Custom dog crate for my car.

September 4, 2011 8:24 PM

I need a custom dog crate for the back of my cage.

I have two crates I have bought at Pet smart and they both fit back there.
One is in the front and enters through the gate, the second behind the first and the dog must enter through the side door.
So 2 dogs total and currently two crates.

I would like to have only one crate, with space for two dogs, so a single larger crate, where both dogs could enter in the back (through the gate) would be most appreciated.

Given the confines of my suv, the ones I have found to order online would not fit in the back of the car. It needs to be not to talll not too wide, but deep.

I have found a couple of places online that make dog crates, but most of them seem to be for pick up trucks and the prices are unreal.

I have thought about just "clipping" away the bars that seperate the two cages I have now, and then use steel wire to "mesh" them together.

posted by digividal to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

If you do modify the two crates into one big crate, make sure you file down the edges so your dogs don't hurt themselves.

Also it might help if you could give us dimensions. Either of the space in your SUV or of each of the current crates.
posted by royalsong at 8:56 PM on September 4, 2011

What about something like this?
posted by LyndsayMW at 9:20 PM on September 4, 2011

Would having two dogs in the same crate still protect them in a crash?
posted by SandiBeech at 4:33 AM on September 5, 2011

When faced with this dilemma I bought a side door 36" crate and put it in the back sideways and crated 2 dogs together. It's not ideal but it's better than riding loose. Depending on your vehicle, you may be able to fit a 42" side door back there. If it won't fit on the floor it may be possible to build a platform out of 2x4's and 3/4" plywood to raise it up over the wheels. This gives excellent storage underneath, too, so double win. (Also, black wire is easier to see through and produces less glare than chrome or gold colored wire.)

Snipping wires degrades the strength of the crate. I really wouldn't want to be responsible for skewering my dogs in an accident.

I can fit two 400-size airline crates in the back of my current vehicle and still see over them well enough. So you might look at different types of crates too. How big are your dogs and what vehicle do you drive?
posted by acorncup at 10:25 PM on September 5, 2011

Response by poster: Its two rottweilers going into the back of a 4Runner.
posted by digividal at 12:17 PM on September 9, 2011