer and not so wide so probably not so good for home use under your circumstances.
Take a good look at the latch release. Imagine opening and closing that thing over and over again. I have a plastic crate with a sort of rotating or dial release that I just hate. Not so fond of the squeeze releases either also on some of my plastic crates. I personally prefer the slide release for expediency which I've only found on wire crates.
Wire crates collapse for easier transport where plastic crates are bulkier even when they're in pieces. Both types are pretty heavy though. If you get the Midwest crates or any other wire crates, make sure to remove that tag with the logo. It looks like it's part of the crate but it's not made to be a permanent part of the crate so your dog will chew the blasted thing off at some point. You'll come home to shredded plastic and wonder how much your dogs ate. Never good. Whatever you choose to get, make sure to get something big enough for your dogs. IMO, puppies need something more "cozy" than older dogs do. Just make sure that your dog can lie down and shift around comfortably.
Look at the door placements too. If you ever need to put them in your vehicle, this is important since you'll need to line up the crate doors with the vehicle doors.