Dog Crates for Huskies and Sled Dogs
A dog crate is a really useful investment for a husky owner. Crates have many uses, including:
- Toilet Training
- Dogs are generally extremely reluctant to soil their own bed area. With regular opportunities to relieve themselves elsewhere (i.e. outdoors), crates can be very helpful in encouraging puppies and dogs not to 'go' indoors.
- Feeding Time
- While it is important that each dog respect the others space and that calm and order be retained at meal times, crates can give individual dogs the extra space and security they may need when food is on offer. For a variety of reasons some dogs may be better suited to being fed in a crate, or owners may simply feel it a prefered solution, particularly in households with more than one dog.
- Safety
- A crate can provide an ideal solution at times when you need to leave your dog unattended. A properly 'crate-trained' dog should be quite content to spend a couple of hours (but never more than hours at a time) in a crate every now and then. In this case, crating a dog can keep them safe from hazards in the home, and your home safe from the hazards of your dog!
- Transport
- We find small and medium crates fit well in the back of our cars, and have also used crates as 'Dog Boxes' in various incarnations of our 'Dog Van'. Specially designed Car Crates are also available, and their sloping designs may well be more suitable for many cars than regular-shaped crates.
- General Comfort
- Our dogs, particularly the older ones, soon come to see their crates as a sanctuary from the activity of the house.
They all tend to sleep in their crates, which we fit with vetbeds and cover over with blankets.
One important point to make:
you must cover the top of the crate with some hardboard or other rigid material if your dog is likely to jump up on top of it.
This is especially important if you are going to cover the crate with a throw or blanket. Huskies in particular will often jump up on to the top of a crate. Due to the "cage" type construction, their paws will fit through the spaces between the bars and they may injure their legs by getting them caught in the gaps. Fitting a solid top to the crate will prevent this.