Suggestion for you and suggestion needed for crate matting

[Pumacat]

For those of you who have a crate and are crate training. Here is a item that may interest you.

http://www.cactusmat.com/products.html

go to the "safety" section and look at the "flex tile"

You can lay this on the bottom of your crate and it is elevated. If the dog urinates the urine will pass below and your dog wont lie in it.. It also makes a slightly softer surface

They are 12" X12" in squares and an X-Large (500) Varikennel takes 6 of them. You can easily cut with scissors. The tiles run about 3 to 4 dollars each and you get them at a restuarant supply store. They are vinyl so if your dog ate some, it should pass a lot safer than hard plastic. The holes are small enough so that a dog can't get a paw stuck, but plentiful enough so that urine will drain.

On the other side, between each hole there is a little foot thats about 1/2", which elevates the mat. Since there are so many feet, its very stable. The feet are part of the mat and not attached after the fact so they are on there for good.

The only problem is that it can slide around. So even though I cut it to perfectly fit, sometimes it will slide up the wall about 2-3 inches and leave a bare spot on the floor. Usually most of th floor still stays covered though.

Any suggestions on how to anchor this down so that it can't slide at all? Its not super easy to make the matt slide, but its vinyl on hard plastic so it can be done. If it were rubber, it wouldnt slide as easily, but their rubber matts are not "elevated" so the urine would pool up in the holes. I was thinking of velcro, but dont know how to make the velcor bonding adhere permanently to the crate and vinyl flooring (especially since the bottom is "spikey" and not flat)

[Pumacat]

OK, I figured out how to do it!!

Your Varikennel has 5 "humps" on the floor. They protrude upwards, and this makes it so the floor is not level. There is a large center "hump" and 4 "humps" that are small in the corners.

Simply take a pair of snips to cut off the "feet" on the rubber matting on the portion of the mat that goes above the 4 corner humps. This makes the mat lock into place and actually makes it more level.

I was thinking of cutting all the feet above the center hump. But its bigger than than small humps and I want fluids to flow underneath such a large are. So I left that portion alone.

It locks into place and won't slide anyway if you just do the 4 corner humps.

[Burnsway]

LOL PUMACAT!!!

It must be too early in the morning for me because I thought your subject line was asking how to mate dogs in a crate.....:o

Glad you figured everything out and that I was misunderstanding.

I need more coffee......:D :D :D

[SABELLESMOM]

Am I missing something? Why would you want to elevate the dog and keep him/her out of the wet? It may sound nasty, but isn't the idea of crate training that crate=den, and we don't mess the den? Sounds to me if you make messing the den too dry and comfortable, your pup would take longer to train.

It would also seem like now you have one more thing to clean when the dog wets or messes...besides the dog, I mean. Also you mentioned you'd need 6 of these 12"x12" squares. How big is the crate? I always thought successful crate training was with a crate small enough for the dog to turn around in only.

[Pumacat]

Actually I don't use it for crate training. My dog(s) are all potty trained. But they are not "drool proof" and they have spit up water in their crate before.

I thought it would be great for crate training for others, but it looks like I stand corrected.

You reasons for this interfering with crate training make sense.

As far as cleaning, I just have a great nozzle at the end of my hose. Takes no time at all to clean the mat.

[SABELLESMOM]

OK:D I see. It probably would be more comfortable altogether for the circumstance you describe...maybe fewer of those nasty elbow callouses as well?

[Willabeast]

Your reasons make sense also. They always puke in the back don't they? lol. If these sections have holes which I'm sure they do. those plastic strips that pull tight (stores use them to secure items to the packaging) should do the trick. just trim them off after securing. That way you will create one giant mat that will move a little but not separate.