Dog Crates
The right crate gives your dog a safe den and gives you peace of mind — whether you're house-training a puppy, containing an escape artist, or buckling up for a road trip. These are the ones worth your money.
A good crate is part den, part safety gear. We weighed how easy each one is to set up and move, how secure the doors and latches really are, how well the build holds up to chewers and diggers, and whether the sizing actually fits the dogs it claims to. We compared classic folding wire crates against furniture-style models, a slick collapsible design, a crash-tested travel kennel, and heavy-duty boxes built for dogs that break out of everything else. Here are our six picks.
The folding wire crate almost everyone should start with. Front and side doors make placement flexible, the included divider panel grows the space as a puppy does, and a slide-out tray makes cleanup painless. It sets up in minutes with no tools and folds flat for storage. Dependable, affordable, and available in sizes from toy to giant breed.
A modern rethink of the wire crate, with a one-handed collapse, a garage-style side door, and rounded mesh that's easier on paws and noses than welded bars. Multiple access points and a removable puppy divider make daily life simple, and it stores compactly without the pinched fingers older folding crates are famous for. Stylish enough to leave out.
A crate that looks like a piece of furniture and doubles as an end table. The molded shell and steel frame feel far sturdier than typical wood-look crates, and an adjustable divider plus a quieter, more enclosed den help anxious dogs settle. If you want the crate to live in your living room rather than hide in a corner, this is the one.
The travel kennel with a 5-star crash-test rating from the Center for Pet Safety. The double-wall shell, reinforced door, and aircraft-grade latches are overbuilt to protect your dog in a collision or in the bed of a truck on rough roads. Heavy and pricey, but it's the crate to buy if your dog rides with you and safety is non-negotiable.
Built for the dogs that bend bars and pop latches out of everything else. The all-aluminum body is nearly indestructible, and small "no-see-through" ventilation holes calm reactive, territorial barkers by cutting visual triggers. A serious investment backed by a lifetime damage guarantee — the answer when a standard crate just can't hold your dog.
Steel-tube construction at a fraction of the price of boutique heavy-duty crates. It's contained Labradors that had mastered opening standard wire doors, riding on lockable casters that make a big, weighty crate easy to move. The gauge is a touch thinner than premium brands, but for most strong chewers it's plenty of crate for the money.
Your dog should be able to stand up, turn around, and lie down flat — and not much more. Too much space and a puppy will happily use one end as a bathroom, which defeats house-training. Measure your dog from nose to tail base and floor to the top of the head, add a couple of inches, and use a divider to shrink the interior while a puppy grows.
A calm, crate-trained dog is fine in a folding wire crate or a furniture-style model. A determined escape artist, a heavy chewer, or an anxious dog that panics will defeat thin wire in minutes — those dogs need aluminum or steel-tube construction with secure, tamper-resistant latches. Be honest about which dog you have before you spend.
If the crate stays in one spot, looks and easy cleaning matter most. If it moves between rooms, folding or collapsible designs and caster wheels save your back. And if your dog rides in the car, only a crash-tested travel kennel actually protects them — a standard crate can become a hazard in a collision.
Round out your dog's setup with our picks for the best dog beds to line the crate with, and explore our guides to the best pet cameras for checking in while you're out and the best automatic feeders to keep meals on schedule.
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