# Crate issue



## StellaSquash (Apr 22, 2010)

At least I can say now, things turned out fine. 

My daughter and I came home from my sons baseball game last night to find my 5 yr old lab greeting us at the door... as usual. at the top of the stairs was Miss Riley, greeting us... NOT USUAL. apparently the front panel of her crate came unhooked and she had enough room to squeeze out of it. In hindsight I can't believe the situation didn't have a much more traumatic outcome. 

After my initial shock (Tucker gave her quite a bite within two hours of coming to live with us and ended up with stitches... needless to say acclimating them together has been a LONG SLOW road that's been going well, but I hadn't planned on a full immersion method), I'm quite mad with the crate. It's a Gorilla Tough crate from drs Foster and Smith. When it arrived, I was angry with how difficult it was to get it together but seemed sturdy and functional after I put it up. Some of the edge wires were bent and it had been fixed together for shipping improperly. 

At the moment I have the front panel reinforced with plastic zip ties but I'm paranoid about leaving her alone in it now. All night long I barely slept thinking every sound she made was her trying to escape again. 

What would you do? Would you replace the crate with something else or reinforce it and continue to use it? If you recommend replacement, please suggest a crate! 

I must say I'm very proud of Tucker for not eating her. There was a significant amount of blood on the carpet and I can only guess, but I think tucker had to "lay down the law" as I do see two very small nicks on her muzzle. She also has what appears to be a cut on her paw, I'm assuming from her crate escape. 

I won't tell you what happened with the litter box......


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## Wolfiesmom (Apr 10, 2010)

I would get a better crate. Glad to hear that your pup came out of it ok.


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## Brighthorizondogs (May 31, 2010)

Sophie escaped from her midwest. First she got through the door because the bottom latch wasn't latched, then she some how pulled the front pane in and pushed her way through that opening. I used a few zip ties to secure it since she bent it but then she did it again and bent the crate worse while breaking the ties. So I covered the outside of the front panel that folds in with zip ties, securing it to the sides. the door is now hard to latch. She is going to need a new crate eventually but I've been shutting her in my room instead of the crate lately. I still use the crate but not a whole lot as she barks more when in it.


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## Brighthorizondogs (May 31, 2010)

BTW this is the same dog that will happily sleep in an open crate by choice. She'll sleep in her crate or the large varikennel in my room that is barely big enough for her.


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## GSD MOM (Apr 21, 2010)

My boy Ace is VERY powerful! At 5-6 months old he bent the heck out of a normal black midwest crate. We ended up getting him an over sized travel crate. It is HUGE...(we call it a garage for a smartcar..) but he got better in that one. He still hasn't made his way out. So it worked for us.


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## StellaSquash (Apr 22, 2010)

thought i'd update:

I've since reinforced the crate with steel zip ties. I put them all around the front of the crate. I also pushed the divider panel back a bit to give her a little more room. 

I'm not at all confident about the door lock but for now it's holding. I just use a plastic zip tie to reinforce it for now. I try to make sure she's good and worn out before leaving her and yesterday I gave her a frozen peanut butter kong. when we got back home all was still in order. 

I'm going to go with this solution for now as buying a new crate is not a popular option.


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## triordan (Dec 5, 2008)

we used zipties too,worked like a charm!


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## lylol (Feb 18, 2009)

My guy Rune went through a phase of bursting out of his... like you I can only imagine how he did it (I have a vision of a giant hampster squeezing himself throught these tiny spaces thankfully unharmed!!) I tried many additions to the crate, zip ties, plastic ties, carabiners, duct tape... etc... with little success. He too, will happily chose his crate to relax in during training class... but when he is in and my little dog is out flaunting his freedom, Rune can destroy anything. Good luck in finding what works for you. I decide the risk to him was greater than the risk to my furniture and have successfully left him out while I go to work.


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## Asche-zu-Staub (Apr 25, 2010)

aschen tried to bust out one when he was little, he got his front leg stuck, woke me up with screaming and crying....i was paranoid for the next week...but he never tried it again. I still to this day have no clue how he got his leg out of there.

lylol, funny comparison with the hampster haha.


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