crate's for traveling

[pbhound]

ok i need help in deciding what crates to get for traveling! when we do road trips we will be requireing 2 crates that will fin inside a dodge caravan without the third seet. both Raven and Reeses will have their own crate. we have decided this due to the fact that when we traveled before we had Raven in a car harness, seat belted into the back seat. well now that we have Reeses, we have no more seets, we have 2 kids that take up the captains chairs and that leaves only 1 seat left for 2 Rotts one is 106+lbs and the other is 60+lbs. and still growing. so i am looking for crates to put them in the back of the van so we can all travel.

any ideas please.

[debbiej]

finding two crates the width of the vehicle can be a problem. when we have to take both dogs in the jeep, we use one of those wire separators and close off the back for them. Even with the seats folded down, there is only room for one crate no matter how we arrange them.

Take measurements of the space where you want the crates to go, including the width and height of the door opening, go shopping and see if two crates that are big enough for the dogs will fit side by side.

I happened to find a used vw eurovan and we've take two trips with the dogs in it. It is like a living room on wheels, but parked next to the jeep grand cherokee, it is about the same length.

[pbhound]

thanks never thought about the dog seperator, now we just have to figure out how we are gonna take our clothes hehe lol

[debbiej]

probably a roof carrier would work best. our kids are grown up, we put our luggage in the middle seat.

[pbach]

We too have no way to put two crates inside our car. So what we've done (you can only do this if both dogs get along). We have canine auto restraints. Here is the web site we got them from. They clip to the cargo tie-down hooks in the rear of the vehicle.Canine Auto Restraint Equipment . We use the Champion Canine Seat Belt System and the crates go up on top of the luggage rack. Works really well - the dogs have been really secure and we've felt really secure with them back there. The dogs have been on really long trips - over 7 hours and have no problem at all with the ride.

If you decide you want to purchase from this company - I'd say do so way in advance before going on a trip. That was my only complaint that I had to keep calling and calling and calling to get the items shipped. Almost didn't make it in time before we left on vacation.

Patty

[LUVMYROTTNBOY]

Have you considered a dog seatbelt? I just got one for Zeiss and it works quite nicely. He can sit and laydown with it attached. I don't know if that is better or worse for your situation, but it easier to seatbelt two dogs in that fit the crates in the car. I have a Saturn Coupe, so not a chance of even one crate in my little car.

Zeiss has the Roadie. www.ruffrider.com

[LUVMYROTTNBOY]

Originally Posted by LUVMYROTTNBOY

Have you considered a dog seatbelt? I just got one for Zeiss and it works quite nicely. He can sit and laydown with it attached. I don't know if that is better or worse for your situation, but it easier to seatbelt two dogs in that fit the crates in the car. I have a Saturn Coupe, so not a chance of even one crate in my little car.

Zeiss has the Roadie. www.ruffrider.com

OK IM RETARDED. I re-read the post and see you have no room for the seatbelt type. OOPS!! Sorry, have no idea what type of crate to suggest. I think its time to stop playing and start studying for my exam.

[RottiMomCT]

JB Pet 'MiniVan Crates'

Found these in a JB Pet catalog I rec'd the other day...would they work for you??

[fbkeays]

Originally Posted by RottiMomCT

JB Pet 'MiniVan Crates'

Found these in a JB Pet catalog I rec'd the other day...would they work for you??

These are very narrow crates. I have two of them. What I normally do is use one with a sightly wider crate made by Scott or a standard 400 size crate by General. I try not to have my males in this crate. Duncan has a very hard time turning around to face the front. These would not be good for a large male. I would get a standard 400 sized wire crate before I would buy these again for my dogs. Duncan is more comfortable in a 400, even tho he fits very nicely in a standard 500 sized wire crate.
But if it came down to it, it is certainly better then nothing. In November of 2003, my husband took a road trip with Misty and Duncan. I had the crates arrainged differently. I had the 400 wire crate in the back and the 500 wire crate behind the front seats. I had taken out the "narrow" crate to make room for luggage. Hubby loaded the dogs up- Misty in her usual spot behind the front seats and Duncan in his usual spot in the back. Unfortunately in the "wrong" crates.
My husband hadn't gone 100 miles before he got rear-ended. I restrained my self from asking about the dogs first. So after finding out he was alright, I asked about Misty, assuming she was in the back, where he was hit. I then found out that She was in the larger crate, and had actually dented the back being thrown around, but unhurt. Duncan was unhurt, being snug in the smaller crate.
I have a car-top carrier for my van. It works very well and doesn't affect the milage or handling.

[laurlitt]

Not sure how 'deep' the back of your van is (w/out the 3rd seat) but we have a Chevy Astro van and when we only had 2 dogs (those were the days) we removed the 3rd seat and could fit 2-500 crates side by side in the back. Like others may have mentioned they do have wire crates that are designed to be bit more narrow to fit in back of expeditions and other SUV's (they seem like big trucks but don't have as much room as a van!).

If one of your dogs stays smaller (the 60lb dog) then you may be able to get a 500 and 400 sized crate w/ no problem.

good luck... and great choice for getting the crates (it's the wise thing to do when traveling w/ multiple dogs (or even 1).