MidWest iCrate Double Door Dog Crate

Sizing a crate is the whole decision

Almost every crate problem is a sizing problem. A crate that is too small is uncomfortable and unfair. A crate that is too large defeats the one behavioural mechanism crate training relies on: dogs avoid soiling the space they sleep in, and a dog with a spare end of the crate will use that end as a toilet and sleep at the other.

The rule is: the dog should be able to stand without ducking, turn around comfortably, and lie down fully stretched. Nothing more than that for house-training purposes.

Measure the dog standing — nose to the base of the tail for length, floor to the top of the head for height — and add about 5 cm to each. Then round up to the next crate size.

The divider is the feature that makes this crate work

The iCrate includes a divider panel, and it is the thing that makes buying one crate for a puppy sensible rather than wasteful.

Buy the crate for the dog's projected adult size, then use the divider to section off only as much space as the puppy needs now, moving it back as the dog grows. This is the correct approach and it saves buying two or three crates. It is also the part people forget to use, which is why "my puppy keeps peeing in the crate" is so often a crate that is simply too big today.

Check the divider fits your chosen size — not every size in every range ships with one, and a crate bought second-hand may be missing it.

Double doors: worth it more often than you think

The second door is on the end rather than the long side. Whether it matters depends entirely on your room. A crate that must sit against a wall, tucked under a console table, or in a car boot frequently has only one usable orientation, and a single-door crate in the wrong orientation is a crate you fight with daily.

If you know exactly where the crate lives forever, a single door is fine. If you expect to move it, the second door is cheap flexibility.

Folding, and being honest about the weight

It folds flat, suitcase-style, and that is genuinely useful for travel and storage. What the description does not convey is that a large or extra-large folding metal crate is heavy and awkward even folded — the panels are steel and the whole assembly for a giant-breed size is a two-hands, watch-your-fingers object. Folding it makes it thin, not light.

The pan, and what actually happens to it

The plastic pan slides out from the bottom for cleaning, which is right. Two practical notes:

The latches and the noise

Spring-loaded slide latches are secure and loud. The rattle of a dog shifting against the door at two in the morning is the most common complaint about every wire crate, this one included. A strip of adhesive-backed foam weatherstrip along the door frame kills most of it. Do not use zip ties or anything a dog can chew into pieces.

A determined escape artist can work a single-latch door. If your dog has ever got out, add a carabiner through the latch — not a padlock, because you need to open it fast in an emergency.

Crate training briefly, because the crate only works if this is right

A crate is a den, not a punishment. Feed meals in it with the door open. Build up time slowly, starting with seconds. Never use it to punish, or you will build the exact association you are trying to avoid. Cover three sides with a breathable cover if the dog is stimulated by movement in the room.

A puppy can hold roughly its age in months plus one, in hours, and less overnight. Crating a young puppy beyond that is not a training failure on the dog's part.

Who should look elsewhere

If your dog has genuine separation anxiety and has injured itself escaping a wire crate, you need a heavy-duty welded crate and a behaviour plan, not a folding one. If you fly with your dog, airlines require a rigid airline-approved plastic kennel and will refuse a wire crate. And if you want furniture rather than equipment, a wooden crate-table exists — just check it still sizes correctly for the dog.